How to Take Interview Notes: The Complete Guide for Recruiters and Hiring Managers

Every recruiter knows the frustration: you're in the middle of a promising candidate interview, they share something brilliant about their approach to problem-solving, and you're torn between maintaining eye contact and frantically typing notes. By the time you look up, the moment has passed.

In 2026, this tradeoff no longer exists. AI meeting assistants automatically capture every word of your interviews, generate searchable transcripts, and let your entire hiring team access candidate insights without sitting through every call.

The result? Recruiters who stay fully engaged. Hiring managers who make faster decisions. And executives who can evaluate candidates on their own time without adding another round of interviews to the process.

Already losing candidate insights between interview rounds? Try Fellow to capture and share interview notes automatically →

Why do interview notes matter for hiring decisions?

Interview notes are the foundation of fair, defensible hiring decisions. Without accurate documentation, hiring teams rely on gut feelings, recent interactions overshadow earlier conversations, and unconscious bias creeps into candidate evaluations.

The problem with traditional interview notes is that they require someone to stop listening and start typing. Studies consistently show that people retain only 10-20% of what they hear when simultaneously taking notes. For recruiters conducting back-to-back interviews, this means critical candidate differentiators get lost.

Modern hiring teams solve this by recording interviews with AI assistants that capture everything automatically. The interviewer stays present, the candidate feels heard, and every stakeholder gets access to the complete conversation rather than someone's abbreviated interpretation.

What should recruiters capture in every interview?

Even with AI handling transcription, knowing what to focus on helps you guide conversations toward the insights that matter most. The best interview notes combine AI-captured verbatim responses with your real-time observations about candidate presence and communication.

• Role-specific qualifications and examples. Listen for concrete stories that demonstrate required skills. When a candidate says "I led a team," probe for specifics: How many people? What was the outcome? AI captures their response; you ensure they provide substantive answers.

• Cultural fit indicators. How does the candidate describe previous work environments? What do they value in a manager? These qualitative signals matter as much as technical qualifications, and they're easily missed when you're typing instead of listening.

• Questions the candidate asks. A candidate's questions reveal their priorities and preparation. AI captures these automatically, but flag particularly thoughtful questions in your notes for the hiring committee to review.

• Communication style and presence. This is where human observation remains essential. Is the candidate concise or rambling? Do they listen carefully or interrupt? These observations belong in your personal notes alongside the AI transcript.

• Compensation expectations and timeline. Capture specifics around salary requirements, start date flexibility, and competing offers. This information needs to be accurate for offer negotiations and is easily forgotten without documentation.

How has AI changed interview documentation in 2026?

AI has fundamentally transformed how hiring teams capture and share interview intelligence. Instead of one person's notes becoming the single source of truth, the actual interview becomes accessible to everyone involved in the hiring decision.

Here's what this looks like in practice:

• A recruiter conducts a phone screen with Fellow recording the conversation.

• The AI meeting notes automatically generate a summary highlighting the candidate's key qualifications, concerns raised, and next steps.

• The recruiter then shares the recording to a dedicated hiring channel where the hiring manager, department head, and even the CEO can review the candidate on their own schedule.

This shift eliminates three persistent hiring problems.

First, no more "telephone game" where candidate information degrades as it passes through multiple people.

Second, executives can evaluate candidates directly without adding interview rounds.

Third, hiring committees can compare candidates based on identical criteria rather than inconsistent notes.

How can recruiters share interview recordings with hiring committees?

The most effective hiring teams treat interview recordings like shared organizational assets rather than private files. When your CEO wants to evaluate a finalist, they shouldn't need to schedule another hour-long call. They should be able to watch the existing interview or query key moments.

• Set up a dedicated hiring channel for each role. Create a shared space in Fellow where all interview recordings for a specific position live together. This gives hiring committee members a single location to review candidates and eliminates scattered email threads with conflicting assessments.

• Add recordings immediately after each interview. The faster recordings reach your hiring channel, the sooner decision-makers can evaluate candidates. With Fellow, recordings automatically sync to your recording library, and you can share them to specific channels or stakeholders with one click.

• Include AI-generated summaries with every recording. Not every executive has time to watch full interviews. AI summaries let busy stakeholders quickly scan candidate highlights, then dive into specific sections that matter most for their evaluation criteria.

• Use timestamps to flag key moments. When a candidate shares something particularly impressive or concerning, timestamp that moment in your notes. Hiring managers can jump directly to "discussion of leadership experience at 14:32" rather than scrubbing through the entire recording.

If your hiring process currently requires executives to sit through repetitive screening calls, Fellow was built to solve exactly this problem. Start your free trial →

How do you use Ask Fellow to evaluate candidates without repetitive questions?

One of the biggest inefficiencies in traditional hiring is asking candidates the same questions across multiple interview rounds. The recruiter asks about career goals. The hiring manager asks about career goals. The VP asks about career goals. Each interviewer thinks they're gathering unique insights, but they're actually wasting candidate time and company resources.

Ask Fellow eliminates this redundancy by letting anyone on the hiring team query across all recorded interviews for a candidate. Instead of asking the same question again, interviewers can simply ask Fellow: "What did this candidate say about their five-year career goals?" and get the exact response from a previous conversation.

• Query specific candidate qualifications. Before your interview, ask Fellow: "What technical skills has this candidate mentioned?" or "What management experience did they describe?" You'll enter the conversation already informed, able to dig deeper rather than covering the same ground.

• Compare candidates on identical criteria. Ask Fellow: "What did each finalist say about handling conflict with stakeholders?" and receive side-by-side responses from every candidate interview. This creates objective comparisons based on actual answers rather than varying interviewer interpretations.

