Work

Interview Notes Template

Good interview notes record what the candidate said and did, rate it against the competency you were asked to assess, and end with one recommendation and one reason. Copy the interviewer template below, or start from the example closest to your round, including two for candidates preparing and debriefing.

Updated 2026-10-27

Copy and adapt

The template

Interview notesTemplate

Interview: [Candidate name], [Role], {{date}}

Interviewer: {{author}} Round: [screen / technical / behavioral / final], [45 min] Competencies I own in this loop: [two or three from the scorecard] Related: [[Role name hiring]]

Before the interview (5 min)

Strong answer for [competency 1]: [one line]
Strong answer for [competency 2]: [one line]
From the resume, probe: [a gap, a claim, a number]

Questions and evidence

[Competency 1]

Q: [the exact question you asked]

Situation: [context they gave]
Action: [what they did, in their words where possible]
Result: [outcome, number, what changed]
Follow-up: [what you asked next, and what it revealed]

Rating: [1 to 5] because [evidence, not impression]

[Competency 2]

Q: [question]

Rating: [1 to 5] because [evidence]

Their questions for us

[What they asked. It shows what they care about and what they researched]

Summary (write before reading anyone else's feedback)

Strongest evidence: [one or two lines]
Concerns or gaps: [one or two lines]
Could not assess: [what this round did not cover]
Recommendation: [strong yes / yes / hold / no / strong no] because [one sentence]

Follow-ups

Submit scorecard (@me) @due(YYYY-MM-DD)
[Question for the next interviewer or a reference] (@[name]) @due(YYYY-MM-DD)

5 examples

Examples for different situations

The same structure, filled in for the situations people actually bring to it. Copy the one closest to yours.

1.Behavioral interview for a customer success manager

When it fits: Use this when you own two soft competencies in a loop, the candidate tells good stories, and you need to separate the story from what they actually did.

Behavioral interview for a customer success managerExample 1

Interview: Diego Alvarez, Customer Success Manager, 2026-11-04

Interviewer: Hannah Brooks Round: behavioral, 45 min (video) Competencies I own in this loop: handling escalations, renewal ownership Related: [[CSM hiring Q4]]

Before the interview

Strong answer for escalations: names the customer's actual problem, says what they did in the first 24 hours, and what they changed so it did not happen again.
Strong answer for renewals: talks in numbers (book size, renewal rate) and names a renewal they saved or lost.
From the resume, probe: "managed a 2.4M ARR book" at his current job. Alone or shared?

Questions and evidence

Handling escalations

Q: Tell me about the worst escalation you handled in the last year.

Situation: a logistics customer lost three days of shipment data after a sync bug, and their VP threatened to cancel.
Action: he set up a daily 15-minute call with their ops lead, wrote the incident summary himself because engineering was slow to, and got a credit approved for one month.
Result: customer renewed four months later at the same tier.
Follow-up: asked what he would do differently. He said he waited two days before looping in his manager and would not again.

Rating: 4 because he described concrete actions and named his own mistake without prompting.

Renewal ownership

Q: Walk me through a renewal you lost.

Situation: mid-market account, 86K ARR, champion left in month nine.
Action: he found out about the champion leaving from LinkedIn, six weeks before renewal.
Result: lost to a cheaper competitor.
Follow-up: asked how big the book is that he owns alone. Answer: 1.1M of the 2.4M; the rest is shared with a senior CSM.

Rating: 3 because the loss was honest and specific, but he had no system for spotting champion risk before it happened.

Their questions for us

How many accounts per CSM, and who owns expansion revenue.
Whether CSMs see product usage data or have to ask for it.

Summary

Strongest evidence: the escalation story, with actions he owned and a lesson he applied.
Concerns or gaps: renewal risk is reactive. The 2.4M figure is 1.1M on his own.
Could not assess: commercial negotiation. Flag for the final round.
Recommendation: yes because escalation handling is the gap on our team and he showed it clearly.

Follow-ups

Submit scorecard (@me) @due(2026-11-04)
Ask Leon to cover negotiation in the final round (@me) @due(2026-11-05)

2.Technical interview for a senior backend engineer

When it fits: Use this when the round is a design or coding exercise, the notes need to show how the candidate reasoned and not only whether they got there, and the next interviewer should know what to push on.

Technical interview for a senior backend engineerExample 2

Interview: Wen Li, Senior Backend Engineer, 2026-11-10

Interviewer: Kofi Mensah Round: system design, 60 min Competencies I own in this loop: system design, trade-off reasoning Related: [[Senior Backend Engineer hiring]]

Before the interview

Strong answer for design: asks about scale and failure modes before drawing anything.
Strong answer for trade-offs: names at least two options and says why one wins for this case.
Prompt: design a webhook delivery service for 20K customers with retries.

