Job interview

[anewyear]

I appreciate this the wrong place to post, but, is it acceptable to take notes/bullet points in to an interview with you?

This will be my second interview in about the last 20+ years, I went to one a few weeks ago, but I was so nervous, I completely blew it, and my mind went blank.
I thought, if I took some notes with me I could refer to them?

Yes. At the least, I always have a copy of my CV , and usually some points I want to cover, which will form the basis of my response to, "do you have any questions for us?" or however they ask it.

I don't think I would be too impressed with a candidate that brought in notes about themselves, because I think they should be able to remember without notes. I think it is fine to bring in your questions written down, the job description and maybe a copy of your CV, but I am in two minds about the CV as if you refer to it I would wonder why you need to.

I always bring my cv in with me since years ago I had a recruitment agent who sent a modified CV to the employer, added some skills I didn't have. It was both puzzling and mortifying.

But no, I wouldn't take notes.

I take bullet points with examples of things I've done which match their person spec - so "a time you've had to work to tight deadlines" I could just put "monthly reports" so if they ask me about "high pressure" later, I can have a different example written down like "year end".
So just something I can glance at to give myself a starting point. I wouldn't "read off" notes, but would hate to be sat there blankly.

OP I am exactly in your shoes, it’s horrible isn’t it? I’m not sure about taking notes, but what I’ve been doing is thinking about all the questions they could ask me and writing down answers at home then trying to remember them.

They seem to like asking competency based questions now, e.g. tell me of an occasion when you’ve worked as a team, when you’ve worked on own, when you’ve resolved a dispute at work etc. In my first on my mind went blank and I couldn’t remember anything I’d done at work ever! But I’ve been preparing more since then and I’ve just been invited back somewhere for another interview Good luck!

*interview not “on” I don’t know how that happened!

I have a pretty awful memory, there's no getting round it. But at interview, if asked the old "what are your weaknesses" chestnut, I am able to turn it into a virtue. Because I can't rely on just remembering, I have to have everything organised under a sensible system so I know where to find the information or have built the activity into a routine. Most employers don't seem to have a problem with that - and if they did, it would be the wrong workplace for me anyway.

I always bring my cv in with me since years ago I had a recruitment agent who sent a modified CV to the employer, added some skills I didn't have.

This has happened to me, too. And then there was the interview which started, "Right, we've got your CV here... oh... oh no, we haven't, erm..." Luckily I had a spare, but that was the point I realised interviews are two-way, and I didn't want to work for someone so disorganised, even if they offered it.

I've interviewed multiple times and have no problems with people having notes in general. I did once interview someone though who had a massive folder with all his examples written on each page, and at every question he spent at least five minutes flicking backwards and forwards through them all before deciding which one to tell us about. Don't do that...

I understand - interviews are rarely reflective of the person's best self because nerves usually get in the way. I interviewed someone who used notes from their phone and I didn't like this. If someone had rung her it would've put us all off and she was constantly searching through it to get to the bits she needed. In the same vane [sic?] too many notes could inhibit your communication with the interviewer and you can't be too reliant on them. I also feel it depends on the interviewer's preference, so its a bit of a calculated risk either way.

Examinations, interviews, for some reason you're not expected to take notes in. This is daft. It's not a memory test and the real world is open book.
Take them in but only use ad an aide memoire. The interviewer will expect you to have a decent grip on the subject matter.

Thank you everyone for your input.
The job I'm going for is exactly the same as what I'm doing now, a different company obviously, but I know it well, I do this job day in day out.

However, trying to articulate what I would like to say, I find hard, I do tend to clam up.
I'm not very good at blowing my own trumpet either. I'm quite shy.

I think I will take a few bullet points (not reamstho) to refer back too, and just see how it goes

^However, trying to articulate what I would like to say, I find hard, I do tend to clam up.
I'm not very good at blowing my own trumpet either. I'm quite shy.^

Practice. Go through possible interview questions, write answers, then revise - if you know your stuff, you won't need the notes, because you'll have a mental catalogue of examples. If you prepare, you can get a friend to go through it, see ways you can blow your own trumpet more.

I take CV and questions i want to ask plus examples of certain reports that i have developed and implemented to explain what i can do.

What I have done before is take a copy of my CV with some post-its stuck neatly along the side with any notes or bullet points about each job. It’s fairly discreet and organised. Use white post-its so they’re not so eye-catching.

I do competency based interviewing and people always have noted. Your mind can just go blank when you’re thinking of an example. No problem, just don’t read from them so have a few words not sentences.

Yes, of course it's fine to have notes and your CV to refer to if you need it. Do spend time practising and memorising but it's great to have a crib sheet to refer to just in case.

I've been to dozens of interviews over the years and never thought it was acceptable to take in notes (apart from a list of questions to ask them). I've also interviewed people myself and would definitely be put off by someone who needed to refer to notes when talking about work they'd done. For me, a large part of the interview prep is reading the person spec/JD and figuring out the kinds of questions they will ask and then preparing examples that show you can do those things.

I do a lot of interviewing, mainly competency based, and I fully expect candidates to have pre-prepared a set of examples based on the person specification to draw upon when asked, I don't expect or pretend them to be spontaneous in this respect. So I wouldn't have a problem with you bringing in a discreet aide memoire in the style others have described. Just be careful that you don't miss out on building a good rapport with the interviewer by looking at your notes too much (e.g. maintain good eye contact, don't fiddle with or flap your papers or get distracted looking at your notes so you don't hear the question clearly).

I have had some funny experiences with candidates bringing unwanted noted to interviews, one man who brought what seemed to be his entire portfolio of every document he'd ever written with him and asked if he could leave it with us to review after the interview and another man who had prepared (unasked for needless to say!) an entire PowerPoint presentation (looked to be at least 20 slides long) on himself, his life, ambitions and plans for the role and asked if he could deliver it to us - both politely declined of course! I do wonder if they'd done the same for every role they'd interviewed for and if so how they ever got a job!