Is it legal to record a job interview where you live?
It depends on where you and the interviewer are. US federal law and Canada's Criminal Code let one person on the call consent, and that person can be you, while several US states require everyone to agree. We found no all-party consent statute in the UK. The table sets out each rule as checked on October 22, 2026.
| Jurisdiction | Law checked | Whose consent the law requires | What it means for an interview call |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States (federal) | 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d) | One party to the call, which can be you | Allowed with your own consent, unless you record to commit a crime or a tort. State law can add stricter rules |
| US all-party consent states (California, Florida, Washington and others) | For example, California Penal Code 632 | Every party, with details that vary by state | Ask everyone and get the yes before you record. The full list is in the guide to two-party consent states |
| Canada | Criminal Code, section 184 | The person who speaks or the person they intend to hear it, express or implied | A participant's consent is enough under the Criminal Code. Provincial privacy law was not checked for this page |
| United Kingdom | Investigatory Powers Act 2016, sections 3 and 4 and UK GDPR Article 2 | No consent rule for participants in the interception offense | The offense targets people outside the call. Data protection law may still apply, so ask |
A short rule covers all four rows. If everyone on the call agrees before you start, you meet the strictest of these laws. That is the only rule that holds wherever the interviewer turns out to be.
What does US federal law say about recording a call?
Federal law lets a participant record a call. The Wiretap Act, at 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d), says it "shall not be unlawful" for a private person to intercept a call "where such person is a party to the communication." So under federal law alone, your own consent covers a job interview you take part in.
There is one exception in the same sentence. The protection falls away if the recording is made "for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act." Recording to review your answers is far from that, but the exception is a reason to keep the recording for your own use.
Federal law is the floor. States can set stricter rules, and several do. If you or the interviewer is in one of those states, you have to meet its rule as well as the federal one.
Which US states need everyone's consent to record?
A group of states require every person on the call to agree, with rules that differ in the details. California is the best known. Penal Code 632 makes it an offense to record a "confidential communication" without "the consent of all parties," with a fine of up to $2,500 per violation. Florida and Washington have similar all-party rules.
Florida Statutes 934.03 makes an interception lawful when "all of the parties to the communication have given prior consent." Washington's RCW 9.73.030 requires "the consent of all the participants" for a private call. Some states have partial versions that cover only phone calls or only in-person talk.
The state-by-state list, with the statute for each state and the places where the courts or the statutes disagree, is in the guide to one-party and two-party consent. Check your state and the interviewer's state there before your call.
What does Canadian law say about recording an interview?
Canada uses a one-party rule in its Criminal Code. Section 184(1) makes it an offense to knowingly intercept a private communication, with up to five years in prison. Section 184(2)(a) says that offense does not apply to a person who has the consent, "express or implied," of the person speaking or the person meant to hear it.
You are the person meant to hear the interviewer's words, so your own consent fits that wording. The Justice Laws page for section 184 showed the Act as current to September 30, 2026, when we checked it on October 22, 2026.
The Criminal Code is federal, so it applies in every province. We checked only the Criminal Code for this page. Provincial privacy laws were not checked, so look up your province's rules before you rely on this alone.
Is it legal to record a job interview in the UK?
The UK has no statute we found that makes every participant's consent a condition of recording your own call. The main interception offense is in section 3 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. Section 4 defines interception as making content available to someone who "is not the sender or intended recipient" of the communication.
On that wording, the offense is aimed at outsiders listening in. A candidate recording their own interview is the intended recipient of what the interviewer says. That reading comes from the statute text, and we found no UK court ruling on job interviews to confirm it.
Data protection law is less clear. UK GDPR Article 2 excludes processing "in the course of a purely personal or household activity." The ICO's guide to exemptions adds that this covers activity "with no connection to a professional or commercial activity." A job interview has a professional side, so whether your recording sits outside UK GDPR is unsettled. Ask first.
Which law applies if the interviewer is in another state or country?
There is no single answer, and courts have treated cross-border calls differently. In Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney in 2006, the California Supreme Court applied California's all-party rule to calls that a Georgia office recorded with California clients. Georgia allowed the recordings, and California's rule still governed future conduct.
That case was about a business recording its clients. It still shows that a stricter state's law can reach a call made from somewhere more relaxed. For a call between Canada and the US, or the UK and the US, we found no clear rule at all.
The practical answer is to follow the strictest law that could apply. If any person on the call is in an all-party state, treat the whole call as needing everyone's consent. The guide to cross-state calls and all-party states goes through the US rules in more detail.
What should you say before you record an interview?
Ask at the start, before you press record, in one sentence: "Would you mind if I record this so I can review my answers afterward?" That is the line in the guide to how to ask to record your interview, which also has versions for video and phone calls.
Once they agree, start recording and say it again so the agreement is on the recording. Washington's law treats an announcement as consent if "said announcement shall also be recorded." Getting the yes on the recording is the safest habit wherever you are.
Ask even where one-party consent would let you skip it. A video platform may show a notice when you record, as the guide to what Zoom, Teams and Meet show the other side explains. An interviewer who finds out halfway through is a worse outcome than a no.
What can you do if the interviewer says no?
Say "no problem" and keep the recorder off. Then write your notes within an hour of the call, while the questions and your answers are still fresh. The free 10-minute debrief template gives you five short parts to fill in, and it needs no recording.
The guide to what to do when an interviewer refuses recording covers how to ask without pressing the point. If you want the method behind the notes, what an interview debrief is explains how to review a round on your own.
A refusal tells you nothing bad about how the interview went. The interviewer may be following a company rule they have no say in. Your notes will cover most of what a recording would have caught.
How does Prept handle consent when you record?
Prept's position is to ask every time, even where the law would let you skip it. Before each recording, Prept asks you to confirm that everyone on the call knows they are being recorded. It takes you at your word, because it cannot check, so following the law where you and the interviewer are stays with you.
The audio goes to Google's paid Gemini API for transcription and is deleted once the transcript is written. The transcript stays until you delete it, and an interviewer who appears in one can email hello@prept.fyi to have it deleted. The interview recording privacy checklist lists the questions to ask of any tool.
Prept's free tier transcribes and debriefs one interview hour with no card, as analysis after the call, never during it. If everyone has agreed, you can record your first debrief on your next round, then use the guide to what to do with an interview transcript.