Recruiters are expected to do a lot during interviews: build rapport, ask the right questions, assess candidates fairly—and capture accurate interview notes that others can rely on later.
That’s hard enough in a single interview. At scale, interview notes often become rushed, inconsistent, or incomplete. Important details get lost, feedback quality drops, and hiring decisions suffer.
This guide is for hands-on recruiters and interviewers running high interview volume. We’ll cover the basics of interview notes, why they matter, and how to take better notes without distracting from the interview itself.
Key takeaways
- Structured interview notes lead to better, fairer hiring decisions.
- Manual notetaking doesn’t scale, leading to major breakdowns in consistency and accuracy.
- The right approach (and tools) reduce admin work while improving note quality.
What is interview notetaking?
Interview notetaking provides a written record of what happened during an interview. You capture what the candidate said, how they demonstrated key skills, and how well they meet the role’s requirements.
In recruiting, interview notes aren’t just personal reminders. They’re shared inputs that hiring managers, recruiters, and interview panels use to:
- Compare candidates
- Make hiring decisions
- Justify those decisions later
What interview notes typically include
Interview notes usually capture the candidate’s responses, concrete examples they shared, and evidence related to role-specific competencies.
Strong notes focus on what was said or demonstrated, not just impressions. They often end with key concerns, open questions, or a preliminary recommendation.
Important features include:
- Candidate responses to interview questions, with specific examples or evidence (what the candidate actually said or did)
- Signals related to role-specific competencies
- Concerns, risks, or follow-up questions
- An overall recommendation or score
Interview notetaking vs. interview feedback
It’s helpful to separate notetaking from candidate review and evaluation. Interview notes are a factual record of the interview, while interview feedback is the interpretation of those notes.
Notes capture evidence first; feedback turns that evidence into an evaluation.
- Interview notetaking focuses on capturing facts and evidence
- Interview feedback turns those notes into an assessment or decision
Structured interviewer notes make feedback clearer, more objective, and easier to share—especially when multiple interviewers are involved.
Why good interview notes matter (especially at scale)
Good interview notes are the foundation of great hiring decisions. Without them, teams rely on memory, gut feel, or the loudest voice in the debrief.
As interview volume increases, the impact of poor notes compounds.
Interview notes improve hiring quality
Quality interview notetaking helps teams compare candidates based on evidence rather than memory. They make it easier to recall strengths and gaps accurately, even days or weeks later.
This leads to more confident decisions and improved quality of hire overall.
- Decisions are based on evidence, not impressions
- Interviewers can accurately recall and compare candidates
- Hiring managers get clearer, more actionable feedback
Interview notes support fairer, more objective hiring
Structured interview notes encourage interviewers to evaluate candidates against consistent criteria. By focusing on evidence instead of gut feel, teams reduce bias and subjective language.
This results in fairer outcomes across candidates and interviewers.
- Structured notes reduce bias and subjective language
- Candidates are evaluated against consistent criteria
- Teams are less likely to overvalue recent or more memorable interviews
Interview notetaking enable better collaboration
When interview notes are clear and shared, hiring teams can align faster in debriefs. Recruiters spend less time chasing feedback, and interviewers can build on each other’s insights.
This is especially important when multiple interviewers assess the same role.
- Feedback is easier to review and discuss in debriefs
- Interview panels stay aligned, even with many interviewers
- Recruiters spend less time chasing missing feedback
Interview notes reduce risk
Accurate interview notes provide a clear record of how hiring decisions were made. This documentation supports compliance and helps teams justify decisions if they’re ever questioned.
Consistent notes also reduce the risk of miscommunication or missing information.
- Clear documentation supports compliance and audit requirements
- Hiring decisions are easier to justify if challenged
At scale, interview notes aren’t just helpful — they’re essential.
Should you take notes during an interview?
Short answer: yes, but not at the expense of the interview itself.
Taking notes during an interview helps with accuracy, because you’re not relying on your memory later on. But it also introduces trade-offs that recruiters need to manage carefully.
Benefits of taking interview notes live
Taking notes during the interview helps capture details while they’re still fresh. It reduces reliance on memory and improves the accuracy of later feedback. Live notes also make post-interview summaries faster and more reliable.
- Details are captured while they’re fresh
- Less reliance on memory after back-to-back interviews
- Clearer, more specific examples in feedback
Common downsides
Note-taking can pull attention away from the candidate and disrupt the flow of conversation. Excessive typing may harm rapport and lead to a poorer candidate experience.
In fast-paced interviews, notes can also end up rushed or incomplete.
- Divided attention can hurt candidate experience
- Excessive typing can break rapport
- Notes may be rushed or incomplete
How to strike the right balance
Focus on capturing key points and evidence during the interview, not full summaries. Use a structured format so you know exactly what to listen for. Finalize and reflect on your notes immediately after the interview, when context is still fresh.
- Capture key points and evidence during the interview
- Avoid writing full summaries live
- Use a structured format so you know what to capture
- Finalize and reflect on notes immediately after the interview
For recruiters interviewing at scale, the goal is to capture the right information, consistently, with minimal distraction.
