What's your view on candidates who turn up with notes?

[BecomeStronger]

I always do. I often have a whole portfolio of examples of work I've done under each of the person spec criteria. I ask if it's OK to refer to my notes and I've never had anyone say no.

I've recently interviewed a young man who was very nervous and lost his thread. I suggested he refer to his notes which he hadn't opened until then. He had a beautifully presented folder with everthing he needed and once prompted was able to talk easily about the content - I.e. it was clear he did know his stuff, he wasn't just reading the notes. I was impressed he had done so much prep and thought it showed how interested he was in the job.

A colleague was shocked I "let" him use the notes.

WWYD?

Often the best performers at interview aren't the most competent in the role. An interview is not being maximised if it's a memory and confidence test...

So yeah why not let people use notes!

Quite I don't want a cocky confident person who's all talk.

I allow/actually expect people to use notes. I always say to them "it's not a memory test". The interviewer's role is to find out if the person can do the job, not find out if they can remember the exact date of a job they left ten years ago.

The fact they have notes is also good. Shows they prepped and are keen and taking it seriously.

Presumably if it's a sales post perhaps no notes is best 😂

Anyway, he got the job and I'm feeling very positive about the decision.

A lot depends on the role, I think. If it was one where producing a report, diagram etc. then examples are useful.
For most of the interviews I've been involved in, on either side of the table, the final product is not so important, it's the process, the knowledge and experience that are the essence.

A manager I know aced the interview and was a terrible manager. The person who didn't get the same job would have been much better at it.

Depends on context but this would show preparation to me so would be a good thing.

I would never go to a business meeting without notes. I see an interview as a very particular kind of business meeting. So yes, I take notes for myself, and I am entirely happy for other candidates to have them too.

Taking notes to an interview is not something I had ever heard of until recently. I struggle at interviews because I find it hard to remember answers but I know if I had a few bullet points to prompt me I could explain myself much better.
I fully agree interviews should not be a memory test! I hope it soon becomes the done thing to take notes in to interviews - not to reel off answers from a sheet but as a guidance tool.

I think notes are very useful if it’s competency based assessment and someone is more confident with notes.

Have no issue with it as reflects research and effort.
Referring to it and not just reading word for word is fine with me.

I think as a prompt they are good but as a script they are not. I have interviewed people that had a few points on a notecard that have used them effectively, on the other hand when your nervous you can become overly reliant on them and read directly from them which I have also seen.
If someone has done a job/ is demonstrating a skill I personally think they should be able to talk about it freely, only using the notes as a prompt.

I have only ever interviewed people who brought notes. We use competency based interviews, and the interview questions are in a template, so people prepare extensively.

However some people really struggled because their pre-prepared example wasnt good enough, so I asked for another - and they couldn't think of one. The people who got the jobs used notes where appropriate but also listened and reacted to what I asked, and if their example didn't fit the question, they thought of another example. That's the risk with notes, some people rely on them too much...