Your HireVue interview, explained before the deadline

A HireVue interview is a video interview an employer runs on HireVue's platform, usually as an early screening step. Most are on demand: questions appear on screen and you record your answers alone, with no interviewer present. Since 2026 some employers instead send HireVue's AI Interviewer, a two-way voice conversation.

Read your invitation before you read anything else

• Which format you were sent, recorded on demand or a live conversation
• The deadline, and whether the link expires before it
• How many questions there are, and how long each answer may run
• How long you get to think before recording starts
• Whether retakes are allowed on the real questions
• Whether a game based or coding assessment is bundled with it
• The employer's notice about how AI may be used on your answers
• Who to contact if something breaks, usually the recruiter who wrote to you

What is a HireVue interview?

HireVue interview A video interview an employer runs on software from HireVue. The employer chooses the questions, the timings and the scoring criteria. HireVue supplies the platform that records, delivers and helps evaluate the answers.

HireVue says that for the vast majority of jobs this is a screening step, and that people in the top group go on to person to person interviews before people make the hiring decision.

The 3 formats you might be sent, and how to tell them apart

How a HireVue interview works, step by step

1. The link arrives The employer sends an invitation with a link or an interview code. Nothing is scheduled. You choose when to start, as long as you finish before the deadline. Set aside about 45 minutes. HireVue's own advice covers setup as well as the questions.
2. Setup and device check You grant camera and microphone permission and check your framing. It runs on a computer, a tablet or a phone, so a broken webcam is not the end of it. HireVue states a minimum of 350 Kbps, which is 0.35 Mbps, up and down.
3. A practice question A demo question comes before the real ones and does not count. HireVue's candidate guidance says you can repeat these practices until you feel comfortable continuing. Use it more than once. It is the only part of the sitting with no stakes.
4. The real questions Most assessments contain between 5 and 8 questions. A timer runs while you think, then a second timer runs while you answer. HireVue's candidate walkthrough describes 30 seconds to prepare and up to 3 minutes to answer.
5. Submit, early if you are done You do not have to fill the clock. If an answer finishes sooner, there is an I'm Done control that submits it and moves on. Most assessments take under 20 to 30 minutes end to end.
6. A recruiter reviews it The recording goes to the employer's hiring team. HireVue says algorithms do initial screening and hiring decisions are made by people. If it goes well, the next round is usually a human interview.

About those 30 seconds

The 30 seconds and 3 minutes figures repeated everywhere come from a HireVue candidate post published in October 2014. Think time, answer length, question count and retakes are all set by the employer. Read your own instructions screen.

HireVue interview questions, and what a strong answer shows

Tell me about yourself.

A 3 part arc rather than a life story: where you are now, the 2 things you have done that fit this role, and why you applied here.

Name the part of this job you most want to spend your time on.

Why do you want to work for this company?

Something specific to this employer, such as a product, a market or a way of working, connected to a decision you have already made in your own career.

Say what you would want to learn in the first 3 months.

What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

A strength evidenced by a real task, and a weakness that is genuine, with the specific habit or system used to manage it now.

Give the moment you noticed the weakness was costing you something.

Why did you leave your last role?

A forward looking reason with no blame in it, stated in 2 sentences, and a clear link between what you wanted next and this job.

Say what you would keep from that job if you could.

Where do you want to be in a few years?

An honest direction rather than a job title, and a reason this role is a sensible step toward it rather than a detour.

Name the skill you most want to be better at by then.

Tell me about a time you solved a difficult problem with little help.

One specific situation, what you personally decided, the option you rejected, and how you knew it had worked.

Say what you would do differently a second time.

Describe a time a plan changed late and you had to adjust.

What changed, what you dropped, who you told, and a result you can describe without exaggerating it.

Say who was affected and how you handled that conversation.

How do you handle competing deadlines?

An actual method for ranking work, one example of using it, and evidence you raised the trade off rather than silently working late.

Name the last thing you deliberately let slip, and why.

