Interview notes template for hiring panels (free)
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This interview notes template is for the people doing the interviewing. It records what the candidate said against each competency the role needs, what evidence they gave, and the interviewer's strengths, concerns and recommendation. Because every interviewer uses the same headings and rating scale, the panel can compare notes rather than impressions when they meet to decide.
Download it as a Word file, copy the plain-text version into your applicant tracking system, or read the filled-in example of a second-round interview for a customer support lead.
Word file (.docx), free and without signing up. Opens in Google Docs and Pages too.
What’s in the template
The minutes open with these details:
- Candidate
- Role and team
- Interview stage (screen / first round / second round / final)
- Date
- Format (in person / video / phone)
- Interviewer(s)
- Notes taken by
- Duration
Then the body follows the meeting in this order:
- 1. Competencies assessed — List the competencies this interview was meant to cover, from the role scorecard. Other interviews cover the rest.
- 2. Questions and answers by competency — One block per competency. Record the question asked, a summary of the answer and the specific evidence: what the candidate did, in what situation, with what result.Competency: · Question asked: · Answer (summary): · Evidence given (situation, action, result): · Rating (1 to 4):
- 3. Role-specific or technical exercise — If there was a task or case, what was set, what the candidate produced and how it was assessed.
- 4. Candidate's questions — What they asked about the role, team or company. Useful for the offer conversation.
- 5. Strengths — Two to four, each tied to evidence from section 2.
- 6. Concerns — Two to four, each tied to evidence. A gap in experience is a concern; a feeling is not.
- 7. Overall rating — On the same scale as the other interviewers. Decide this after writing sections 5 and 6, not before.
- 8. Recommendation — Hire / no hire / proceed to next stage, and the one reason that most drove it.Recommendation: · Main reason: · Would need to be checked in a later stage or with references:
- 9. Follow-ups — Anything to tell the candidate, check with the recruiter, or raise at the panel debrief.
At the end: competency ratings and action items, as tables you can keep across meetings.
The template
Download it as a Word file, or copy the text version into your own document.
Interview Notes Candidate: Role and team: Interview stage (screen / first round / second round / final): Date: Format (in person / video / phone): Interviewer(s): Notes taken by: Duration: 1. Competencies assessed [List the competencies this interview was meant to cover, from the role scorecard. Other interviews cover the rest.] 2. Questions and answers by competency [One block per competency. Record the question asked, a summary of the answer and the specific evidence: what the candidate did, in what situation, with what result.] Competency: Question asked: Answer (summary): Evidence given (situation, action, result): Rating (1 to 4): 3. Role-specific or technical exercise [If there was a task or case, what was set, what the candidate produced and how it was assessed.] 4. Candidate's questions [What they asked about the role, team or company. Useful for the offer conversation.] 5. Strengths [Two to four, each tied to evidence from section 2.] 6. Concerns [Two to four, each tied to evidence. A gap in experience is a concern; a feeling is not.] 7. Overall rating [On the same scale as the other interviewers. Decide this after writing sections 5 and 6, not before.] 8. Recommendation [Hire / no hire / proceed to next stage, and the one reason that most drove it.] Recommendation: Main reason: Would need to be checked in a later stage or with references: 9. Follow-ups [Anything to tell the candidate, check with the recruiter, or raise at the panel debrief.] Competency ratings Competency | Rating (1 to 4) | Key evidence Action items No. | Action | Owner | Due | Status
Evidence, not impressions
The purpose of interview notes is to let the panel decide on what the candidate showed, not on who felt what. For each competency, write what the candidate actually described: the situation they were in, what they did, and what happened. "Handled a difficult customer well" is an impression. "Described a hotel guest demanding a refund; took the call off the floor, offered two options within her authority, guest accepted a part refund, no escalation" is evidence, and another interviewer can weigh it.
Write the rating after the evidence, not before. If you find you cannot point to evidence for a high rating, lower the rating rather than invent the evidence.