Questions and evidence

System design

Q: Design the webhook delivery service.

Started drawing at minute 3 without asking about volume. When I gave 40M events a day, she redrew the queue layer without being asked.
Proposed per-customer queues, then switched to a shared queue with per-customer rate limits once she estimated the number of queues.
Retries: exponential backoff, cap at 24 hours, dead-letter queue visible to the customer.
Follow-up: what happens when one customer's endpoint is down for a day? She said that customer's backlog must not slow anyone else, and added the rate limit to the diagram.

Rating: 4 because the final design was sound and she corrected course on her own; minus one for not asking about scale up front.

Trade-off reasoning

Q: Why not deliver directly from the API process?

Answer: you lose events on deploys and you couple customer latency to our latency. Clear and correct.
Asked about ordering guarantees: she said "per customer, best effort" and explained why strict ordering would cost throughput.

Rating: 5 because each choice came with a reason and a cost.

Their questions for us

How on-call works and how many pages a week the team gets.
Whether the team writes design docs before building.

Summary

Strongest evidence: changed the queue design when the numbers changed, and could say why.
Concerns or gaps: jumped into drawing before clarifying requirements.
Could not assess: coding speed, code review habits.
Recommendation: strong yes because trade-off reasoning is the hardest thing to teach and she already has it.

Follow-ups

Submit scorecard (@me) @due(2026-11-10)
Pair round should start with an ambiguous spec to see if she clarifies first (@Rosa) @due(2026-11-12)

3.Panel debrief and hiring decision

When it fits: Use this when four interviewers have submitted scorecards, two of them disagree, and the hiring manager has to write down a decision the recruiter can act on today.

Panel debrief and hiring decisionExample 3

Debrief: Ingrid Halvorsen, Product Designer, 2026-11-18

Hiring manager: Theo Marsh Panel: Theo (portfolio), Aisha (collaboration), Ben (craft exercise), Carmen (product sense) Related: [[Product Designer hiring]]

Scores as submitted (before discussion)

Portfolio: 4, Theo. Two shipped projects with measured outcomes, including a checkout redesign that cut drop-off from 31 to 24 percent.
Collaboration: 4, Aisha. Gave a specific example of disagreeing with an engineer and changing her mind.
Craft exercise: 2, Ben. Visual polish strong; did not test the flow against the error states in the brief.
Product sense: 4, Carmen. Pushed back on the brief's assumption about who the user is.

Discussion

Ben and Carmen disagree. Ben: missing error states is a real gap for a team that ships payment flows. Carmen: the exercise was 45 minutes and she spent 10 of them questioning the brief, which is the behavior we want.
Theo checked the portfolio: the checkout project did include error-state work, documented in her case study.
Agreed the exercise result reflects time allocation more than skill, but the gap is worth one direct question.

Decision

Move to offer, conditional on a 20-minute follow-up with Ben on error states. If she walks through how she designs failure paths with a real example, offer. If not, decline.

Follow-ups

Schedule the follow-up call with Ben (@Noor, recruiting) @due(2026-11-19)
Draft offer at the band agreed with finance, hold until Ben confirms (@Theo) @due(2026-11-21)
Note in the exercise brief that error states are required (@Ben) @due(2026-11-25)

4.Interview prep for a candidate

When it fits: Use this when you are the candidate, the interview is in two days, and you want your stories, your numbers and your questions on one page instead of in your head.

Interview prep for a candidateExample 4

Interview prep: Senior Data Analyst at Corvid Freight, 2026-11-06

Interview: 2026-11-08, 14:00, video, 45 min with Elena Ruiz (Head of Analytics) Role in one line: owns pricing and lane-profitability analysis for the sales team. Related: [[Job search fall 2026]]

What they need (from the job post and Elena's talk at the meetup)

SQL and dbt, daily. Python nice to have.
Someone who can explain margin numbers to salespeople who do not want to hear them.
They moved to a new warehouse in 2025; reporting is partly rebuilt.

My stories mapped to what they need

Explaining unwelcome numbers: the 2025 discount analysis. Showed sales that deals over 18 percent discount had a 40 percent lower renewal rate. Sales VP was hostile in the first meeting, adopted the cap in the second.
Rebuilding reporting: migrated 37 dashboards to dbt models in four months, retired 12 nobody opened.
A failure: shipped a churn model that leaked future data. Caught it two weeks later, wrote it up, added a check.

Questions I will ask

What decision did the last pricing analysis change?
Who does this role report to day to day, Elena or the sales director?
What is half-built in the new warehouse that this person would inherit?

