How to Take Great Interview Notes

Taking notes during an interview serves many important purposes. Interview notes act as a comprehensive record of the conversation, helping you to recall important details that might otherwise be forgotten – especially when you’re interviewing multiple candidates. They also make it easier to compare candidates, and provide a legal safeguard in the hiring process.

But it can be tough to strike the balance between actively participating in the conversation and recording important details for future reference.

Learning how to take great interview notes not only ensures you leave the interview with critical information, but also improves the interview experience for both you and the candidate.

In this guide we’ll discuss the importance of good interview notes, what you should include in your notes, and best practices when it comes to note-taking during interviews.

Jump to:

• Why are interview notes important?
• What should you include in your interview notes?
• How to take notes during an interview
• Automate note-taking with Transcribe

Why are interview notes important?

Interview notes are important in a range of fields, whether you’re a journalist, a researcher, or a recruiter/hiring manager. In this article we’ll be focusing on job interviews in particular, but many of the points included apply to journalism interviews and research interviews too.

Here are some of the key benefits of taking notes during an interview:

• Serves as a written record of the interview, which can be referred back to later
• Helps you remember important details after the interview has ended, especially when you’re interviewing multiple candidates over several days
• Makes it easier to compare candidates in a fair and consistent way
• Shows you are interested in the candidate and their answers
• Protects you against discrimination claims by helping you to defend hiring decisions
• Helps you provide structured feedback to unsuccessful candidates
• Makes it easier to collaborate with other team members, as these notes can be shared

What should you include in your interview notes?

Your interview notes should highlight the candidate's relevant responses and any details that relate to their suitability for the role.

Here are the essential things to include:

• Key details about the interview, including date, time, location, candidate information, and the interviewer’s name
• Key questions asked and a summary of the candidate’s responses
• Relevant details about the candidate’s skills, qualifications, and experience
• Your observations based on the candidate’s answers, including strengths and weaknesses, cultural fit, and how suitable they are for the position

Your notes should make it clear whether you plan to progress with each candidate.

What do good interview notes look like?

While the interview note-taking process will vary depending on your industry, company, and the role you’re recruiting for, there are a few qualities that all great interview notes have in common.

Good interview notes are:

• Concise – Focused on the most important details
• Structured – Organized and clearly formatted for easy reading and quick reference
• Legible – Whether written by hand or typed, the notes should be easy to refer back to
• Objective – With factual observations rather than subjective opinions (until the stage where you leave your observations)
• Professional – Free from any inappropriate comments or discriminatory remarks
• Consistent – With the same information recorded for all candidates

How to take notes during an interview

Here are eight tips to help you take better interview notes:

Prepare in advance

As with many things, preparation is key. Before the interview process begins, create a note-taking template with sections for different types of information. For example, there should be a section for key details, key questions and answers, details about the candidate’s skills, qualifications, and experience, and finally, a section for your observations. It’s also a good idea to include a box for you to rate the candidate out of 10, as this will help you to quickly decide which candidates to take forward to the next stage.

Choose the right tools

To help you with note-taking during the interview, think about whether you’d prefer to use pen and paper, a laptop, or a tablet. Digital tools can be quicker and easier to use, but pen and paper might be quieter and less distracting for the candidate.

If you find that you struggle to take notes manually, AI note-taking tools like Transcribe provide the perfect solution. Our AI transcription tool helps to generate interview notes by automatically transcribing the interview and creating a detailed, searchable record of the interview. We’ll tell you more about us later!

Read more: 9 benefits of transcribing interviews

Brief the candidate

At the start of the interview, inform the candidate that you will be taking notes (or recording the interview), and explain why. Being upfront about this helps set expectations and keeps things transparent, and it also shows the candidate that you’re going to be attentive and focused on their responses.

Note down key information

The trick here is to concentrate on capturing the essence of the candidate's responses, rather than trying to get everything down word for word. Note down important information from their responses – enough to help you remember what they said – and right after the interview you can expand those notes before you forget the details.

Use shorthand or symbols

It’s also a good idea to create your own shorthand or use symbols to speed up the note-taking process. Think about common things you hear in interviews and come up with codes. For example, you might use “Ldr” for leadership experience, “Mgmt” for management experience, and ticks and crosses to indicate positive or negative responses.

Prioritize listening over writing

It’s important to take notes, but it’s even more important to actively listen to what the candidate is saying. If the balance tips in favor of note-taking, you might miss important nuances, including body language and facial expressions. What’s more, maintaining eye contact is vital, as it helps to build a connection with the candidate, making them feel more engaged and confident, and more likely to give their best interview.

Try to balance listening and writing by only jotting down key points, and making sure you focus on actively listening and maintaining eye contact.

That’s why Transcribe is particularly handy. It takes notes for you, so you can stay fully focused on the conversation, without distraction.

Summarize the interview

At the end of the interview, jot down a quick summary of your overall impressions and any particular strengths or concerns about the candidate. Capture your initial impressions while they're fresh in your mind, but make sure any hiring decisions are based on objective evidence and the requirements of the role.

Review your interview notes

You might have had to rush straight into another meeting or interview after that one came to an end, so when you get the time (ideally as soon as possible), review your interview notes to clarify any unclear points and to make sure the notes are comprehensive, easy to read, and organized. This will help you to refer back to them later in the hiring process.

Automate note-taking with Transcribe

Transcribe is an AI-powered transcription tool that takes away the stress of having to listen, engage, and take great interview notes all at the same time!

With Transcribe, recruiters and hiring managers can focus on interviews while the tool generates automated notes on their behalf. Simply upload your audio or video recording, and you’ll receive a detailed transcript just minutes after the meeting has ended. Transcribe can also summarize the transcript for you. From there, you can edit it, share it with colleagues, and use it to compare candidates.

We support more than 120 languages and dialects, plus a variety of import and export formats, and we’re on hand to offer professional support if you need any assistance.

Check out our guide on how to transcribe an interview for more information.