An answer skeleton that fits 90 seconds

HireVue's own candidate guidance suggests keeping video answers between 60 and 90 seconds.
That is roughly 200 to 250 spoken words. Use the clock like this.

0:00 to 0:15   SET THE SCENE
One sentence on where and when. Name the team and the constraint.
"Last spring our supplier moved a delivery date by 3 weeks."

0:15 to 0:25   WHAT WAS YOURS
One sentence on what you personally owned, not what the team owned.
"I was the one who had to tell the 2 customers affected."

0:25 to 1:10   WHAT YOU DID
The long part. Say I, not we. Include one option you rejected and why.
1. The first thing I did
2. The choice I made, and what I chose against
3. Who I brought in

1:10 to 1:30   HOW IT ENDED
What changed, how you know, and what you do differently now.

IF TIME REMAINS
Stop. Silence at the end reads better than filler, and you can submit early.

Looking for the questions a specific employer asks

Searches for JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Target, Nike, Bank of America, National Grid, ASML, Keyence or Redbull HireVue questions all hit the same wall. The employer writes its own questions and none of them publishes the list. Anything circulating is candidate recollection, unverifiable, and often years out of date for a role since rewritten.

The method that does work takes 20 minutes. Open the job description, pull out the 4 to 6 competencies it names, and write one real story for each. Employers build screening questions from the same document you were given, so the overlap is high even when the wording is not.

What is recorded, who sees it, and what HireVue says it analyses

Your rights, if the role is in the right place

For Illinois based positions, the Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act requires an employer to tell you AI may analyse your video, explain what it evaluates, get your consent first, and delete the videos within 30 days of your request. This is jurisdictional.

HireVue assessments, games and coding tests

A HireVue assessment comes in 3 shapes: video based, game based, or video followed by games. HireVue states each game takes about 3 minutes and that game sessions run roughly 7 to 20 minutes. Its game based assessment page groups what they measure under 3 headings: personality and work style, working with people, and working with information.

HireVue games are randomized and move you up or down in difficulty as you play, which is why a memorised route through someone else's version does not transfer. Separately, HireVue's assessment line includes technical and coding assessments, language proficiency tests and a virtual job tryout, so a HireVue coding assessment is a different product from the video questions and your invitation will say which you have.

When the camera will not connect

Do

• Allow the browser camera and microphone permission when the prompt appears, then reload the page
• On Windows, open Settings, Privacy and security, Camera, and turn camera access on for apps and browsers
• Quit anything else holding the camera. A video call app left running is the usual culprit
• Switch browser, or switch device entirely, since it also runs on a phone or tablet
• Contact the recruiter or HireVue's candidate help centre if it still will not start

Do not

• Keep hitting retry on a permission your browser has already blocked
• Run it over a VPN, or on a locked down work laptop you do not control
• Leave the device check until the evening of the deadline
• Assume a broken camera has cost you the interview, because it is a support problem

HireVue interview tips for the 30 minutes before you start

• Check your connection meets at least 0.35 Mbps up and down
• Block out about 45 minutes, not the 20 you think it takes
• Plug the device in, or start above 60 percent battery
• Find a quiet room with light in front of you, not behind you
• Raise the camera to eye level and look at the lens, not the screen
• Run the practice question at least twice before continuing
• Check the invitation for the deadline and whether retakes are allowed
• If the connection drops, rejoin, since HireVue says you can pick up where you left off

Can you practise a HireVue interview?

HireVue states plainly that there is no way to study for a video based assessment and that it works with no third parties to provide training or preparation services. So a paid HireVue question bank cannot show you your employer's questions, and no course will help you game the scoring. That is worth knowing before anyone takes your money for HireVue practice questions.

What you can rehearse is the experience, and it is the part that trips people up: speaking to a lens, on a clock, with nobody nodding back. Do that once and the real sitting stops being the first time. That, not a script, is how to pass a HireVue interview. On seeing questions beforehand, HireVue says neurodiverse candidates may ask the recruiter in advance and request accommodations.

