How to Write Good Interview Notes? Examples, Tips & Tricks

Did you leave an interview and realize you missed capturing key points? Interview notes preserve critical insights for informed hiring decisions and efficient hiring processes.

This article explains how to improve note-taking skills and write comprehensive and valuable notes, including an interview notes template. Importantly, it unveils how an AI Meeting Assistant with a Note-taking feature helps document interview details effortlessly and productively.

Why Are Interview Notes Important?

“The palest ink is better than the best memory,” as the Chinese proverb says. Of course, gone are the days when only ink was used to take notes. But the saying is a timeless reminder of how important note-taking is, including interview notes.

Interview note-taking helps:

• Facilitate keeping track of all essential interview details
• Improve memory
• Enhance understanding
• Better process information
• Remember candidates accurately
• Distinguish between candidates
• Asses candidates fairly based on their values, experiences, and unique qualities
• Record your impressions
• Remember how well candidates answered the questions
• Compare candidates to make more informed hiring decisions
• Collaborate with the human resources (HR) team to make better hiring decisions and discuss these notes during HR meetings.

And the best part is that you can even use an AI-powered note-taking solution, such as an AI Meeting Assistant, to capture key discussion points more accurately. After all, accurate documentation results in better analysis, decision-making, and follow-up.

Importantly, interview notes don’t refer only to recruiters. Candidates can also take notes during hiring processes to compare companies and make final decisions.

What Should Be Included in Interview Notes?

Knowing what to record helps you take notes effectively and in an organized manner. After all, taking effective interview notes is key to making informed hiring decisions. Effective information recording refers to both traditional hiring processes and informal interviews during casual meetings.

Moreover, when recording meeting details, show interest in what the candidate says by listening attentively and asking questions. Remember to maintain eye contact for concentration and focus.

Here’s a friendly guide to help you out:

Brief Overview of the Candidate’s Background

Start by noting the candidate’s background and education. Specifically, note their education, previous job titles, and relevant experience.

For example, “Tom Brown has an MBA from ABC University and five years of experience in digital marketing.”

How Well the Candidate Answered Your Questions

Highlight the key responses and impressions. Did the candidate provide detailed, relevant answers?

For instance, “Tom explained his role in a successful campaign that increased sales by 30%. He was articulate and demonstrated a strong understanding of marketing strategies.”

Cultural Fit and Compatibility with Your Team

Ensure your interview notes include what the candidate values and how they fit your company’s culture. What do they appreciate most about working in a team? What drives them in their day-to-day work?

For example, “Tom values teamwork and innovation, which aligns well with our company culture.”

What Makes the Candidate Stand Out from the Competition

Capture unique qualities or skills that make the candidate attractive. These include empathy, critical thinking, adaptability, enthusiasm, and conflict resolution.

For instance, “Tom is proficient in SEO and has a certification in Google Analytics, which is a bonus for our marketing team.”

Overall Impression Summary

Create an objective summary of your overall impression to remember the candidate’s demeanor. Were they confident, nervous, or enthusiastic? Record the candidate’s performance. When did they excel or could have done better?

For instance, “Tom was confident and enthusiastic, showing a strong passion for digital marketing. However, he could have prepared better for the interview.”

Follow-up Questions and Action Items

Include follow-up questions and action items to transform your interview into a research instrument. For example, “Need to verify Tom’s portfolio and check references.”

How Do You Write Interview Notes? Best Practices and Tips

With 87% of recruiters considering talent acquisition a more strategic function in 2023, conducting professional interviews is more vital than ever. And good notes make hiring processes professional.

What are the guidelines for documenting interview notes?

Prepare Interview Notes in Advance

Preparation is vital. For this, review the candidate’s background and the topics you plan to cover in advance to create an outline of the main questions. This way, you can focus on the discussion instead of trying to find questions on the spot.

For example, hiring manager Ann reviews candidates’ resumes the day before an interview. Simultaneously, she prepares a question list tailored to the candidate’s experience.

