Mercor screens every applicant with one AI interview of about 20 minutes, and the questions come from your resume. You get three retakes in total, and Mercor never shows you the result. From Mercor’s own help pages, read 13 October 2026.
Your resume writes the questions
The interview is Mercor’s only screening method, and you cannot ask for a person instead. Its data page says the interviewer builds its questions from two things: your resume and the listing. Anything on the resume can become a question.
Say your resume lists Python, SQL and Tableau, and you once opened Tableau for a single dashboard. Expect a question about Tableau, and a follow-up when the first answer is thin. Put on the resume only what you can talk about for five minutes. Cut the rest before you start, because a resume you change afterwards does not change the questions you were already asked.
The same goes for what you say. Anything you mention gives the interviewer something to ask about next. Open with the work you know best.
Practise as often as you like, for free
Mercor runs a practice interview that belongs to no application. Mercor says it is free, can be taken any number of times, is never shared with companies and has no effect on future opportunities.
Use it until the format stops surprising you.
Three retakes, and each one costs something
Mercor allows an interview to be retaken up to three times across every application that uses it. That is three in total, not three per job. Retake it twice inside one application and a single attempt is left everywhere else that interview is asked for.
Three things come with every retake:
- Hiring managers can see how many times you retook it. Mercor’s interview waiting room asks you to keep retakes for technical problems for this reason.
- A retake resets your application progress. Mercor says so on both its interview and application pages.
- Only the latest attempt counts. Mercor’s application guide says a new attempt replaces the old one, so a worse second go is the one reviewed.
The route is the Assessments tab on your home page, then Retake assessment on the interview card, then a reason, then Retake interview. The full steps include one exception. The reason Different domain or language keeps your earlier attempt. Mercor says to use it only for a domain or language you have not taken before.
Ending early counts as well. Mercor marks an attempt that stops well short of its planned length Interview too short. You must retake it, and that retake comes out of your three.
So before you retake to improve, change something: the resume, or the work you open with. The questions come from the resume, so an unchanged resume brings back the same ground.
Get through the setup checks first
The interview opens in a waiting room with a Setup checks tab. Two checks are required, and Start interview stays grey until both pass:
- Working mic: press Test mic and read the phrase on screen aloud.
- Screenshare: only on interviews that need it, and only your entire screen, not a window or a tab.
The other checks (face in frame, lighting, a sharp and steady camera) do not block the button. They still decide how clear the recording is, and Mercor evaluates you from that recording.
Mercor recommends the latest Chrome, supports the latest Edge and Safari, and does not support Firefox or any phone browser. It also recommends headphones and an external microphone, a quiet room, and pen and paper, plus a calculator if the role involves numbers. Interviews are in English unless the listing says otherwise. Captions are on by default, and some interviews include a whiteboard that saves itself.
Long pauses invite an interruption
Mercor warns that a long pause may make the interviewer cut in. If that happens mid-thought, Mercor says you can tell it you were not finished. If you need time, say so out loud rather than going quiet.
You can also ask it to repeat or clarify a question. If something goes wrong inside the interview, use the Help button in the interface.
AI tools: grammar yes, answers no
Mercor’s LLM usage policy allows a tool like ChatGPT for grammar, word choice and light changes of tone. It prohibits using one to compose your answers, rate model responses, write rationales or predict what code will do. Mercor says answers that are clearly AI-generated will be flagged.
The questions come from your own resume and branch off whatever you just said. An answer read off a second screen falls apart at the first follow-up.
If it freezes or stops responding
Mercor’s own sequence, in order:
- Wait 30 to 60 seconds. Mercor says short delays happen while the AI prepares its next prompt.
- Refresh the page and rejoin.
- Switch to the latest Chrome.
- Check your connection.
- Clear Chrome’s cached images, files and cookies.
- Turn off VPNs, ad blockers and privacy extensions, or try an Incognito window.
If the tab froze or the connection dropped, reopen the Assessments tab and try again. If the session has already ended, the only way back is a retake. Email [email protected] with a screenshot or screen recording and the interview’s name; Mercor asks for that evidence on technical problems.
If the listing switches to Not accepting applications before you finish, you cannot complete that application. Mercor says this holds even if you started while it was open.
After: no score, no feedback, no date
Mercor does not share interview recordings or transcripts with you, and it says it cannot give specific feedback on an application or an interview. There is no published timeline either. You are told when an application moves to the next stage, and until then Mercor’s advice is to keep applying.
A completed interview never expires and carries over to every later application that asks for it. Mercor’s instant offers also read your verified interview results, so a hiring team can send you an offer for a role you never applied to. How a Mercor application is put together covers that in detail.
On your data: Mercor keeps the video, audio and AI transcript. It uses them to evaluate you and recommend you to companies, and says it does not sell them. It says interview data does not train third-party AI models. Its data page adds that Mercor trains its own internal recommendation models on it. Deleting your account removes the interview and transcript.
What Mercor does not publish
None of the following is on any Mercor page, so this site does not state it:
- whether a score exists, or how answers are weighted
- how long a decision takes after the interview
- whether your retake count ever resets
- whether tab switching or eye movement is monitored
- what hiring managers see beyond the retake count
A guide that gives you a number for one of these has no source for it.
Before you start
Trim the resume, do the practice interview, pass the setup checks in Chrome, and decide what you will open with. If you are weighing Mercor against micro1, the two interviews side by side compares retakes, results and feedback. Then pick the role closest to your own field from the open Mercor roles.
This site is not affiliated with Mercor, and passing the interview is not a promise of work.