And as we’ll see shortly, the right tools do this for your automatically.
Common challenges with interviewer notestaking
As interview volume increases, note-taking issues become harder to ignore. What works for a few interviews a week often breaks down completely at scale.
Inconsistent note quality
Different interviewers capture different levels of detail, making candidate comparisons difficult. Some notes are thorough, while others are vague or incomplete. This inconsistency slows down decision making and weakens debriefs.
Bias and subjective language
Unstructured interviewer notes often include impressions instead of evidence. Words like “great culture fit” or “not senior enough” lack context and introduce bias. Over time, this undermines fair and objective hiring.
Missing or delayed feedback
When interviewers wait too long to write notes, important details are forgotten. Feedback gets delayed, rushed, or skipped entirely. Recruiters are left chasing notes instead of moving quality candidates forward.
Too much manual admin
Writing, formatting, and submitting interview notes takes time, especially after back-to-back interviews. At scale, this admin work adds up quickly. And it pulls recruiters and interviewers away from higher-impact work.
How to interview effectively at scale: best practices
Interviewing at scale puts extra pressure on recruiters. The goal is to improve consistency and accuracy while reducing manual effort for interviewers.
1. Standardize interview note structure
A consistent structure helps interviewers focus on the same criteria for every candidate. It makes notes easier to review, compare, and discuss. Standardization also improves fairness across interview panels.
2. Separate note capture from evaluation
Interviewers should focus on capturing evidence first, not making decisions in the moment. Evaluation can happen later, once notes are complete. This reduces snap judgments and recency bias.
3. Automate interview note capture where possible
Automation reduces the need for constant typing during interviews. It helps ensure notes are complete and accurate without distracting interviewers. At scale, this is one of the biggest levers for saving time.
We’ll see some of the best tools to help shortly.
4. Centralize interviewer notes
Notes should live in one shared place, accessible to recruiters and hiring managers. Centralization prevents feedback from getting lost in documents or inboxes. It also speeds up debriefs and handoffs.
5. Focus on evidence, not impressions
Strong interviewer notes highlight what the candidate said or did, with clear examples. This makes feedback easier to understand and defend. Evidence-based notes lead to better hiring conversations.
6. Make notes easy to review and compare
Structured summaries and consistent formats help teams scan notes quickly. Recruiters can identify patterns across candidates without rereading entire interviews. This becomes critical when hiring at volume.
Interview notes template (for recruiters & interviewers)
A clear interview notes template helps interviewers stay focused and consistent. It also makes feedback easier to review, share, and compare across candidates.
Good quality, actionable interview notes should include the following:
1. Candidate and interview details
Start with basic context: candidate name, role, interviewer, and interview date. This ensures notes are easy to trace and reference later. It’s especially important when multiple interviews happen close together.
2. Competencies assessed
List the specific skills or attributes evaluated during the interview. This anchors the notes to role-relevant criteria rather than general impressions. Consistently assessing the same competencies improves fairness and comparability.
3. Evidence and examples
This is the core of strong interview notes. Capture specific responses, behaviors, or examples the candidate shared. Clear evidence makes later evaluation faster and more objective.
4. Candidate strengths
Summarize areas where the candidate performed well, supported by examples from the interview. Avoid vague praise and focus on demonstrated skills. This helps hiring teams quickly understand the candidate’s upside.
5. Concerns or risks
Document gaps, unanswered questions, or potential risks. Framing concerns clearly helps teams discuss trade-offs openly. It also prevents important issues from being overlooked in debriefs.
6. Overall recommendation and next steps
End with a concise recommendation based on the evidence captured. Note any follow-up questions or additional interviews needed. This keeps the hiring process moving smoothly.
Top tools for interviewer notes
The right tool can dramatically reduce the effort required to take high-quality interview notes. At scale, tools matter as much as process.
What to look for in an interview note-taking tool
The right tool can dramatically reduce the effort required to take high-quality interview notes—especially when you’re hiring at scale.
Automation is a key differentiator for high-volume teams. Look for tools that reduce manual work while improving consistency and accuracy. The best tools integrate with existing recruiting workflows and support structured, shareable notes.
1. Metaview: AI-enhanced interview notes for recruiters
Metaview is an AI-driven interview assistant that listens, transcribes, and summarizes conversations automatically. Built specifically for recruiting teams, it turns raw interview audio into structured notes and insights recruiters can trust. All without manual typing.
Metaview turns every interview into structured insights. You get concise, usable interview evidence that’s consistent across interviewers and easily shared with hiring teams.
Most importantly, interviewers can focus fully on the candidate, confident that every detail is captured and formatted correctly. Recruiting teams get consistent, accurate notes and deep insights with no manual notetaking.
Who it’s for: Recruiters, talent acquisition teams, and hiring leaders running structured, high-volume interview processes.
Key features
- Automated interview transcription and structured summaries: AI captures and organizes what was said into clear notes you can review instantly.
- Real-time prompts: Helps interviewers surface key signals during live conversations.
- ATS, CRM, and scheduling integrations: Native integrations with tools like Ashby, Greenhouse, and Lever ensure notes flow directly. Also works easily with Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams.