Write Formal Invitation Notes to Send to Candidates

To ensure clear communication and proper scheduling, prepare formal invitation notes, which can detail the date, time, and location of the interview. Also, add preparation instructions, such as, “The preliminary interview will take about thirty (30) minutes by telephone or videoconference.”

For instance, Ann always emails candidates to confirm their interview. Specifically, she provides the office address, interview time, and a reminder to bring their portfolio and references.

Bring Notes to Your Interview

Bring the critical points prepared in advance. They’ll help you stay organized and cover all essential topics. Specifically, these points can include specific questions, topics to explore, and reminders of the candidate’s background. So, the answer to “Can I bring notes to an interview?” is “Yes.”

For example, Ann prepared the following points to bring to the interview for a marketing manager’s position:

• Verify marketing project success.
• Ask about leadership experience.
• Discuss how the candidate handles tight deadlines.

Use a Structured Format

A structured format helps you stay organized and ensures you include all key points in your interview notes. Commonly, recruiters use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method, especially for behavioral interviews.

Here, the Situation is a described scenario, the Task is what the candidate has been tasked with in that scenario, the Action describes the steps taken to complete the task, and the Result is what the candidate achieved.

Generally, Ann organizes the essential points this way:

• Background: Tom Brown, MBA from ABC University.
• Critical Responses: Discussed successful marketing campaigns.
• Skills: Proficient in SEO and Google Analytics.
• Cultural Fit: Values teamwork and innovation.
• Follow-up Questions: Verify portfolio and check references.

Record the Interview (With Permission)

Interview recording lets you focus on the conversation without worrying about missing essential discussion points. As a result, you can turn the chaos of scattered information into organized, accessible discussion records.

However, remember to ask for permission before recording. For example, Ann always asks her candidates if she can record their conversations,

Highlight Key Points and Quotes

Stress essential information concerning the candidate’s qualifications, such as memorable features and aspects. As a result, you can quickly identify critical points when reviewing the information later.

For instance, Ann uses colored highlighters to mark critical quotes, essential statistics, and action items.

Practice Active Listening

Active listening, also called “reflective listening,” lets you entirely focus, concentrate, understand, respond, and then remember what the candidate said. As a result, you can take more accurate interview notes and engage more effectively with the candidate.

For example, Ann consciously maintains eye contact, nods, and asks follow-up questions.

Keep Your Notes Short

You can keep your notes short by stressing what matters most. To keep that balance, include only the most relevant responses and details about the candidate. Additionally, paraphrasing quotes lets you save time and avoid misquoting the candidate.

For instance, Ann uses bullet points to make the written pieces concise:

• Experience: Five years in digital marketing.
• Essential Skills: SEO, Google Analytics.
• Achievements: Increased sales by 30%.
• Cultural Fit: Team-oriented, innovative.

Ask Candidates to Repeat Themselves

If you didn’t understand the candidate’s answer, ask them to repeat it to ensure accuracy and clarity in your interview notes. Moreover, you’ll prevent miscommunication and retain and absorb the information better.

For example, while interviewing Tom, Ann missed a key detail regarding his skills, so she asked, “Could you please repeat how you managed the project timeline?”

Use Scorecards for Each Position

Keep the score using scorecards to standardize the evaluation process and ensure objective comparison, consistency, and thoroughness. A scorecard is a rating system. It scores how well candidates match the set criteria for a role based on technical, interpersonal, and values-based questions.

For instance, Ann uses an interview scorecard with sections for qualifications, experience, skills, cultural fit, and space for notes and ratings. To fill these sections, she asks different questions, such as “Describe your experience with (specific skill or job function) and “Can you provide an example of a challenging situation you resolved?”

Summarize Your Interview Notes Without Delay

Take a few minutes to summarize the material right after the meeting. Why? Immediate summarization reinforces the information you’ve gathered and captures additional thoughts that are still fresh in your mind. Moreover, you can use automated meeting summaries to maintain a clear and comprehensive record of conversations.

