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Conducting Interviews

How to run interviews effectively with InsightAgent.

Starting an Interview​

Phone Interview​

  1. Navigate to the interview
  2. Ensure dial-in details are configured (phone number, meeting ID)
  3. Click Launch AI Agent
  4. Wait for the connection to establish
  5. The agent joins the conference and waits for the expert (see Human Detection below)
  6. The AI agent begins the conversation when the expert speaks

Web Interview​

  1. Navigate to the interview
  2. Click Copy Link (available when interview is SCHEDULED)
  3. Send the link to the expert via email or message
  4. Wait for them to join
  5. The interview begins when they connect and allow microphone access

Human Detection (Phone Interviews)​

When the AI agent joins a phone conference, it waits silently until it detects a real human speaking before starting the interview. This intelligent detection handles common scenarios like:

  • Expert joining late
  • Hold music playing
  • Automated system prompts ("Please wait for the host...")
  • Conference bridge announcements

How It Works​

  1. Agent Joins — The AI agent dials in and joins the conference bridge
  2. Waiting State — Status changes to Waiting for Expert with an amber indicator
  3. Listening — The agent listens silently, using AI to classify each utterance
  4. Human Detected — When a real human speaks, the interview begins automatically
  5. Timeout — If no human is detected within 5 minutes, the call ends

What You'll See​

While the agent is waiting:

  • Status Badge: Amber "Waiting for Expert" with animated pulsing dot
  • Banner: "Agent connected to conference — waiting for expert to join the call..."
  • Interview Locked: Cannot edit the interview during this state

Important Notes​

  • The agent stays completely silent while waiting — no greetings until a human speaks
  • System messages, hold music, and automated prompts are ignored
  • The 5-minute timeout prevents indefinite waiting if the expert doesn't join
  • This feature applies to phone interviews only (web interviews connect directly)

During the Interview​

Live Transcript​

Monitor the conversation in real-time as it happens:

  • Messages appear instantly as they're spoken
  • Speaker identification (InsightAgent vs Expert)
  • Session indicators show connection status
  • No need to wait for the interview to complete

The live transcript continues streaming until the interview ends. See Transcripts for details on live transcript features.

Completed Transcript​

After the interview completes, the full transcript is available with:

  • Timestamped entries (relative time from start)
  • Automatic punctuation and formatting
  • Audio playback synchronization

Interview Controls​

ControlAction
Stop AI Agent & CompleteEnd the phone interview
Cancel CallAbort the call without completing

AI Agent Behavior​

The AI agent will:

  • Follow your configured question flow
  • Ask clarifying follow-ups
  • Keep the conversation on track
  • Politely wrap up when complete

Finishing an Interview Later​

An expert who needs to stop partway through doesn't have to abandon the interview. Come back later lets them say so deliberately, and their existing link stays open.

They pick how long they need — In about an hour, Tomorrow, or In a few days — and get a confirmation telling them the link is held until that time. Fewer options may be offered depending on how your account is configured.

Choosing this ends the current recording. It means "I'm stopping now", not "hold the line open".

What the expert gets when they return​

This is the part worth understanding, because the two outcomes differ:

  • Back within the hour — they resume the same conversation. The AI interviewer picks up where it left off and doesn't re-ask what they've already answered.
  • Back later than that — the interview starts again from the first question, and the earlier connections are dropped from the delivered interview. What you receive is the new conversation, not both.

The screen tells the expert which of the two will happen before they commit, so nobody is surprised into losing an hour of their own answers.

What you see​

The interview stays In Progress and shows a banner reading "Expert asked to finish later" with the date and time the link is held until. It won't be auto-completed before then, so it won't be swept up as abandoned and nobody needs to chase it.

There's no separate "on hold" status to filter on — a hold is a modifier on an in-progress interview, shown on the interview itself.

Handling Issues​

Expert Doesn't Answer (Phone)​

  • The system will automatically retry up to 3 times
  • If all attempts fail, the interview status returns to SCHEDULED
  • You can try again later with Launch AI Agent

Expert Doesn't Join Conference (Phone)​

  • If the agent joins the conference but no human speaks within 5 minutes, the call ends automatically
  • The interview is marked as completed with a "no show" reason
  • Check that the expert has the correct dial-in details and meeting ID

Connection Issues (Web)​

  • Expert can refresh their browser
  • Provide the link again if needed
  • Check that the expert has allowed microphone permissions
  • Check for firewall blocking WebSocket connections

If the expert's connection drops, the interview is held open and they can carry on from where they left off. The AI interviewer picks up the thread rather than starting over — it doesn't re-introduce itself, re-read the compliance statement, or re-ask anything they've already answered.

When they reopen the link they'll see one of two things:

  • Resume — the conversation is still recoverable. The interviewer names the interruption, then continues. Start Fresh sits alongside it for anyone who'd rather begin again; it discards what they've shared so far.
  • Start the interview — too long has passed to pick up the thread, so the interview begins again from the first question. The screen says so plainly rather than offering a resume it can't deliver.

An expert can also switch to a phone call partway through, using Switch to phone call. The conversation continues on the phone instead of restarting, and both legs arrive as a single interview.

The transcript marks each point where they reconnected, so you can see where the interruptions fell.

Expert Goes Quiet (Web)​

If nothing is heard from the expert for about 30 seconds, two things happen: they see a prompt asking them to check their microphone, and the AI interviewer asks whether they're still there. Clicking I'm here — keep going tells us they're present and the interview continues.

If there's still no response, the session ends on its own rather than sitting in silence. The partial transcript and recording are kept.

The most common cause is a muted or wrong-device microphone, so it's worth asking the expert to check that first.

Need to Stop Early​

  • Click Stop AI Agent & Complete to end the call
  • The partial transcript is saved automatically

Post-Interview Redirect​

You can send experts to your own page the moment they finish, instead of leaving them on the InsightAgent thank-you screen — useful if you want to run your own confirmation, survey, or scheduling step.

Set redirectUrl on the interview (see Create Interview). When the expert finishes:

  • The thank-you screen shows a 5-second countdown and a Continue now button, so they can go immediately or wait.
  • They land on your URL with interviewId and status appended, alongside any query string you already had.

A few deliberate limits:

  • Phone interviews are never redirected — there's no browser session to redirect.
  • If the expert reopens the link later, they get a plain link to your page rather than an automatic redirect. Sending someone away from a page they deliberately opened would be the wrong behaviour.
  • If the interview ends without completing — a dropped connection, for example — no redirect fires. The redirect signals a finished interview, so it only runs when one actually finished.

Post-Interview​

After the interview completes:

  1. Full transcript is available in the left panel
  2. Audio recording is available via the player
  3. AI-generated summary and key quotes appear in the Analysis tab
  4. Export transcript as Text, JSON, or PDF
  5. View session statistics

See Interview Analysis for details on the AI-generated summary and quotes.