How to use notes/cheat sheet at interview?

[pataka]

I have an in-person interview coming up for one of my top programs (!!!) and I've done a lot of research and a lot of prep. One thing I have is a long, written/typed list of questions I have for the program, faculty, and grad students. I don't think there's any way I could keep all of these questions memorized and I don't want to forget to ask anything, so I am planning on bringing the list with me (along with one of those professional leather interview portfolio/folders). My question is: how do I refer to my list without being super awkward or breaking the flow of conversation? Is it acceptable to be explicit about the fact that I have a list of prepared questions, when they ask "do you have any questions?"

[TakeruK]

In my opinion, yes, you can be explicit about the fact that you have notes and want to refer to them. Although I am not an interviewer for clinical psych PhD programs, as an interviewer for other things, I always appreciate a candidate that is well prepared and did the research ahead of time.

I think the smoothest way is to have one question you really really want to ask ready to go and ask that first. Have your folder on the desk and open it to your page and ask the next question if they ask you whether you have more questions. Take notes if you need to but do it briefly.

The only thing in your comment that concerns me is that you say you have "a long typed list of questions". I would not recommend bringing this entire list and showing it in your interview because 1) you won't be able to ask them all anyways and 2) how are you going to pick which questions to ask when there's a huge list. I had one interviewee do this and it was quite tedious for me and the other interviewer to slowly go through every single question on their list and watch them write each answer down carefully. I appreciate their thoughtfulness but it certainly didn't end the interview on a smooth note.

So, my advice is this: Before you enter each interview, jot down a few notes on the questions you would like to ask. Hopefully you still remember the questions you have in mind so a couple of words can help jog your memory on the actual question. I think typically you can ask 2-4 questions in an interview, so depending on who you are talking to, jot down reminders for these questions. Open your notes to this page only at the interview (use the same page to jot down any additional notes based on your interview). Then, after the interview, transfer the answers to these notes onto your master list of questions. This can be done right after the interview or at the end of the day, depending on how tight your schedule is. If you have back-to-back interviews, make a mark on your master list so that you know you have an answer to that question, and then pick another 2-4 questions from your master list for the next interview.

[pataka]

@TakeruK Thank you so much for your answer! I wasn't planning on taking notes in the interview; rather, I would ask my questions/have a conversation and then write down notes/thoughts after the interview.

1 hour ago, TakeruK said:

2) how are you going to pick which questions to ask when there's a huge list

This is something I was worried about. Thanks for your suggestion to break it up for each interview! I don't have an itinerary or really any details yet so I have no idea who I'll have the opportunity to meet or speak with, but I'll start categorizing my questions and figuring out which ones I'm most interested in anyway for when the time comes.

[rising_star]

7 hours ago, pataka said:

@TakeruK Thank you so much for your answer! I wasn't planning on taking notes in the interview; rather, I would ask my questions/have a conversation and then write down notes/thoughts after the interview.

In all likelihood, you'll be going from one thing to the next to the next at your interview and won't have a chance to write down notes/thoughts until either lunch (which probably involves meeting with people, tbh) or after dinner. If you wait that long and you've been talking to multiple people, you may not remember everything that was said. I would definitely take notes. It's good practice. Plus, in clinical/counseling psych, it's not like people will be surprised that you want to take notes during a meeting...

[TakeruK]

Yes, to be clear, I advocate for taking notes in meetings too! You could just jot down their answers next to your notes on what the questions were and copy everything over later. That's why you have the pen and pad/folder/portfolio/etc with you.

One other piece of advice: if people offer to walk you from one office to the next and you know your way around, you can politely decline and say that you need to go to the bathroom. Or, if you are near a bathroom and they point out which door to go to next, you can just say that you'll make a quick detour first. This won't really give you much time to write anything down, but sometimes even just 30 seconds to breathe before jumping into another interview can be helpful.

[pataka]

11 hours ago, rising_star said:

In all likelihood, you'll be going from one thing to the next to the next at your interview and won't have a chance to write down notes/thoughts until either lunch (which probably involves meeting with people, tbh) or after dinner. If you wait that long and you've been talking to multiple people, you may not remember everything that was said. I would definitely take notes. It's good practice. Plus, in clinical/counseling psych, it's not like people will be surprised that you want to take notes during a meeting...

10 hours ago, TakeruK said:

Yes, to be clear, I advocate for taking notes in meetings too! You could just jot down their answers next to your notes on what the questions were and copy everything over later. That's why you have the pen and pad/folder/portfolio/etc with you.

One other piece of advice: if people offer to walk you from one office to the next and you know your way around, you can politely decline and say that you need to go to the bathroom. Or, if you are near a bathroom and they point out which door to go to next, you can just say that you'll make a quick detour first. This won't really give you much time to write anything down, but sometimes even just 30 seconds to breathe before jumping into another interview can be helpful.

These are excellent points. The reason I wasn't originally planning on taking notes during the interviews was that I felt like it would break the flow of the conversation. How do you effectively take notes during an interview without having awkward pauses while you're writing things? Do you just jot down keywords and go back and fill stuff in later? Wow I feel really silly asking meticulous questions but you two give great answers 

[kitcassidance]

44 minutes ago, pataka said:

These are excellent points. The reason I wasn't originally planning on taking notes during the interviews was that I felt like it would break the flow of the conversation. How do you effectively take notes during an interview without having awkward pauses while you're writing things? Do you just jot down keywords and go back and fill stuff in later? Wow I feel really silly asking meticulous questions but you two give great answers 

I feel the same way! I’m loving this thread. Thanks for asking @pataka

[rising_star]

It all depends on how fast of a notetaker you are. Notetaking while someone is talking is a skill you've got to learn at some point in your career so, might as well start to learn now! Practice when you're in class or in meetings. For me, I'm able to write without really looking at the paper, which means I can make eye contact with someone while jotting things down. If not, write down the most important parts. 

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

To piggyback on @rising_star , I also take notes during interviews. I have a small notebook (fits in a purse so less awkward, yay) and ask if it's alright if I take notes before pulling it out. I also write some of my questions in the notebook before the interview so I can reference them at the end when they ask if I have any questions. If I have to look down, I make it clear that I'm still listening to what the person is saying (nodding my head or noises of understanding, if genuine, are good here). I might also star a note if I think of a question that I want to circle back to later. Generally, I focus on making the interview as much a conversation as possible while keeping my questions in mind so that I can make good transitions to get answers to my most important inquiries. If you're taking a bit longer to finish a note from the last thing they said, you can use transitioning language while you get those final words down (reference what they just said and add a personal comment and, if you can, turn this into the transition to your next question). Ex. That's an interesting point about x. I would have thought it would have been y. Since it is x, [insert next question here].

 

[TakeruK]

1 hour ago, rising_star said:

It all depends on how fast of a notetaker you are. Notetaking while someone is talking is a skill you've got to learn at some point in your career so, might as well start to learn now! Practice when you're in class or in meetings. For me, I'm able to write without really looking at the paper, which means I can make eye contact with someone while jotting things down. If not, write down the most important parts. 

Second this. It took a few years for me to really master this. But it's also okay not to have eye contact with the speaker 100% of the time. I usually write without looking down but for important notes, I do break eye contact to write. If something really important comes up, it's acceptable, in my opinion, to say something like, "wow, that's really interesting, I really want to make sure I get this right" and then take 10 seconds to write it down. I usually do this if a prof suggests I read a specific paper or contact a specific person and I want to get the citation/name right.