Personally I would avoid taking notes on a laptop. Even though that's how we all work in real life, in an interview setting a pen and paper works a lot better

Hi there,

Q: Would you recommend switching to paper notes? Is writing laptop notes a red flag in interviews?

It seems you are assuming you will have for sure a video interview.

Although it is not per se wrong to take notes on your laptop, I would recommend pen and paper for a few reasons:

1. You might get some in-person interviews
2. The interviewer might not understand what you are doing when you take notes on your device

Best,

Francesco

Hi there

interesting question - thanks for sharing.

Note-taking on a laptop in virtual interviews is a bit of a risky endeavour - while many interviewers might not care, some will and this can put your candidacy at risk, as using laptop COULD be interpreted as an attempt to chat. 

Suggest you play safe and use paper notes. No point in exposing yourself. Your interview performance, frankly speaking, should not depend on the medium to take notes.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Andi

Hi,

Pen and paper has always been the expectation offline pre-covid, and that expectation has been kept the same even in zoom interviews.

I would second what Udayan suggested - also because you never know if you will have to do an in-person interview, and that might throw you off if you are used to taking laptop notes versus paper notes.

All the best!

Hi there,

Do what works best for you.

That said, I'm genuinely surprised if this does work better. Be honest to yourself about what truly works….but, if you genuinely perform better casing via laptop then ok! By the way, you shouldn't be the one judging this…have a peer give you a case and try both approaches/ versions….see what they say about your performance.

Not sure how you manage multiple windows on screen at the same time - that would be the interviewer video-call + your multiple pages with notes.

I doubt that works that well…But the interviewer is not judging you on your method, but on your performance - you can chose what you want.

Hello,

I’d just go with what works best for you. But bear in mind that, depending on where you’re interviewing, it’s fairly likely that you’ll do an in-person interview at some point, where you’ll have to use pen and paper.

Hi,

personally - I would advise you not with the main rationale that research has demonstrated we absorb more via writing/noting down stuff while listening.

Perhaps not fully relevant or applicable to you but you could “forego” some free additional brainpower.

Hope it helps