Using written notes in an interview – yay or nay?

I’ve had a guy turn up with a load of notes which he referred to to answer some of the questions asked – specifically to give good and valid examples. He was a great candidate and is likely to be offered a role.

Part of me was impressed with the preparation, but there’s also a part of me which feels uneasy about what could be used as effectively using a cheat sheet in an exam.

I can be persuaded that the uneasy feeling is related to my own insecurities and is invalid, but what says you lot?

will you expect him to do the job without ever referring to notes?

will you expect him to do the job without ever referring to notes?

Indeed

Why not? Do you want him to do well in the interview and so what if that requires notes? Or are you using the interview to try to trip him up? Hope the former. One wouldn’t expect him to use notes throughout his job, of course, but this wasn’t him doing the job, this was an interview, two different things

I’d have asked why he needed the notes.

Given he’s anticipated the questions to be asked he should have enough knowledge of his skills to be abel to remember the examples would be my view unless there’s a medical reason why not.

If it was a specific technical test I’d have no problems someone referring to a manual or notes for syntax or process type q’s but if they’re talking about their own skills and experience I’d expect them to remember.

Using specific guidance of experience is admirable IMO. Once a series of “explain role x, what and how did you resolve y in role b” questions are done, I think you’ll find the last 15-20mins becomes more of a personality fit and how the person will interact with You and a team (if there is one)
The basics are covered, knowledge, experience and reasoned explainations done, fit and personality the remaining 40% of interview.

I’ve interviewed a fair few folks that haven’t even read the spec, sent along by ignorant agents chasing fees. I’d much rather interview someone who can call on notes for support and accuracy.

Good on him/her I say.

So that’s a Yay.

He may have brought the notes specifically to subtly show you that he has prepared for the interview, and wasn’t just winging it. I’d say it’s a strong positive.

It’s not an exam, it’s an interview. I prepare notes prior to interviews to remind me to cover all the questions I have for the employer.

May have good experience but be crap at interviews, I know my mind goes blank when asked the easiest of questions at interview, then my mouth starts talking and all sorts of shite spews out until my brain forces it back on track
“So that’s why a chimpanzee can’t be taught to speak. err what was the question again?”
“Do you have any experience of leading a team?”.

Yep, might be shit at interviews, be aware of his short coming and has a method in place to overcome that.

I’d think that sort of self aware person would be a good employee.

It’s a bit of an odd convention that interviews are generally done without notes, I think.

An interview’s a kind of sales/pitch/negotiation meeting.

You’d think it was a little cavalier if one of your employees turned up to a complex pitch meeting with a potential client with no notes to refer to for support and accuracy, given the breadth and depth of what might come up.

It’s also a presentation from the interviewee to you, lasting 45 mins or hour, and, even allowing that you’re giving him prompts for the subject matter, it would still be unusual if someone spoke without notes for that long. You’d certainly not begrudge them for referring to notes in a Q&A afterwards!

If he has notes then you can ask more detailed questions – works for everyone 🙂

We have had almost identical cv’s come in for some positions where people had obviously got a copy of something that looked good for the position. The candidate having notes could be an extension of that or it could be great preparation

Thanks guys – I like your thinking 🙂

Plus, that would have made a good interview question.

“so, you’ve certainly come prepared today, can you please explain to the panel why you’ve chosen to bring note to an interview?”

If they write notes for an interview they’re probably going to be good at writing notes during their job, rather than being the person that forgets to action something, or asks you to email them what was discussed earlier, etc etc

Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.

I had 15 pages of notes for my last interview and a 101 on items I would review once in post.

Bagged me a significant step up in my career to Estate Director.

I can understand a crib sheet, but fifteen pages? What sort of thing was in there?

Not sure about a ‘load of notes’

I used to normally take a copy of my CV, a page of notes and a page of questions I wanted to ask.

Personally I can’t see it as a bad thing, more a good thing.

Does seem a sensible thing to do. Unless the notes were for complex questions such as “what is your name”.

As I have got older and more experienced I have found those ‘give me an example’ type questions harder and harder to answer. When you are young, naive and inexperienced these examples leave an indelible impression on you as firsts or stand out stressful occasions. By the middle of your career if you are genuinely well experienced for the role you are being interviewed for my suitable examples are so numerous and so innocuous (to me) that I can barely remember they happened. You just deal with the situation and move on. Notes could be handy for me just as key words to get the ‘story’ started.

i’ve had a fair few interviews which have featured questions like..
– what is the strength of material X after several treatments?
– how hard is material Y?
– can you describe the differences between two alloy systems?

In the job, I would have consulted a vetted materials database of some description, not recalled from memory. I fail to understand why this isn’t done at interview!

I fail to understand why this isn’t done at interview!

It sounds like that they should have been asking you ‘how would you go about determining……’ instead of asking you facts that in reality you would not need to know.

I’ve done in tray exercises before too – full of really horrible scenarios with no perfect answer without compromises. Then halfway through a PA coming in with an update or a new issue you had to either prioritise, put off or change what you had already done. Nasty.

Depends on who wrote the notes 🙂

Given he’s anticipated the questions to be asked he should have enough knowledge of his skills to be able to remember the examples would be my view unless there’s a medical reason why not.

This was my first thought.

He was a great candidate

I should bloomin well hope so if he’s referring to notes bought off the internet for guidance. 😆

our interviews are all PQA based with no notes allowed. everyone knows the points you need to hit in the interview but you end up with the person with the best memory getting the job rather than the most suitable. its a farce.

I took notes and examples of previous work to an interview.

It didn’t do me any harm. I got it.

I recruited last week, the winning candidate had brought notes.

Absolutely fine with me; it’s often difficult to separate the person who would be best at the job from the person who is just best at interviews. Two very different skills (unless perhaps it was a sales position? 😉 )

Perhaps I’m sympathetic because, like some others, I’m crap at interviews. Mind goes blank. I’ll be bringing an a4 page of prompts to my next interview.

Depends if you want your interview to test the candidates memory or their ability backed up with evidence of experience.

Notes are good, but 15 pages is a bit overboard. They should be used to back up experience and achievements rather than a pre-prepared script to an anticipated question.

Person wants the job and preps for it to give themselves the best chance to get it and you’re looking for something wrong with them? I’m not sure I get it.

I always took notes to interviews. I knew what I was looking for and didn’t hesitate to follow up with e-mail questions, but it always helped to get answers in person.

For work I did I had an annotated copy of the CV I sent in for the job in case they wanted more examples. A lot of times, you can’t fit in everything you consider important on 2 sides of A4, and in an interview situation you may forget that you’d done something. This was a good hedge against that. In any case, you can always drill down into what they’ve done to see how well they know it. Notes aren’t going to help you there!

I’ve interviewed and been interviewed. Weirdly, I’ve not seen a single person who turned up with more than a copy of their CV to an interview. In fact, it’s more likely I’d see someone who couldn’t talk about what they’d bigged themselves up to be on their CV!