For example, Ann usually spends 10 minutes summarizing the information and adding any additional insights after her interviews.

Use a Customized Template for Interview Notes

Organize your discussions in a customized template. This way, you can capture comprehensive and relevant information for better comparison and decision-making. Also, you can efficiently record and review all critical details.

For instance, Ann usually uses a structured format based on Background, Key Responses, Skills, Cultural Fit, and Follow-up Questions.

Respond to the Candidate’s Thank You Notes After the Interview

Don’t hesitate to show appreciation and respect by responding to candidates’ thank-you notes. Importantly, thank-you note etiquette refers to both hiring managers and candidates.

For example, Ann uses sentences like, “It was great to meet you today at the interview. Thank you for taking the time to message me; it’s appreciated. We will be in touch with information on the next steps in the process.”

As an interviewee, consider using samples of interview thank you notes to thank the hiring manager for taking the time to speak with you.

Provide Feedback to Candidates

Feedback to candidates after interviews builds a positive reputation for companies and helps candidates understand their skills and overall comportment. Even if the candidate isn’t the right fit, give positive feedback about enhancing their skills and performance.

For instance, Ann adds actionable suggestions or resources to encourage growth in her feedback. Also, she uses positive language like, “Next time you could…” instead of “You didn’t…”

Bonus Tip: Use Technology to Take Interview Notes Quickly and Easily

With 79% of recruiters believing AI will soon make recruitment decisions, aren’t you using technology yet? Thankfully, there are AI-powered note-taking tools to record and organize discussion information.

For example, Ann uses the world’s only bot-free Note Taker Krisp for exceptionally accurate meeting notes during her online interviews. Then, she uses the tool to create summaries with the most vital points and saves them for easy retrieval.

How to Create Interview Notes with Krisp to Boost Productivity

You’re falling behind if you aren’t welcoming the AI-powered future yet. 63% of recruiters anticipate AI will replace some candidate screening functions in the future. Moreover, the global video interviewing platforms market is forecast to make up $ 1,786.0 million by 2030.

So, the AI Meeting Assistant Krisp’s importance in taking interview notes will only grow. Both recruiters and applicants can use Krisp to record information during online interviews.

Specifically, AI Meeting Assistant Krisp enables you to experience the magic of real-time Voice AI. What users like most about this Meeting Notes tool is its unmatched 96% accuracy of meeting transcriptions.

As TIME’s top pick for Note-taking apps, Krisp offers ease of use, detailed notes, and competitive pricing to enable better hiring decisions.

Use Krisp for Interview Notes AI: Advantages

Krisp, a leader in Productivity Voice AI, works with any virtual conferencing platform, including Zoom and Google Meet. No plug-ins are required.

Krip’s features include:

• Automatic Audio Recording with best-in-class audio quality
• Unlimited, Multilingual Meeting Transcriptions in real time during online calls
• AI Meeting Notes & Summary to capture the gist of online discussions
• Real-time AI Noise Cancellation to remove background distractions

Developed with productivity and efficiency in mind, Krisp’s Note-Taking offers more than one advantage. These are beneficial for both recruiters and candidates.

Makes Online Interviews Productive and Efficient

Krisp’s Note-Taking transcribes online interviews and creates a summary by highlighting essential discussion details. You can save your meeting transcriptions to review and revisit after the meeting.

Facilitates and Enhances the Hiring process

Krisp’s Note-Taking automatically identifies and categorizes your interview notes in a reliable, intuitive, and customizable way. Moreover, it saves information, allowing you to compare interviewees for better hiring decisions.

Makes You a Good Listener

Krisp’s Note-Taking records discussion details, enabling you to become an active listener. And being a good listener helps retain important information and makes the candidate feel understood. This way, you can boost trust between you and the hiring manager, enhancing your communication.

