Can you take notes to an interview?

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

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I have an interview for a promotion tomorrow.

I have been asked to do a 10 minute presentation on a subject, then talk about two 'leadership cabapabilities' after, finishing with general Q&A.

Ideally, I would like to take some notes to remind me of what to talk about for the leadership capabilities.

Google searches show polar opposite views on this - some say no, total mistake - others say yes, to ensure you get your main points across.

What do you guys think?
 
alexthecheese said:
I have an interview for a promotion tomorrow.

I have been asked to do a 10 minute presentation on a subject, then talk about two 'leadership cabapabilities' after, finishing with general Q&A.

Ideally, I would like to take some notes to remind me of what to talk about for the leadership capabilities.

Google searches show polar opposite views on this - some say no, total mistake - others say yes, to ensure you get your main points across.

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

absolutely yes. what possible reason would there be to not take notes / questions to an interview?
 
As per all the above, notes / bullets fine just don't read them word for word.

It wouldn't bother me in the slightest if someone brough some notes into a regular interview, I'd almost expect it for a presentation.

Btw, the interview sounds slightly ridiculous! What do you do for a living? I'd hate to have to judge someone on a random presentation
 
rodenal said:
As per all the above, notes / bullets fine just don't read them word for word.

It wouldn't bother me in the slightest if someone brough some notes into a regular interview, I'd almost expect it for a presentation.

Btw, the interview sounds slightly ridiculous! What do you do for a living? I'd hate to have to judge someone on a random presentation
Click to expand...

I was thinking this, too. A presentation on a 'subject', sounds ridiculous.
 
Take a few prompts if that will help you. The best way to give a presentation is to practice giving it to identify the bits which are hard to explain / get across.

Presentation for an interview... I imagine that would be quite common across a few sectors.
 
I work in a large telecomms company, it's about "The importance of governance and control in delivering successful programmes". It's pretty key to my job and what I'll be doing, so the subject is right, but it's quite an open subject. Trying to cram it into ten minutes is a little harsh.

Rest of the interview, the specific 'capabilities' are just the usual tosh. What did I do to make change happen? How do I begin and end with the Customer? Doesn't suit me to be honest.

I'll be taking notes then, thanks. The presnetation I already have notes for, will be printing those out to present to. I'll jot down my notes in bullet form so I have structure to talk about the others, thanks.

Just got to try and avoid getting too stressed now. Already my back aches for no reason. :o
 
Depends how long you need to talk about the leadership stuff, to be honest if you are going for a leadership role I would assume you would be capable of committing a few points to memory.

Notes for the presentation are a given.
 
It's more of a case of ensuring I remember all the bits I want to sell to them, not that I won't remember any of it. I'll pick up a little A5 notepad and scribble some things down on them to remind me.

Any tips on how to stop being stressed? :p
 
Ifit helps, i felt more nervous on the first day of my new job than in the 2 interviews. I was nervouse for the interviews though. Think of it as a conversation, they just want to you know can do the job and that they'll enjoy working with you
 
You could just add your notes to the presentation itself and set the laptop up so you can see them at the same time as your slides - then you still have the notes and don't need to worry about them?
 
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