• Surface red flags across the interview process. Ask Fellow: "Were there any concerns raised about this candidate's experience with remote teams?" The AI searches every interview in your hiring channel and surfaces relevant moments, ensuring nothing gets overlooked as candidates move through your pipeline.

• Verify candidate consistency. Candidates sometimes adjust their stories between interview rounds. Ask Fellow to compare how a candidate described a specific accomplishment across multiple conversations. Consistent narratives build confidence; contradictions warrant follow-up.

This approach respects candidate time while giving your hiring team deeper insights. Candidates appreciate not repeating themselves, and your interviewers can focus on unique questions that advance the evaluation.

How do you maintain objectivity in interview documentation?

Objective interview notes protect both candidates and companies. When hiring decisions face scrutiny, documentation that focuses on job-relevant qualifications rather than subjective impressions demonstrates a fair process.

• Record observable behaviors, not interpretations. Instead of noting "seemed nervous," capture "paused frequently before answering technical questions." The first is your judgment; the second is observable and lets others draw their own conclusions.

• Use consistent evaluation criteria. Before interviews begin, define what "strong" looks like for each required qualification. AI-captured responses can then be evaluated against these predetermined standards rather than shifting expectations.

• Let AI reduce recency bias. When you interview eight candidates over two weeks, the final candidates often feel more memorable simply because conversations are fresh. AI-captured notes give equal weight to every interview, letting you compare Day 1 candidates with Day 10 candidates on equal footing.

• Separate observations from recommendations. Your interview notes should document what happened. Your assessment of whether to advance the candidate belongs in a separate evaluation, clearly labeled as your opinion rather than fact.

How do you handle sensitive information in interview recordings?

Interview recordings require careful handling to protect candidate privacy and company liability. Establish clear policies before you start recording.

• Get explicit consent. Always inform candidates that interviews will be recorded and explain how recordings will be used. Most candidates appreciate the transparency and prefer being evaluated on their actual words rather than someone's notes.

• Limit access appropriately. Not everyone needs access to every recording. Use permission-based sharing aligned to organizational roles. Recruiters see all candidates; hiring managers see their department's candidates; executives see finalists only.

• Establish retention policies. How long do you keep recordings for candidates who aren't hired? Set clear timelines and automated deletion to reduce data liability while maintaining records needed for potential audits.

• Protect against bias claims. Recorded interviews actually protect companies from discrimination claims by providing objective documentation of what was discussed. Ensure recordings demonstrate consistent treatment across candidates.

With enterprise-grade security including SOC 2 Type II certification, HIPAA and GDPR compliance, and permission-based access controls, Fellow gives recruiting teams the confidence to record interviews without compromising candidate privacy.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the best way to take interview notes as a recruiter?

The most effective approach for recruiters in 2026 is using an AI meeting assistant that automatically transcribes and summarizes interviews while you focus on the conversation. This eliminates the tradeoff between active listening and documentation. Tools like Fellow capture every candidate response, generate searchable transcripts, and let you share recordings with hiring committees so executives can evaluate candidates without adding interview rounds.

How do I share interview recordings with my hiring team?

Set up a dedicated channel or folder for each open role where all interview recordings live together. After each interview, add the recording with an AI-generated summary so stakeholders can quickly scan highlights before watching relevant sections. Timestamp key moments in your notes so busy executives can jump directly to discussions of leadership experience or technical qualifications without watching the full recording.

Can AI help evaluate candidates across multiple interviews?

Yes. AI assistants like Ask Fellow let hiring teams query across all recorded interviews for a candidate or role. Instead of asking candidates the same questions in every round, interviewers can search "What did this candidate say about managing remote teams?" and get the exact response from a previous conversation. This eliminates redundant questioning, creates objective candidate comparisons, and surfaces consistency or contradictions across the interview process.

Is it legal to record job interviews?

Recording laws vary by jurisdiction, but most locations permit recording with consent from all parties. Always inform candidates before recording begins and explain how recordings will be used, stored, and shared. Most candidates prefer being evaluated on their actual responses rather than interviewer notes. Choose an AI meeting assistant with enterprise security certifications like SOC 2 Type II and clear data policies to protect both candidate privacy and company compliance.

How do I keep interview notes objective and unbiased?

Focus on observable behaviors and verbatim responses rather than interpretations. AI transcription helps by capturing exactly what candidates said rather than your filtered summary. Establish consistent evaluation criteria before interviews begin, and assess all candidates against the same standards. Separate your documentation (what happened) from your assessment (your recommendation), and let multiple stakeholders review the same recording to reduce individual bias.

What should I include in interview notes for hiring managers?

Capture role-specific qualifications with concrete examples, cultural fit indicators based on how candidates describe work preferences, questions the candidate asked, and specific details about compensation expectations and timeline. AI handles verbatim transcription, so your personal notes should focus on observations that don't appear in transcripts: communication style, energy level, and your overall assessment of fit.

Stop losing candidate insights between interview rounds

Every unrecorded interview is candidate intelligence that only one person can access, context that gets distorted as it passes through multiple conversations, and evaluation criteria that shifts based on who's asking.

Modern recruiting teams capture every interview automatically, share recordings with stakeholders who need them, and query across their entire candidate pipeline to make faster, fairer hiring decisions.

Fellow is the secure AI meeting notetaker that turns your interviews into searchable, shareable intelligence. Record conversations across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, or in-person. Share recordings with executives who can evaluate candidates on their own schedule. Use Ask Fellow to compare candidate responses without repetitive questioning.

SOC 2 Type II certified. HIPAA compliant. And we never train on your data.

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