Practise talking to a camera before it counts

A live AI interview room: a setup card with a microphone level meter, 2 tiles and a running timer.

The Cognitive runs a free live AI mock interview at /try-interview. It is a two way video interview that asks a follow up based on what you just said. Afterwards you get the recording, a transcript with speakers and timestamps, and a scorecard.

Keep preparing

Try a live AI interview free · The STAR method · AI video interviewing guide · Async vs live AI interviews · What is a structured interview

Frequently asked questions

What is a HireVue interview?

It is a video interview that an employer runs using software from HireVue. The employer writes the questions and sets the timings, and the platform records and helps evaluate your answers. People also write it as hire vue or hireview, and they mean the same platform. HireVue says that for the vast majority of jobs this is a screening step and that the top group move on to person to person interviews.

How does a HireVue interview work?

A link arrives from the employer with a deadline rather than a time slot. You check your camera, run a practice question that does not count, then answer the real ones. Most assessments contain between 5 and 8 questions and take under 20 to 30 minutes. HireVue's candidate guidance describes 30 seconds to prepare and up to 3 minutes per answer, but the employer sets those numbers.

What is a HireVue on demand interview?

It is the pre recorded format. Questions appear on screen, you record each answer on your own, and a recruiter watches it later. Nobody is present while you speak and nobody reacts. That is different from HireVue's AI Interviewer, which the company markets as a two way voice conversation that asks and probes as you answer.

Does HireVue record your screen?

Your video and audio answers are recorded, because that is the format. On the screen question, HireVue's candidate FAQ, its candidate blog and its privacy policy contain no statement that it records, tracks or monitors your screen or other browser tabs. Its privacy policy describes ordinary device data such as IP address, browser type and operating system. Monitoring is configured by each employer, so read the assessment instructions and the employer's AI notice.

Who views my HireVue interview?

The employer's recruiters and hiring team. HireVue states that hiring decisions are made by people and that it never uses the video recording in order to identify you. It also says the retention period is chosen by the employer, not by HireVue, and that it purges the data when that period expires. To ask for deletion, contact the recruiter you have been dealing with.

Can HireVue detect cheating?

No primary source sets out what proctoring is switched on, and it varies by employer and by assessment. What is documented is that the scoring looks at the content of your answer against job relevant competencies, and that the games are randomized and adapt in difficulty. HireVue states there is no course that will help you game one of its assessments.

Can you practise a HireVue interview?

Not the exact questions. HireVue says there is no way to study for a video based assessment and that it works with no third parties to provide training or preparation services. What you can practise is the format: answering to a lens, on a timer, with no reaction coming back. A free live AI mock interview at /try-interview gives you that plus a recording to watch.

What questions does HireVue ask?

HireVue does not ask them. The employer writes them, which is why the questions differ between two companies using the same platform. In practice they follow familiar early screen shapes: tell me about yourself, why this company, a strength and a weakness, and a few behavioural prompts. The example cards above cover the 8 shapes that come up most.

Is there a HireVue interview questions and answers PDF?

There is no PDF here, and no employer publishes its own list, so any PDF offered elsewhere is guesswork sold as certainty. Everything useful is on this page, including the 8 question shapes and the 90 second answer skeleton. Print the page if you want something on paper to mark up.

Is HireVue legit?

Yes, it is a real hiring platform used by many employers, not a scam. Check that the invitation came from the company you actually applied to before entering anything. If the role is based in Illinois or you are applying in New York City, specific candidate protections apply, including notice about automated tools and, in Illinois, consent and a deletion right.

Why is my camera not connecting to HireVue?

Usually a permission or a conflict rather than a fault. Allow the browser camera prompt and reload. On Windows, check Settings, Privacy and security, Camera, and turn on camera access for apps and browsers. Quit any video call app holding the camera. It also runs on a phone or tablet, so switching device often solves it. If not, contact the recruiter or HireVue's candidate help centre.

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