- Customizable note formats & rubrics: Tailor summaries to your interview structure or scorecards.
- Compliance and data security (GDPR, CCPA, SOC II): Built-in privacy and security for regulated environments.
- AI insights & reporting: Surface trends across interviews, interviewer consistency, and pipeline health.
Pricing: Get started for free. Pro plan is $50/month per user; talk to the team for Custom plans.
2. ATS-native notes (Ashby, Greenhouse, Lever): Centralized feedback in your hiring system
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) like Ashby, Greenhouse, and Lever have built-in notetaking and feedback features. These tools centralize feedback alongside candidate profiles, interview scorecards, and workflow stages.
While they don’t automatically capture conversations, they ensure notes live alongside the rest of your hiring data. They’re best used in conjunction with an AI notetaking tool like Metaview, which will automatically populate your ATS notes fields.
Notes are easy to correlate and follow along with a candidate’s journey. The downside is that manual entry (between sources) still adds admin time, and relies on interviewers to fill them out thoroughly.
Who they’re for: Recruiters and interviewers who already live in an ATS and want to keep feedback alongside candidate records.
Key features
- Centralized feedback storage: All notes live on the candidate’s profile.
- Pre-built feedback forms: Structured fields make certain elements more consistent.
- Scorecards built-in: Align interview notes with scoring criteria natively.
- Visibility for hiring teams: Stakeholders can review notes alongside pipeline data.
- Activity tracking and history: See when and who updated notes.
- Workflow triggers: Notes can trigger next steps or reminders.
Pricing:
- Ashby: Foundations plan from $400/month (<100 employees); Further pricing on request.
- Greenhouse and Lever: Pricing available on request.
3. Transcription & summary tools (Otter, Tactiq): Capture raw interview audio
Transcription and summary tools like Otter or Tactiq convert speech from interviews into text, and highlight key moments. They automatically capture what was said, but don’t provide recruiting-specific insights or structured evaluations.
These tools are especially helpful when you want a complete transcript or searchable record of every call. They save time on transcribing, but you still need to extract structured interview insights afterward.
Who they’re for: Teams that want automated transcription and summaries from interviews without full recruiting-specific workflows.
Key features
- Live transcription: Converts speech to text during interviews.
- AI summaries & highlights: Extract key points and sections from calls.
- Integration with video platforms: Works with Zoom, MS Teams, etc.
- Searchable transcripts: Keyword search across conversations.
- Export formats: Download summaries, full transcripts, or highlight reels.
- Shared workspace: Team access to transcripts and notes.
Pricing:
- Otter: Pro plan from $8.33/user per month; Business plan from $19.99/user per month.
- Tactiq: Pro plan from $8/user per month; Team plan from $16.67/user per month; Business plan from $29.16/user per month.
4. Google Docs / Notion: Flexible, low-cost manual note capture
Google Docs and Notion are collaborative document platforms where interviewers can write and share notes in free-form or templated formats. They don’t automate anything, but they give teams total flexibility in how notes are structured and stored.
These tools are popular because they’re familiar, easy to adopt, and support real-time collaboration. Plus, they’re budget-friendly.
They lack automation or built-in integrations, meaning notes quality and consistency depend entirely on the interviewer.
Who it’s for: Small teams or individual interviewers who want a flexible space to write and share interview notes without specialized software.
Key features
- Free-form editing: Capture notes in whatever structure you prefer.
- Real-time collaboration: Multiple reviewers can comment or add thoughts live.
- Templates & formatting tools: Create reusable interview note structures.
- Searchable archives: Find past interviews quickly with search.
- Accessibility across devices: Works on desktop, mobile, or browser.
- Easy sharing: Send links to hiring managers or stakeholders.
Pricing: Free for individuals. Notion’s team plans start at $10/month per user. Google Workspace starts at €6.80/user per month.
Take interview notes from good to great
Great interview notes are critical for making strong hiring decisions. But as interview volume increases, manual note-taking becomes a liability.
By standardizing structure and reducing manual effort, recruiters can capture better notes without sacrificing candidate experience. Tools like Metaview help teams scale interviews while keeping feedback accurate, consistent, and easy to use.
Spend less time writing notes, and more time interviewing. Try Metaview for free.
Interview notes FAQs
What should interview notes include?
Interview notes should capture evidence from the interview, including candidate responses and examples tied to role-specific competencies. They should focus on facts rather than impressions. Clear notes make interview feedback easier to evaluate later.
How detailed should interviewer notes be?
Notes should be detailed enough to support a hiring decision without becoming a transcript. Focus on key examples and signals. Quality matters more than volume.
Are interview notes shared with candidates?
In most cases, interview notes are internal only. However, they may be referenced in feedback discussions or compliance reviews. This is why clarity and professionalism matter.
How long should recruiters keep interview notes?
Retention policies vary by company and region. Many teams keep interview notes for several months to a few years. Clear documentation helps support compliance requirements.
How can teams reduce bias in interview notes?
Using structured templates and focusing on evidence helps reduce interview bias. Separating note-taking from evaluation also leads to more objective feedback. Consistency across interviewers is key.