Logistics

Test the video link and camera (@me) @due(2026-11-08)
Have the discount chart ready to screen-share (@me) @due(2026-11-07)
Salary range in the post: 105K to 125K. My floor: 112K.

5.Candidate self-debrief after a final round

When it fits: Use this when you are the candidate, you just left a final interview, and you want to capture what was asked and what you promised before the details blur and the thank-you note is due.

Candidate self-debrief after a final roundExample 5

Self-debrief: Operations Manager final round, Halden Bakeries, 2026-11-20

Interviewers: Mara Quinlan (COO), Jonas Feld (plant manager), 90 min on site Related: [[Job search fall 2026]]

What they asked

How I would cut overtime at the second plant, which runs 22 percent over budget. Answered with the shift-overlap fix from my current job.
A time I disagreed with a manager. Used the supplier-switch story. Jonas nodded; Mara asked a follow-up about what I would do if overruled again.
Whether I can start before January 15. Said yes, with two weeks' notice.

What went well

Jonas walked me through the floor and asked for my first impressions. Pointed out the packing-line bottleneck; he said it was on his list.

What I would answer differently

The overruled follow-up. I said "I would commit and move on." Better: I would ask what evidence would change the decision and check back in a month.

What I promised

Send Jonas the shift-overlap schedule template (no confidential data) (@me) @due(2026-11-21)
Thank-you emails to Mara and Jonas, mention the packing line (@me) @due(2026-11-21)

What I learned about them

Decision by Dec 4. Salary not discussed; recruiter said the band is set.
Mara mentioned two managers left in 2026. Ask the recruiter why before accepting anything.

What belongs in interview notes

An interview notes template has one job: turn a conversation into evidence that someone who was not there can weigh. Every top guide to interview notes agrees on the core fields, and each one exists because of a specific way hiring goes wrong.

The competencies you own. In a loop with four interviewers, each person should cover two or three competencies, not everything. Writing them at the top keeps you from spending 40 minutes on the candidate's favorite topic.
What a strong answer looks like. One line per competency, written before the call. This is your anchor. Without it, you grade the candidate against the last person you met.
Evidence, close to verbatim. What they did, the numbers they gave, the follow-up that tested the claim. "Managed a 2.4M book" is a claim; "1.1M on his own" is the evidence the follow-up produced.
A rating with a reason. One number per competency and one sentence explaining it. A rating without a reason cannot be challenged or defended at the debrief.
Their questions. What a candidate asks tells you what they care about and how much they prepared.
Recommendation. One of five values and one sentence. "Hold" is allowed, but name what would resolve it.

Write what you heard, not what you felt

The most common weak line in interview notes is an impression: "great energy," "seemed nervous," "not sure about fit." None of these can be checked, and all of them are where bias enters. Replace each with the behavior that produced it. "Answered every follow-up with a number" is evidence. "Could not name a renewal she owned" is evidence.

Some things never go in interview notes: age, family plans, health, religion, national origin, appearance, or anything else unrelated to the job. If the candidate volunteers it, do not write it down. Notes can be read in a dispute, and a stray line is hard to explain.

From live notes to a hiring decision

During the interview, write fragments under each question. Do not rate yet.
Within 30 minutes, clean up the evidence, rate each competency, and write the summary. Submit it before you read anyone else's scorecard.
At the debrief, start from the submitted scores, discuss the disagreements, and record the decision with its condition, as the third example does. A debrief without a written decision is relitigated by email for a week.

Interview prep for candidates

The same structure works from the other side, and most interview pages skip it. A candidate's prep note maps the role's needs to your own stories, one story per need, with the numbers ready. Add three questions that show you did the research, and the logistics you will otherwise forget. After the interview, write a short self-debrief: what they asked, what you would answer differently, what you promised to send, and what you learned about them. The promises are the part that gets lost.

Common mistakes

Rating the person, then the competencies. The overall impression fills in the scores, and one good story carries the round.
Reading feedback before writing your own. The panel exists to get independent reads.
No follow-up questions. The first answer is the rehearsed one. The evidence is usually in the second.
Notes that are a transcript. The panel needs the evidence, not every word.
Losing the thread across rounds. If the second interviewer does not know what the first could not assess, the gap stays open. Put it in Follow-ups.

When to use a different template

Once the person is hired, their first months belong in the onboarding checklist template and the 30-60-90 day plan template. Interviews with customers about a product are a different method with different notes: see the user interview template. And when an employee's work is being evaluated, use the performance review template, not interview notes.