Ask the same questions of every candidate
Interview notes are only comparable if the interviews were. Agree the questions per competency before the first interview and record which were asked. Follow-up questions can vary with the answer, but the core set should not. This is also what makes it possible to show, if asked, that candidates were assessed on the same basis.
Your notes may be disclosed
In many jurisdictions candidates have a right to request personal data held about them, which can include interview notes, and notes can be requested in a dispute about a hiring decision. Write every note as if the candidate will read it. Keep to the candidate's answers and the role requirements; leave out remarks on appearance, accent, age, family circumstances, health, religion, nationality or any other characteristic protected by the employment law where you hire. Those remarks do not help the decision and can expose the organisation to a claim. Check your own HR policy for how long notes are retained; many organisations keep them for a fixed period after the vacancy closes and then delete them.
What to leave out
- Gut feel, chemistry, "would get on with the team", unless you can tie it to a specific behaviour relevant to the role.
- Comparisons to other candidates by name. Compare at the debrief, with the notes side by side.
- Anything the candidate told you that is unrelated to the role, including personal circumstances they volunteered.
- Speculation about why the candidate is leaving their current job.
- Your verdict in the first line. It biases the rest of the notes, including your own re-reading of them.
Before the panel debrief
Finish your notes and rating before you talk to the other interviewers. Debriefs where the most senior person speaks first tend to converge on their view; written ratings submitted beforehand are the usual way to avoid that. At the debrief, go competency by competency and let evidence settle disagreements.
Example: filled-in interview notes
What the template looks like once it’s been used. The organisation and people are made up.
Interview notes: Nadia Haddad, Customer Support Lead, second round
Candidate: Nadia Haddad
Role: Customer Support Lead, Orbita Learning
Stage: Second round (competency interview)
Date: Wednesday 21 October 2026
Format: Video, 55 minutes
Interviewers: Chris Okonkwo (Head of Customer Experience), Laura Bennett (People Partner)
Notes taken by: Chris Okonkwo
1. Competencies assessed
Leading a support team; handling escalations; using data to improve service. (Coaching and hiring were covered in round one by Sam Reilly.)
2. Questions and answers by competency
Leading a support team. Question: tell us about a time you took over an existing team. Answer: joined a team of seven at an online retailer where response times had slipped to over two days. Sat with each agent for a shift in the first fortnight, found that two agents were handling all refunds because nobody else had access, got access extended, introduced a daily ten-minute queue review. Result: first response time under eight hours within two months; one agent left during the change. Rating: 4. Clear situation, her own actions, measurable result, honest about the departure.
Handling escalations. Question: describe an escalation you handled personally that went badly, and what you changed. Answer: a corporate customer whose account was suspended in error during a billing migration; she apologised and reinstated the account but did not tell the account manager, who found out from the customer. Changed the escalation checklist to include notifying the account owner. Rating: 3. Good reflection, but the example was about process rather than the conversation itself; follow-up on de-escalating an angry customer was thinner.
Using data to improve service. Question: how have you used support data to change something? Answer: built a weekly tag report in the help desk tool, found that 30% of tickets were password resets, worked with product to add a self-service reset, which cut those tickets by about two thirds. Rating: 4. Specific numbers, cross-team work, result she could quantify.
3. Exercise
None in this round. The round-three exercise is a written response to a sample escalation.
4. Candidate's questions
Asked how the support team's targets are set and whether the lead has a say; asked about the split between managing and handling tickets. Both suggest she is thinking about the role as it is, not as a title.
5. Strengths
Takes over existing teams by observing first, then changing one thing at a time (competency 1).
Comfortable with help desk reporting and willing to take findings to product (competency 3).
Owns mistakes without deflecting (competency 2).
6. Concerns
Limited evidence of de-escalating a hostile customer herself rather than via process; may be fine, but round three should test it.
Has led a team of seven; this role has twelve across two time zones. No evidence yet of managing people she does not see daily.
