Taking notes into an interview - would/should you?

RancidM

Stephb1986 wrote: »

When I get asked if I have any questions I can never think of any is that a bad thing?

There was a post on this forum where someone suggested a good question to ask is if the interviewer has seen anything on your CV or heard anything in your answers that they might be un-sure about.

i used this to very good affect myself only recently.

the interviewer was very stright in their reply and was able to state one concern they had and while i could not give an example from my professional experience, i was i hope able to satisfy the interviewer with several examples from my personal life.

J_i_m

scaredofdebt wrote: »

CV and questions is fine, as is the job spec.

I've interviewed people who bring in questions written down and I consider that to show initiative and organisational skills. Some may think it shows they lack memory however, depends on your point of view.

I would tend to agree.

I prepare myself a kind of 'interview portfolio' for each interview I attend, within this I place;

A copy of my invitation
My CV
Certificates of relevant qualifications
A list of my references
A copy of my application
The job description
The person specification
ID documents
Notes of my prepared answers or topics I want to incorporate into my answers
A list of questions to ask the panel
Research material into the employer.

Now, the vast majority of it I'm not going to refer to in the interview, but I do use it as a tool to revise whilst waiting in reception. And I also use it to demonstrate that yes, I have put some effort into preparing for the interview.

I don't read from my notes to answer the questions, but I do refer to my list of questions, and I might also refer to my research into the employer to show that I've taken the time find something out about them and that I've identified the companies mission statement and it's core values etc.

Some people may think the need to refer to such material as a poor memory. Well, everyone has different capacity when it comes to memory.

Just because a person may have a poor memory, doesn't mean that they can't apply themselves to the job. Indeed the fact that they'd prepared such material and referred to it if they needed to surely demonstrates an ability to organise and apply themselves.