Using Raven for Technical Interviews, A Step-by-Step Guide

Technical interviews are high-stakes for everyone involved. Interviewers need to evaluate candidates accurately while maintaining a natural conversation. Candidates need to think clearly under pressure while demonstrating their skills. In both cases, having a smart assistant that stays out of the way but helps when needed can make a significant difference.

Here's how to set up and use Raven for technical interviews.

For interviewers

As an interviewer, your goal is to evaluate the candidate fairly and thoroughly. Raven helps by keeping track of everything that's said so you can focus on listening, and by providing evaluation assistance when you ask for it.

Step 1: Create an Interview mode.

Go to the Raven dashboard and create a new mode called "Interview." Set the system prompt to something like:

"I'm conducting a technical interview. When I ask for help, analyze the candidate's most recent answer. Evaluate their response for technical correctness, depth of understanding, and communication clarity. Identify areas they didn't address or oversimplified, and suggest follow-up questions to probe those gaps. Track patterns across their answers - are they consistently strong in certain areas and weak in others? Don't provide the correct answers yourself - your job is to help me assess, not to interview for me."

Step 2: Set up a notes template.

Add sections like:

• "Technical Assessment" - instructions: "Evaluate the candidate's technical depth, correctness, and problem-solving approach for each question."

• "Communication" - instructions: "Assess how clearly the candidate explains their thinking, handles ambiguity, and asks clarifying questions."

• "Red Flags" - instructions: "Note any concerning patterns: copied answers, inconsistencies, overconfidence without substance."

• "Recommendation" - instructions: "Based on everything discussed, provide an overall assessment and hiring recommendation."

Step 3: Upload your rubric.

If you have an interview rubric, scoring guide, or question bank, upload it as a context file. During the interview, when you ask for an evaluation, the AI will reference the rubric's criteria.

Step 4: During the interview.

Start recording when the interview begins. The transcript runs in real time - you'll see what the candidate says labeled as "system" and what you say labeled as "mic."

After the candidate answers a question, use the "Assist" quick action or press Cmd+Enter. The AI will evaluate their answer against your rubric and suggest follow-up questions. You can also use "Recap" between sections to see a summary of how the interview is going.

Step 5: After the interview.

Stop recording. Raven saves the complete session - the full transcript, every AI evaluation you requested, and a structured summary based on your notes template. Use this for your debrief instead of relying on memory.

For candidates

As a candidate, your goal is to perform at your best. Raven helps by keeping a record of questions (so you don't miss multi-part questions), providing hints when you're genuinely stuck, and giving you confidence that you can review the conversation afterward.

Step 1: Create a Candidate mode.

Set the system prompt to something like:

"I'm in a technical interview as the candidate. If I ask for help, give me a hint to get unstuck - don't give the complete answer. Help me think through the problem by suggesting an approach or pointing out something I might be overlooking. If I ask what was just asked, repeat the interviewer's question clearly. Be very concise - I'm reading this during a live conversation."

Step 2: Enable stealth mode.

This should be on by default, but verify in settings. Stealth mode ensures the overlay is invisible to screen sharing. Even if the interviewer asks you to share your screen for a live coding exercise, they won't see the Raven overlay.

Step 3: During the interview.

Use Raven primarily as a safety net, not a crutch. The transcript is incredibly useful for catching multi-part questions — interviewers sometimes ask "Tell me about X, and also how would you handle Y in that context?" and it's easy to forget the second part.

When you're genuinely stuck, press Cmd+Enter and ask for a hint. The AI will nudge you in the right direction without giving you the answer. This is the difference between using AI to cheat and using AI to perform at your actual ability level.

Step 4: After the interview.

Review the session to see what you said, what the interviewer asked, and how the conversation flowed. This is valuable for improving your interviewing skills over time - you might notice patterns like taking too long to start answering, or consistently missing certain types of follow-up questions.

A note on ethics

We want to be direct about this: using AI assistance in an interview without disclosure is a gray area. Raven is a tool - how you use it is your decision. Our recommendation is to use it as a safety net for your genuine abilities, not as a substitute for them. If you use Raven to ace an interview for a role beyond your actual skills, you'll struggle in the job. Use it to perform at your best, not at someone else's best.