Cuts Bias and Prejudice Without Hurting Candidates

Many highly qualified candidates have already been rejected because of bias and discrimination typical of AI hiring platforms. As Hilke Schellman, an award-winning investigative reporter, says, these platform algorithms could harm hundreds of thousands of applicants. In contrast, Krisp objectively documents interview notes without bias, stereotypes, or systemic flaws.

Eliminates Interviewer Burnout and Fatigue

Hiring rounds make the interviewer tired, which results in weak judgment. Krisp’s Note-Taking helps focus on the discussion instead of being overwhelmed with taking notes. Thankfully, AI could help teams have “more time to focus on creative, strategic work,” as Sandy Torchia, KPMG’s vice chair of talent and culture, says.

Enhances Employee Performance Prediction

Krisp’s Note-Taking objectively takes interview notes without leaving out any critical detail. You can save discussions, including hiring tests, as historical information to predict candidates’ job outcomes and future performance.

Makes Interview Notes Organized, Streamline, and Structured

Of course, you can use a standard interview template. However, using the same structured format around the globe can’t work because local cultures and laws vary. Thankfully, Krisp’s Note-Taking allows you to organize your information into templates tailored to your hiring needs.

Accelerates the Hiring Process

Putting candidates on ice continues, which costs companies and candidates time and money. Moreover, never-ending interviews make applicants apply elsewhere. Thankfully, Krisp’s Note-Taking speeds up hiring processes by eliminating manual note-taking and quickly highlighting key points. Additionally, Krisp saves your interview notes so you can revisit and review them when necessary.

Interview Note Example

Are you interested in examples of good interview notes? The example below shows how to structure information effectively and capture all critical details so that you can easily access them later.

Interview with Tom Brown for the Marketing Manager Position

Date: June 20, 2024

Interviewer: Ann Smith

Candidate: Tom Brown

Background

• Current Position: Senior Marketing Specialist at ABC Company
• Experience: Five years in digital marketing, three years in project management
• Education: MBA in Marketing, ABC University

Key Points

1. Experience with Digital Marketing Campaigns

• Situation: Led a successful digital marketing campaign for a new product launch.
• Task: Increase brand awareness and drive sales through online channels.
• Action: Developed and implemented a multi-channel strategy, including social media, email marketing, and PPC ads.
• Result: Achieved a 20% increase in website traffic and a 30% increase in sales during Q1.

2. Project Management Skills

• Managed a team of 10 marketing professionals.
• Utilized project management tools like Asana and Trello to streamline workflow.
• Successfully launched five major campaigns on time and within budget.

3. Leadership and Team Collaboration

• Mentored junior team members, leading to a 30% improvement in their performance metrics.
• Fostered a collaborative team environment, resulting in higher employee satisfaction scores.

4. Challenges and Solutions

• Faced budget cuts mid-campaign; reallocated resources and adjusted strategies to maintain impact.
• Overcame initial resistance to new marketing automation tools by conducting comprehensive training sessions.

Memorable Quotes

• “I believe in data-driven decision-making to optimize marketing strategies.”
• “Treu leadership empowers your team and fosters a culture of continuous improvement.”

Follow-up Questions

1. Can you provide more details on how you handled budget constraints during your campaigns?
2. How do you measure the success of your marketing strategies?
3. Can you share an example of a campaign that didn’t go as planned and how you managed it?

Summary

Tom Brown has extensive experience in digital marketing and project management. He had strong leadership skills and could adapt to challenges. His approach to data-driven decision-making and team empowerment aligns well with our company’s values.

Conclusion

Never-ending hiring rounds and recruiters’ burnout highlight the importance of effective interview notes. Taking comprehensive notes during interviews lets you capture all relevant information, making it easier to compare candidates and make informed hiring decisions.

The good news is that you can record key interview points effectively with proper practice and preparation. Moreover, you can use an AI Meeting Assistant to take notes productively. This way, information recording becomes organized, unbiased, easily accessible, comparable, and hassle-free.

Frequently Asked Questions