Tessa Davis says bringing a pen and paper to a job interview is fine. Jotting down the question helps you stay focused and remember what you were asked, especially if you get nervous. Interviewers rarely object, and asking first never hurts.
Can you take notes during an interview? I think it's fine to take a pen and paper into an interview. And what often I see with the people that I coach, that they get very nervous when they're answering a question, and sometimes they can forget either what they were going to say or often what the original question was. When they get to the end of the question, it turns out that they're not really answering the question that was asked because they've kind of forgotten. So you'll get a feel when you start practicing whether that's you or not. It doesn't happen to everyone, but sometimes it does. And actually, if you find that nerves are causing you to forget what the question was or forget where you're going, then it's a good opportunity to take a pen and paper and note it down. And I would just say, okay, I'm just going to jot down the question so that I don't forget. And you can add if you want, because when I'm nervous, often I forget. So it'd be helpful to write it down. No one is going to stop you doing that. The worst thing that will happen is they'll say, we prefer you didn't write down. But I've not heard anyone stop someone doing that. I can't think why there'd be a reason to stop someone. Just ask.
