To start your first CoPilot Interview session, open the app and click Use the free plan (or activate your key), switch to the 🎯 Candidate tab, run the audio check, paste the job description and your résumé, and click 🎙 Start Session. Listening starts on its own. When the interviewer finishes a question, click ⚡ AI Answer or press Ctrl+Shift+A. Make your first session a rehearsal, not a real interview.
CoPilot Interview is an AI interview assistant for Windows and Mac. If you haven't installed it yet, start with the setup guide; for paid plans, see how to activate a license key.
Start the session, step by step
- Open the app. A new install asks for a license key: paste yours and click 🔑 Activate License, or click Use the free plan.
- The first time, the setup screen opens on the 🎤 Interviewer / HR tab; after that it remembers your last tab. Click 🎯 Candidate. The ❔ button replays a guided tour of the screen.
- Under 1. Check your audio, pick your 🎤 Microphone and 🔊 Speaker, click ▶ Start test, speak, and play something through your computer. Both meters, You and Interviewer, should move.
- Set 🌐 Language to the language the interviewer will speak. One setting controls both captions and answers.
- Leave 🤖 AI Model on the default, Mercury, for a first run. Models marked 🔒 Pro or 🔒 Pro+ need those plans.
- Paste the job into 📋 Company & Job Description, or paste the 🔗 Job Posting URL and leave the description empty: the app tries to fetch the posting when you start. Paste your résumé under Your Resume, or use 📎 Attach File (.pdf, .txt, .doc, .docx, .rtf or .md). Both are added to every answer.
- Leave ⚡ Auto Generate AI Response off for now (“Off — click Answer manually”).
- Click 🎙 Start Session. The session screen opens and listening starts.
The controls you need on day one
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Captions status | “● REC MIC+SYS”: hearing you and the computer. “● REC SYS”: the interviewer only, your voice isn't captured. “● REC MIC”: your microphone only |
| ⚡ AI Answer (Ctrl+Shift+A) | Answers the question just asked |
| 🆕 New Q (Ctrl+Shift+Q) | Clears the transcript so the AI focuses only on the next question |
| ✂️ Short, • Bullets, 📖 Reader | Shape the answer: 2-3 sentences, short bullets, or a teleprompter layout |
| 🔄 Redo, 📝 Longer, ✂️ Shorter | Rework the last answer |
| Ctrl+Shift+L | Pauses or resumes listening |
| End | Finishes the session and saves it |
On a Mac, use ⌘+Shift in place of Ctrl+Shift.
A five-minute rehearsal
- Start a session as above, wearing the headphones you plan to use.
- Play a short video of someone asking an interview question through your computer.
- Watch the CC Captions. When the question ends, click ⚡ AI Answer; the site says a structured answer lands in about 2 seconds.
- Say your own answer out loud, using the structure as a prompt, then click 🆕 New Q and try another question.
- Click End.
Use your first sessions to rehearse. In a real interview, follow your employer's rules. Proctored tests, online assessments and AI-led rounds forbid outside help, so prepare for those with the mock interview instead.
Free plan limits
| Limit | Free plan |
|---|---|
| Live time | 15 minutes a day, counted per minute across any number of sessions |
| Session length | Up to 15 minutes, capped at the minutes you have left today |
| Warning | “⚠ 2 minutes remaining in this session” |
| Daily minutes used up | “You've used your 15 free trial minutes today. Get a plan at copilotinterview.com to keep going.” |
| Silence | After 10 minutes with no voice, recording pauses and the clock stops; click Resume or press Ctrl+Shift+L |
| Reset | Free minutes reset at midnight UTC |
Standard gives 60-minute sessions and up to 100 minutes a day, reset at your local midnight; Pro and Pro+ give 70-minute sessions with no daily limit.
After the session
Clicking End saves the session as a Markdown file in Documents › CoPilot Interview › Sessions and shows “Interview saved” with an Open folder button. The file holds the questions asked, the answers, the full transcript and the AI summary. In the session, 📊 Summary builds a report card: an overall score from 1 to 10, five scored areas, strengths, areas to improve with practice drills, and likely next-round questions.
For what happens behind each answer, read how CoPilot Interview works.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “No active plan on this device.” | Enter your key, or choose Use the free plan on the license screen |
| “● REC MIC” and no interviewer captions | Set the meeting app and your computer to the same output device. On a Mac, follow the app's audio notice; it may name the BlackHole driver |
| “● REC SYS” | Your microphone isn't captured: check its permission (Windows switches, or Mac Privacy & Security) |
| Garbled captions | Bluetooth earbuds lose quality while their microphone is in use; use wired headphones |
| “The interviewer seems to be speaking …” | Click the Switch button in that notice to match the language |
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a résumé to start a session?
No, but the résumé and job description are added to every answer, so answers are more specific with them.
Does the session start listening automatically?
Yes. Clicking 🎙 Start Session opens the session screen and starts listening. Press Ctrl+Shift+L to pause or resume.
Can the app answer without me clicking?
Yes. Turn on ⚡ Auto Generate AI Response on the setup screen; it then answers after a silence. It's off by default.
Where is my first session saved?
In Documents › CoPilot Interview › Sessions, as a Markdown file named with the date, time, company and role.
Can I use it in an online assessment?
No. Online assessments and AI-led interviews forbid outside help. Practice for them with a mock interview, and follow your employer's rules.
Practice this interview before the real one
The AI mock interview builds questions from your resume and the job description, reads them aloud and scores each spoken answer out of 10. Included on the free plan.
Start a mock interview