7. Overall rating
3.5 on the 4-point scale (Chris Okonkwo); Laura Bennett rated 3 and will submit her own notes.
8. Recommendation
Proceed to round three. Main reason: strong, specific evidence on team leadership and data. To check in round three: direct handling of an angry customer, and managing a remote sub-team.
9. Follow-ups
Ask Sam Reilly to include a hostile-customer scenario in the round-three exercise. Confirm with the recruiter that the candidate knows the role covers two time zones.
Action items
| No. | Action | Owner | Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Add hostile-customer scenario to the round-three written exercise | Sam Reilly | 23 October 2026 |
| 2 | Confirm the two-time-zone requirement with the candidate | Laura Bennett | 22 October 2026 |
| 3 | Submit round-two notes and ratings to the applicant tracking system before the debrief | Chris Okonkwo, Laura Bennett | 22 October 2026 |
Tips for interview notes
- Write the question you actually asked, not the one on the plan. The follow-up you improvised is often where the evidence came from.
- Note situation, action and result as three short fragments while the candidate talks; expand them straight after the interview.
- If the candidate gives a "we did" answer, ask what they personally did and record that. Rate only their part.
- Record a thin answer as thin. "Could not give a specific example" is useful evidence; leaving the box blank is not.
- Submit your rating before the debrief and do not change it afterwards without noting why.
- Re-read the notes once as if you were the candidate. Delete anything you would be uncomfortable explaining to them.
Related templates
- One-on-one meeting template — A running record for the regular manager and report conversation: priorities, support needed, feedback and growth.
- Coaching session notes template — For coaches: a brief, client-owned record of each session, from check-in to commitments, kept apart from anything resembling a clinical file.
- Staff meeting minutes template — The regular all-staff meeting of an office, clinic or branch: updates, policy changes, schedules and recognition.
- Meeting summary template — The short recap you send after a meeting: decisions, actions and open questions, written to be read in two minutes.
- All meeting minutes templates
Or let the notes write themselves
A template helps when you’re the one typing. If you’d rather not be, an AI note taker can draft the summary and action items for you. Most send a bot into the call; QuietNote captures from your own computer instead, so nothing joins the meeting and you decide when capture starts. It’s in private beta. Whatever you use, read the draft before you send it, and tell attendees you’re recording where the rules require it.
Questions
What should an interviewer write down during an interview?
The question asked and, for each competency, a summary of the answer with the specific evidence: the situation, what the candidate did, and the result. Afterwards, add strengths, concerns, a rating on the agreed scale and a recommendation with the main reason. Keep notes to the role requirements and the candidate's answers.
Can a candidate ask to see interview notes?
In many jurisdictions, yes. Data protection laws in several countries give candidates a right to request personal data held about them, which can include interview notes, and notes can also be disclosed in a dispute. Write notes you would be comfortable showing the candidate and check your HR team's guidance for your location.
How long should you keep interview notes?
Long enough to deal with any question about the decision, then delete them. Many organisations keep notes for unsuccessful candidates for a fixed period after the vacancy closes and keep the successful candidate's notes on their personnel file. Retention periods vary by country and sector, so follow your HR policy rather than a general rule.
What should you not write in interview notes?
Anything about protected characteristics such as age, race, religion, sex, disability, pregnancy or family plans, whether or not the candidate raised it, and remarks on appearance or accent. Also avoid gut feelings with no evidence and comparisons to other candidates by name. If a note would not help justify the decision, leave it out.
Should interview notes be structured by competency?
Yes, where the role has a scorecard. Grouping notes by competency keeps every interviewer looking for the same evidence, makes ratings comparable across the panel and makes the decision easier to explain later. It also stops a strong answer to one question colouring the rating for everything else.
Can you use an AI note taker in a job interview?
Some organisations use transcription tools so the interviewer can focus on the candidate. The candidate should be told and asked to agree, and the transcript should be treated as personal data with the same retention rules as written notes. The competency ratings and the recommendation remain the interviewer's judgement, made from the evidence rather than generated.