Customization tips

Write the strong answer before the call
Two lines per competency, written before you meet the candidate, stop you from grading against whoever you interviewed last. If you cannot say what a strong answer sounds like, ask the hiring manager before the interview, not after.
Rate each competency, then the person
Score every competency with its own reason first, then write the overall recommendation. Starting with an overall impression and filling in scores to match is how one good story carries a weak loop.
Write your summary before reading anyone else's
Submit your scorecard before the debrief opens other people's feedback. Once you have read that a colleague loved the candidate, your notes drift toward agreement, and the panel loses the independent read it was designed to get.
Use STAR fields only for behavioral rounds
Situation, action and result fit behavioral questions. For a technical round, replace them with how the candidate reasoned: what they asked, where they changed course, and why. The second example shows that version.
Candidates can use the same structure in reverse
Swap the competencies for the job's requirements and put one of your stories under each. Keep the questions you will ask in their own section, and after the interview add what you promised and what you learned about them.

In the app

How to do this in Scribelet

Open Desk Settings, then Templates, tap Add Template and paste the template above. Set the category to Meeting, add #interview as a default tag, and keep {{date}} and {{author}} so each note starts dated and signed.
Create one note per open role, say [[Senior Backend Engineer hiring]], and link it from every candidate's notes. The role note's backlinks panel then lists every interview for that role, which is the list you need at debrief.
Write the scorecard deadline as - [ ] Submit scorecard (@me) @due(2026-11-10). It shows in the Tasks view and on your daily note until you tick it.
Before a debrief, ask the AI chat "what evidence do we have on Wen Li's system design across all rounds?" It answers from your interview notes with citations to each note.
Notes about candidates are notes about people. Scribelet encrypts them at rest with a key per desk, so you can keep hiring notes in their own desk, separate from everything else.
Candidates: record a voice note on the way out of the building. Scribelet transcribes it and structures it into a note with headings and action items, which you can tidy into the self-debrief example.

Templates, template variables and AI generation are documented in Note templates.

Frequently asked questions

How long should interview notes be?

About one page for a 45-minute round: three to six evidence bullets per competency, one rating line each, and a four-line summary. Longer notes are usually a transcript, and the evidence gets buried in it.

Should I take interview notes on a laptop or by hand?

Either works if you tell the candidate you are taking notes. A laptop is faster and searchable; paper feels less distant on a video call. Whatever you use, write the summary and rating within 30 minutes, while you still remember which answer was which.

How long should employers keep interview notes?

In the US, federal rules generally require employers to keep hiring records, including interview notes, for at least one year, and longer if a charge or lawsuit is filed. Rules vary by country, state and contract status, so confirm the period with your HR or legal team.

Can interview notes be used as evidence?

Yes. In a hiring dispute, notes can be requested and read by people outside the panel. Write them assuming the candidate could read them one day: observed evidence, job-related reasons, nothing about age, family, health, religion, origin or appearance.

How do I reduce bias in interview notes?

Ask every candidate the same core questions, write what they said rather than how they made you feel, rate each competency against an anchor you wrote beforehand, and submit before reading other feedback. "Not a culture fit" is not a reason; name the job-related behavior you did not see.

Is there an interview prep template for candidates?

Yes, the fourth example above is one: what the role needs, one of your stories under each need, the questions you will ask, and logistics. After the interview, the fifth example shows the debrief and follow-up note.

Interview notes your panel can decide on

Save this interview template in Scribelet, link every candidate to the role, and ask your notes what the panel found before the debrief starts. Encrypted at rest, free to start.

Set up your interview template

or get the app

Download on theApp Store

Free plan, no credit card. See pricing

Meetings

One on One Meeting Template

A 1:1 belongs to the report, not the manager. This template gives the report the first word, carries last meeting's actions forward, and keeps a growth conversation on the calendar. Copy it, or start from the one on one notes example closest to your situation.

Work

Performance Review Template

A performance review template is only as fair as its rating scale and its evidence. This one defines each rating level in the template itself, ties every goal to a result and a source, and leaves room for the employee to disagree in writing. Copy it, or start from the example closest to the review you have to write.

Work

Onboarding Checklist Template

Most onboarding checklists list tasks. This one gives each task an owner and a due date, adds a Done when section so everyone knows when onboarding is over, and keeps open issues in one place. Copy it, or start from the filled-in checklist closest to the hire you are making.

Work

30-60-90 Day Plan Template

A 30-60-90 day plan splits your first three months into learn, contribute and lead, with goals your manager agrees to and a review at the end of each phase. Copy the template, or start from the example closest to your role.

Product

User Interview Template

A user interview note is only useful if a teammate can tell what the participant said from what you concluded. This template keeps verbatim quotes, observed behavior and your interpretation in separate sections, ends with a three-line snapshot, and links every session to one study note for synthesis.

Meetings

Meeting Notes Template

One structure that captures the three things people come back for: what was decided, who owns what by when, and the context that made the decision make sense. Copy it as-is, or pick the example closest to your meeting.