Your first live interview: Go live, Answer, Finish

1. Fill in Call prep: resume, role, and the job description if you have it.
2. Run the sound check in Call prep, with the meeting audio on the speaker or headset you will use.
3. Try a warm-up call once (⋯ → Warm-up call). It uses no minutes.
4. Learn three keys: Answer ⌘/CtrlEnter, hide or show HintCall ⌘/CtrlB, and Finish ⌘/CtrlShift⌫. On a Mac ⌫ is the delete key; on Windows it is Backspace.

Join your interview in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or any call app as usual. Then click Go live on the HintCall toolbar. Pressing Answer, Snap or Type first also starts the call.

1. Confirm the role

   If you have not set a role yet, HintCall asks What role is this interview for? Search for it (for example "Data Engineer") or browse a category, then click Start interview.

2. Check the details

   The Ready to go live? card shows what the answers will use: domain, resume, job description, your instructions and the interview language. Change anything in Call prep, or tick Don't ask again for this profile to skip this card next time.

3. Go live

   Click Go live. The toolbar now reads Listening, a timer starts next to your credits, and a red Finish button appears.

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When the interviewer finishes a question, press Answer:

• ⌘/CtrlEnter from any app (recommended), or ⌘/CtrlSpace.
• Space on its own when the HintCall window is in front.
• Or click Answer on the toolbar.

Answer sends the question you just heard, plus any new snaps, and the answer starts streaming under the toolbar within seconds. Answers appear only when you ask for them, unless you turn on Auto-answer.

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• Question at the top shows the question being answered, cleaned of filler like "Okay, great. So...". Only the display is cleaned; the AI still gets the full transcript.
• Say this first is the opening line, in large text. Start speaking with it while you read the rest.
• Key terms are highlighted, so you can glance and keep eye contact.

Scroll a long answer without touching the mouse: ⌘/CtrlShift, up and ⌘/CtrlShift. down. Text size, line spacing and layout are in Preferences → General.

Need to look something up, or want a shorter version? Press ⌘/CtrlShiftI or click Type, write your question, and press Enter. Esc closes the box. Typed questions get an answer the same way, and only you see them.

Click Finish or press ⌘/CtrlShift⌫. Listening and billing stop together. Hiding the overlay with ⌘/CtrlB does not end the call.

HintCall also protects your credits:

• If it hears no call audio at all, the session stops after 2 minutes.
• If nothing is heard or answered for 5 minutes, it asks Still in your interview? Click I'm here if you are waiting for the interviewer; otherwise the session stops.

A live session uses 1 credit per minute (on Unlimited plans, your daily copilot time instead). It is billed per started minute, from the first moment HintCall does something for you.

Three switches in Call prep → Advanced → More answer options:

• Auto-answer: an answer starts by itself when a question lands. Toggle it during a call with ⌘/CtrlShift;. Pressing Answer yourself stays the fastest.
• Hear my side: HintCall also transcribes your microphone, so follow-up answers build on what you already said. Headphones give the cleanest result.
• Recap after each interview: when you finish, a summary of what was covered and likely next-round questions.

Pause and resume listening at any time with ⌘/CtrlShiftU.

HintCall opens as its own window, and screen sharing leaves that window out, so the people on the call see your shared screen without it. Your mouse pointer is still shared, so use the keyboard rather than clicking the overlay during a share. Try it before a real interview with the warm-up call.

Every question and answer is in Live sessions in the web app, unless you keep history on this computer only. Recent interviews are also listed in ⋯ → Preferences → Account.

Next round coming up? Practise the questions you struggled with in a mock interview.