To bring notes into a second-stage job interview?

[ThatRoseFish]

I have a final second-stage, in-person interview coming up for a relatively senior role in the charity sector.

The organisation has described the interview as conversational but structured, with questions covering several key areas.

I’ve prepared thoroughly and have some brief cue cards covering key examples, achievements and points I’d like to make.

Would you consider it acceptable to bring these into the interview and occasionally glance at them if needed, or would that come across as overly rehearsed or unprepared?

I’m not talking about reading out scripted answers, just having a few prompts available.

Interested to hear from people who’ve interviewed candidates at a similar stage as well as those who’ve used notes themselves.

An interview is more than selecting the candidate who has the better memory.

An interview shouldn’t be a memory test.

I’ve taken notes in and am happy for other to. It’s not a memory test.

I don't really understand this argument - I've never been in an interview (whether as interviewee or recruiter - and I recruit a lot) where the questions have asked things that the candidate would need to commit to memory. They have been about things that I know entirely, like my own experience and my experience/ approach to common things in my sector. If I was asked about regulation and needed to refer to a notecard to remind me who our regulator is it absolutely would give a bad impression, and quite rightly. I've never been in an interview where the question would be, say 'name the five conditions of registration' rather than, say 'explain how you'd resolve a tension between the conditions of registration and an internal goal'. Being able to answer the latter without any prompts is a test of understanding, not memory. And often questions are of the 'tell us about a time you...', which is clearly asking from your own experience - not being able to answer from memory suggests that the example isn't real as surely you remember things you have really done?

Incidentally I have once ever done an interview (as the recruiter) where the candidates had the questions in advance and I wasn't against it in principle but in practice thought it was a pretty awful - I thought it removed all chance of it feeling like a real, natural situation and meant people were just reciting spiels rather than giving us any sense of how they think or react 'live'.

The people interviewing you will be looking down at their own notes, so why not.

I’d see it a someone who prepared properly for the meeting. If anyone goes in to a seniors meeting without notes or preparing, that’s a real failure.

In the last 30 years I've never been to a job interview without having some notes with me, whatever the level of the job, and that includes up to director level in an international company.

The notes cover items such as being able to ensure that I can provide evidence to support my CV, some information about the company or organisation and also some questions that I might also like to ask. The notes are not read out verbatim, but act as memory-joggers and ensure that everything that I want to cover in the interview is covered. An interview is a two-way event, particularly at senior level, and it is just as important to establish that the organisation is being honest as it is for me to convince them that I'm a good fit for the role. I always take notes in with me, and always make notes as we go along (or at the latest when I'm siting in the car, in a cafe or on the train immediately after the interview)

In my experience "conversational" interviews are the worst kind, are often conducted by people who don't understand the role (CEOs are particularly bad at this as they tend to be too detatched from the day to day operations) or who are simply not trained in interviewing and are where things are said that ultimately don't find their way on the the contract. See regular threads on MN from people who were promised one thing at interview (e.g. flexible working hours, working from home, training) only to be faced with something completely different when they start the job.

The one thing worse than the people interviewing looking at their own notes is the interview panel, or a group of senior people who have little or no interview training, trying to conduct an interview without any notes or any clear roadmap for the interview, with nobody actually leading the interview.

The CEO who waffles or who wants to see if your face fits, the director who likes things to be how they have always been, the accountant who is bogged down in costs and small decimals but who cannot see the bigger picture, the manager who sees the interviewee as a threat to their position and so on.