Interview Timer

Track interview duration and speaking ratios with configurable time warnings.

Overview

The interview timer helps you keep track of:

• Total elapsed time — How long the interview has been running
• Speaking ratios — Balance between your speaking time and the interviewer's
• Time warnings — Alerts at configurable intervals (e.g., 30, 45, 60 minutes)

When to Use

The timer is automatically enabled by default and useful for:

• Long interviews — Stay aware of duration
• Time management — Balance your speaking time
• Scheduled interviews — Know when you're approaching time limits
• Speaking analysis — See if you're talking too much or too little

---

Enabling the Timer

Configuration

1. Open Settings (gear icon)
2. Go to Advanced Settings
3. Toggle Interview Timer

Settings

Setting	Description	Default
Interview Timer	Enable/disable timer	On
Time Warnings	Show notifications at set intervals	Off
Warning Minutes	Comma-separated minutes (e.g., "30,45,60")	30,45,60

---

How It Works

Timer Display

The timer appears in the title bar when:

• Recording is active (LIVE badge on)
• OR elapsed time > 0 (after stopping)

Title bar layout:

[Timer] [LevelBars] [LIVE/OFF] [MicToggle] [SpeakerMonitor] [ClearMenu] [Settings]

Visual Indicators

State	Indicator	Description
Recording	Pulsing dot ●	Timer is actively counting
Paused	Static display	Timer shows accumulated time
Hidden	No timer	Elapsed time is 0 and not recording

Time Format

Duration	Format	Example
< 1 hour	M:SS	25:34
≥ 1 hour	H:MM:SS	1:15:42

---

Speaking Ratio

Hover Details

Hover over the timer to see a popover with:

┌─────────────────┐
│  12:34          │  ← Total elapsed time
│  You: 45% 5:35  │  ← Your speaking time
│  Them: 55% 6:59 │  ← Interviewer(s) speaking time
└─────────────────┘

Speaking Detection

The timer tracks speaking time based on audio levels:

• Threshold: Audio above RMS 0.01 is considered "speaking"
• System audio = Interviewer's speaking time
• Microphone = Your speaking time
• Updated: Every 150ms (real-time)

Interpreting Ratios

Ratio	Interpretation	Advice
You: 30%	Listening more	Good for understanding questions
You: 50%	Balanced	Ideal for most interviews
You: 70%	Speaking more	May be giving overly long answers

---

Time Warnings

Configuring Warnings

1. Enable Time Warnings in settings
2. Set Warning Minutes to comma-separated values:

   30,45,60
   20,40
   15,30,45,60

Warning Notifications

When elapsed time crosses a threshold, you'll see:

📢 Interview time: 30 minutes

Warning Behavior

• One-time: Each warning fires only once per session
• Per session: Warnings reset when you clear the session
• Visual: Shows as a notification popup
• Sound: Uses system notification sound

Example Timeline

0:00  → Start interview
      → [Pulse dot appears, timer starts counting]

30:00 → "Interview time: 30 minutes"
      → [Notification appears]

45:00 → "Interview time: 45 minutes"

60:00 → "Interview time: 60 minutes"

65:00 → Interview ends
      → [Timer shows 1:05:00, pulse stops]

---

Session Management

Starting a Session

The timer starts when you click the microphone button (LIVE).

Mic: OFF → Mic: ON
Timer: Hidden → 0:00 (with pulse dot)

Pausing a Session

The timer pauses when you click the microphone again:

Mic: ON → Mic: OFF
Timer: Running → Paused at current time

Clearing a Session

Use the Clear menu (trash icon) to reset:

Clear Option	Timer Effect
Clear transcript & answers	Timer resets to 0
Clear speaker data	Timer unchanged
Clear all	Timer resets to 0

After clearing, the timer hides until you start recording again.

Settings During Live

If you open Settings while LIVE:

1. Audio capture pauses automatically
2. Timer pauses
3. When you close Settings, recording resumes
4. Timer continues from paused time

---

Validation

Warning Minutes Format

The Warning Minutes field is validated on save:

Valid formats:

30,45,60
20,40,60
15

Invalid formats:

abc          ← Not numbers
30,abc,60    ← Mixed invalid
60,30        ← Not ascending
-5,30        ← Negative numbers
1500         ← Over 24 hours

Error message:

Time warnings must be comma-separated positive integers 
in ascending order (e.g. 30,45,60)

---

Tips and Best Practices

For Panel Interviews

• Enable speaker diarization for accurate "Them" time
• Watch the ratio — multiple interviewers may increase "Them" time
• Don't worry if ratio is skewed early (setup questions)

For Technical Interviews

• You may speak more during coding explanations
• Expect 60-70% "You" time during coding portions
• Use warnings to track coding session length

For Behavioral Interviews

• Aim for roughly 50/50 balance
• STAR format answers should be concise (2-3 minutes)
• If "You" time exceeds 70%, consider shortening answers

General Advice

Situation	Target Ratio
Phone screen	40-50% You
Technical round	50-60% You
Behavioral	45-55% You
Final round (conversational)	50-50%

---

Troubleshooting

Timer Not Showing

Cause: Timer is disabled or conditions not met

Solutions:

• Check Interview Timer is enabled in Settings
• Click the microphone to start recording
• After stopping, timer shows if elapsed time > 0

Wrong Speaking Ratio

Cause: Audio level threshold issues

Solutions:

• Check your microphone level in Settings
• Ensure system audio is captured correctly
• Background noise may affect detection

Warnings Not Appearing

Cause: Time warnings disabled or format invalid

Solutions:

• Enable Time Warnings in Settings
• Verify Warning Minutes format (comma-separated numbers)
• Check notification permissions

Timer Stops Unexpectedly

Cause: Settings opened or clear menu used

Solutions:

• Timer pauses when Settings opens (normal behavior)
• Timer resets when "Clear session" is used (normal behavior)
• Check if LIVE indicator is still on

---

Integration with Other Features

Speaker Diarization

When both features are enabled:

• "Them" time includes all non-'you' speakers
• Speaking ratio shows combined interviewer time
• Use speaker monitor to see individual speaking times

Advanced Mode

Timer works independently of answer generation:

• Timer continues during LLM extraction
• Speaking ratios track actual audio, not question/answer flow
• No impact on answer generation timing

---

Comparison: Timer On vs Off

Feature	Timer Off	Timer On
Time display	Hidden	Shown in title bar
Speaking ratio	N/A	Available on hover
Time warnings	N/A	Optional notifications
Session tracking	No	Yes
Performance	Slightly less CPU	Minimal overhead

---

Next Steps

• Speaker Diarization — Multi-speaker identification
• Advanced Mode — Dual-LLM question extraction
• Basic Mode — Default workflow