The ability to take notes during an interview is useful for many reasons but can be challenging. You want to appear interested and engaged in the talk, but you also need to take notes, so you won't forget key points. So, if you want to leave an interview with useful information and a stronger sense of accomplishment, learning how to take good interview notes is crucial.

Reasons to Take Notes During an Interview

• Keeping notes demonstrates a higher level of focus.
• A transcript of the meeting is provided.
• The act of jotting down notes aids in recalling the information they contain.
• If you take notes during an interview, you will come across as a more serious and thoughtful candidate.
• Take notes during a research interview to make sure you capture all relevant details.

Informal and formal interviews require the same thing: the sharing of relevant information. If you want to remember key points or statements from a conversation later on, you'll need to take careful notes and records of what was said.

Techniques for Taking Notes in an Interview: Now that you know how useful interview notes can be, let's take a look at some of the best ways to take notes during an interview.

Rewording the Discussion
To paraphrase interview quotes, you just need to take good notes and listen carefully, as well as have good writing skills. Because taking notes takes up a lot of time, paraphrasing is a very useful skill.
Most people talk faster than you can write or type, so it helps to keep your notes short and "to the point" if you want to write down every word they say. If you're always trying to get caught up, your notes won't be as good.

Fill in the blanks with questions.
An interview question has two purposes. On the one hand, asking questions is essential if you want to obtain the most relevant data.
Asking questions can help you get the most out of your interview notes, especially if someone said something that wasn't clear and you want them to explain it or if you want to learn more about a certain topic. Taking notes and asking good questions during an interview show that you are interested in the subject and want to learn more.

Concentrate on the Essentials
Keep in mind that taking good interview notes ultimately depends on your focus and attention on the most important details.
Enter the interview with a plan for what you hope to learn from the experience. Which details are the most important to you? How do you guide the discussion such that you end up with the specific details you require?
Doing so before the interview begins can help you sort through potential answers and choose which ones are worth pursuing further.
In addition to being a more rapid and effective method of data collection, this method also places more attention on the most relevant quotes and facts.

Insist That the Speaker Repeat their Response
Asking someone to repeat themselves can feel unpleasant or uncomfortable in a job interview because of the potential power dynamic.
It's not uncommon for individuals to forget what they just said, but in most cases they'll be pleased to repeat it, so you can write it down accurately. You should just inquire and double-check your second attempt for accuracy.
Hearing a remark or piece of data a second time can also improve long-term memory recall. Taking notes will help you remember what the other person says and bring it back to mind when it comes up again (with the help of your notes).

Give listening a higher priority than writing or typing.
Taking good notes during an interview is harder if you have to pay attention to writing or typing at the same time. Even if you don't have to write down your notes yourself, you must always listen more than you write.
That doesn't mean taking notes isn't useful or essential. Taking notes during an interview is crucial (for all the aforementioned reasons), but you cannot expect to take effective notes if you are not paying attention. Excellent interview note-taking etiquette includes engaging in active listening and dialogue.

The main job of an interviewer is to find the best candidates for the positions that are open.
Everyone who applies for a job should have an equal chance of getting it, no matter how qualified or charismatic they are. When interviewing more than one candidate, it can be very hard to remember who said what. Interviewers should make notes during the process, so they can evaluate each candidate and rank them afterward.