Interviewer Mode is the side of CoPilot Interview for people who run interviews: hiring managers, recruiters, and anyone giving someone a practice interview. To set it up, open the desktop app's 🎤 Interviewer / HR tab, paste the job description and topics, add your own questions and the candidate's résumé, choose the duration, difficulty, AI model and language, and click 🎤 Start Interview. During the call it suggests questions, scores each answer you evaluate, and writes a candidate evaluation at the end.
CoPilot Interview is an AI interview assistant for Windows and macOS. Interviewer Mode is the same desktop app in a different mode, and it works on the free plan with no signup.
Before you start
- Install the desktop app (Windows 10 or later, macOS 12 or later). On first launch, click “Use the free plan” or enter a license key.
- Tell the candidate the call will be transcribed. The privacy policy notes that recording or transcribing a conversation may require the other participants' consent, depending on where you are.
- The app hears you through your microphone and the candidate through the computer's audio, meaning whatever the meeting app plays. On Windows this needs no extra software. On a Mac, the app's audio setup screen tells you which permission or audio driver it needs; follow it. If the captions area shows “● REC MIC — macOS: Install BlackHole for system audio capture. Mic recording active.”, the app is hearing only your microphone.
- In 1. Check your audio, click ▶ Start test. The first meter is You; the second is labelled Candidate. Play something in the meeting app to see the second one move.
Fill in the setup screen
| Field | What to enter | Default |
|---|---|---|
| 🔗 Job URL | The posting's link. If the description box is empty, the app tries to fetch the page when you start | Empty |
| ⏱ Duration | 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 min. The AI uses it to pace its question suggestions | 45 min |
| 📋 Company, Job Description & Topics | Company name, job description, and the topics to cover (System Design, Algorithms, Behavioral…) | Empty |
| 📝 Specific Questions | Your own questions, one per line. They are suggested first | Empty |
| 📄 Candidate Resume | Paste it or click 📎 Attach, so questions can probe the candidate's real claims | Empty |
| 🎯 Difficulty | Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert or Mixed (gradually harder) | Medium |
| 🤖 AI Model | The model that suggests questions, evaluates answers and writes the report. Locked models show 🔒 Pro or 🔒 Pro+ | Mercury (free) |
| 🌐 Lang | One of 10 languages for questions, evaluations and the report | English |
| ⚡ Dual AI Mode | Adds a 2nd AI whose output appears in a second column | Off |
Then click 🎤 Start Interview.
Run the interview
- The 💡 Suggested next questions column fills with six ranked questions, each with a category, a difficulty and a short reason to ask it now. Your Specific Questions come first, tagged 📝 planned. Click Ask to make one the current question, ✕ to drop it, or ↻ Refresh to re-plan the list.
- Or click 🤖 Next Question for one new question in the category and difficulty selected by the chips: 💻 Coding (selected at start), 🔧 Technical, 🏗 System Design, 🗣 Behavioral or 👔 HR Screen, and 🟢 Easy, 🟡 Med, 🔴 Hard or ⚫ Expert.
- Each question card shows the question, its category and difficulty, and What to look for in a good answer. Ask it in your own words.
- When the candidate finishes, click 📊 Evaluate Answer. The evaluation gives a score from 1 to 10, an assessment, strengths, weaknesses and one or two follow-up questions. The suggestions then re-plan, with one or two marked ↩ follow-up.
- At the end, click 📊 Summary for the candidate evaluation (see Interviewer Mode reports), then End. The session is saved in Documents › CoPilot Interview › Sessions.
Generated questions are a starting point, not a structured interview by themselves; what to do with generated questions covers turning them into consistent scoring.
Limits
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Session length | Free: 15 minutes, whatever Duration you pick. Standard and hour packs: 60 minutes. Pro and Pro+: 70 minutes. Duration doesn't end the session |
| Evaluate Answer | Needs recorded audio of the answer; otherwise “No audio recorded — let the candidate answer first” |
| Scoring areas | The report always uses five fixed areas. There are no custom rubric fields; steer it through the job description and topics box |
| Languages | 10: English, Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Data | Audio goes in short segments through our server to the speech-to-text provider and isn't stored on our servers. The résumé, job description and what was said go to the AI model you picked, through our proxy |
Troubleshooting
- The Candidate meter doesn't move. Set the meeting app's speaker to the output device you're listening on. On a Mac, follow the app's audio setup notice.
- “Couldn't plan questions: …” or “The model returned no usable list — press ↻ Refresh to retry.” Press ↻ Refresh, or pick another 🤖 AI Model in your next session.
- A model says it needs the Pro plan. The model is locked on your plan and the app keeps your previous choice. Use one of the free models.
- 📊 Summary says “No candidate answers recorded yet”. Click 📊 Evaluate Answer after at least one answer first.
Frequently asked questions
Is Interviewer Mode free?
Yes. It's part of the same desktop app and works on the free plan, with sessions of up to 15 minutes and 15 minutes a day. Paid plans allow 60- or 70-minute sessions; see the pricing page for details.
Does the AI decide whether to hire the candidate?
No. It suggests questions, scores answers and drafts a report. The hiring decision and accountability stay with you and your team. For using AI in your process responsibly, see the guide to <a href="/blog/ai-interview-assistant-for-hiring-managers">AI interview assistants for hiring managers</a>.
Can I use our own scorecard?
Not as a setting. Put your competencies in the 📋 Company, Job Description & Topics box and your must-ask questions in 📝 Specific Questions. The report still scores the same five areas, so keep your own scorecard alongside it.
Can I use Interviewer Mode to give a friend a practice interview?
Yes. Mock-interview practice is one of its intended uses. Paste the job they're applying for and their résumé, and use the evaluations as feedback.
Run your next interview in Interviewer Mode
Suggested questions from the job description, a score for each answer you evaluate, and a candidate evaluation with a Hire, No hire or Maybe recommendation. Same desktop app for Windows and macOS, free plan included.
Get the desktop app