# How to write interview feedback from your interviewer notes

> For hiring managers, technical interviewers and recruiters who interview on Google Meet or Microsoft Teams: how to turn interviewer notes into written feedback, what goes in it and in what order, how to write evidence rather than impressions, what to leave out, when to write it relative to the debrief, and how TrackHeros drafts the interview notes, quoting the panel rather than judging the candidate.

Canonical: https://trackheros.com/blog/how-to-write-interview-feedback/  
Author: Sami Kanafani  
Updated: 2026-10-25

**In short:** Write interview feedback from your interviewer notes within a few hours, before the debrief: your recommendation in one line, then evidence for each point you assessed, the concerns with what the candidate said, and what the next interviewer should probe. Leave out impressions without evidence. TrackHeros drafts interview notes from Google Meet and Teams calls, with any recommendation stated on the call in the panel's own words.

| Fact | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| When | Within a few hours, before the debrief |
| First line | Your recommendation, in your own words |
| Each point | What you assessed, and what was said that shows it |
| Leave out | Impressions without evidence, and anything about protected characteristics |

Interviewer notes are for you; interview feedback is for the people deciding. The step between them is where most hiring decisions get vague. This guide is for hiring managers, technical interviewers and recruiters who interview on Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. It covers when to write feedback, what goes in it and in what order, how to write evidence rather than impressions, what to leave out, and how TrackHeros drafts the summary of an interview. Taking the notes in the first place is covered in [how to take interview notes without losing the candidate](/blog/interview-notes-without-losing-the-candidate/).

## When should you write interview feedback?

Within a few hours of the interview, and before the debrief. Memory of what a candidate actually said fades quickly, and impressions fill the gap. Writing before the debrief keeps your view independent: feedback written after hearing a colleague's verdict tends to repeat it.

Put the time in the calendar. Fifteen minutes straight after the interview is the cheapest point at which to write it.

## What should interview feedback include?

A recommendation, the evidence for it, the concerns, and what is still unknown, in that order:

```text
Candidate:      Priya N. – Senior backend engineer – interview 2 of 3
Interviewer:    Sam
Recommendation: Move to the final round. Strong on data modelling,
                unproven on on-call.

Evidence
- Data modelling: redesigned the orders schema unprompted to avoid
  the double-write; explained the trade-off against reporting needs.
- Communication: asked two clarifying questions before starting.

Concerns
- On-call: "I've mostly been on the day team." No incident she led.

Not assessed
- System design at scale (ran out of time).

For the next interviewer
- Ask for an incident she handled end to end.
```

| Section          | What goes in it                                                 |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Recommendation   | One line, in your words, with the one reason that decides it    |
| Evidence         | Each point you were asked to assess, with what was said or done |
| Concerns         | The same: the concern, and the evidence behind it               |
| Not assessed     | Anything you were meant to cover and did not                    |
| Next interviewer | What to probe, so the next round fills the gap                  |

## How do you write evidence instead of impressions?

Write what the candidate said or did, then what you concluded from it. "Strong communicator" is a conclusion; "explained the caching trade-off to a non-technical panellist without jargon" is evidence, and lets a reader judge whether they agree.

| Impression          | Evidence                                                                                     |
| ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| "Very senior"       | "Led the migration of three services; described the rollback plan"                           |
| "Not a team player" | "Said the last two projects failed because of colleagues; gave no example of their own part" |
| "Lacks depth"       | "Could not say why the index made the query slower when asked twice"                         |

A short quote is worth more than a paragraph of adjectives. Your interviewer notes should already hold the quotes; mark them while you interview.

## How do you keep feedback consistent across a panel?

Agree before the interviews what each interviewer assesses, and write against those points. Feedback from four people who each chose their own criteria cannot be compared; feedback from four people who each covered two agreed areas can.

- **Split the areas.** One interviewer takes technical depth, another delivery, another working with the team. Each writes evidence for their own areas and marks the rest "not assessed".
- **Use the same words for the recommendation.** "Move forward", "do not move forward" and "unsure, because…" are enough. A private scale nobody else uses only adds noise.
- **Ask the same core questions** of every candidate for the same role, so differences in the feedback come from the candidates, not from the questions.

Consistency also protects the process. A decision anyone can trace back to evidence on agreed points is one you can explain to the candidate, the client and, if it comes to it, anyone else who asks.

## What should you leave out?

Anything you cannot connect to something the candidate said or did, and anything that touches protected characteristics. In practice:

- **No guesses about age, family, health, nationality, religion** or anything like them, even as context. They have no place in interview feedback.
- **No "culture fit" without a behaviour behind it.** Name the behaviour, or drop the line.
- **No salary or notice figure you did not hear.** Quote a figure only if the candidate said one.
- **No comparisons to other candidates by name.** Each feedback stands alone; the debrief compares.

Rules on what hiring records may hold, and how long they are kept, differ by country. Check your organisation's.

## How does a debrief use the feedback?

As the starting point, not the conclusion. Each interviewer's recommendation is read out first, then the evidence behind any disagreement. Feedback with evidence makes that conversation short, because the panel is weighing what was said rather than whose impression is stronger. Record the panel's decision and the next step, and send the candidate an answer when you said you would.

## What should you tell the candidate?

Less than the internal feedback. In some countries a candidate can ask for a copy of what was written about them, so write the feedback as if they might read it. What you send unprompted is the decision, a short and specific reason where your organisation allows one, and what happens next.

| Internal feedback                                  | What the candidate hears                                  |
| -------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| "Unproven on on-call; no incident she led"         | "We're looking for more experience leading incidents"     |
| "Could not explain the index trade-off when asked" | "We wanted to see more depth on database performance"     |
| "Strong data modelling; move to final round"       | "We'd like you to meet the team for a final conversation" |

Keep it kind, specific and short, and send it when you said you would. A candidate who hears nothing for three weeks remembers the silence, not the decision.

## How does TrackHeros help with interview feedback?

It drafts the interview notes so you write feedback from evidence rather than memory. TrackHeros joins Google Meet and Microsoft Teams interviews as a visible participant and records them; its Interview profile writes the candidate, role and interviewers, the assessment as strengths, concerns and gaps, salary expectation and notice period only if a figure was said aloud, any recommendation the interviewers state on the call, in their own words and never the model's, and the agreed next step. If nobody gives a verdict on the call, that field stays empty, which is what you want when the verdict belongs to the debrief. "Summarise as an interview" applies the profile to any finished meeting.

Interviews for different client companies stay in separate workspaces, each fed by that company's calendar. Tell the candidate a notetaker is present. More on the [interviewers](/for/interviewers/) page, and on the profile itself in [interview notes instead of minutes](/answers/interview-notes-instead-of-minutes/).

## Frequently asked

**How long should interview feedback be?**

Long enough to justify the recommendation to someone who was not in the room: usually a recommendation line, a few points of evidence, the concerns and the open questions. Half a page is typical. Length should come from evidence, not adjectives.

**Should I read other interviewers' feedback before writing mine?**

No. Write yours first, independently, then read theirs at the debrief. Feedback written after reading someone else's tends to agree with it, and the panel loses the point of having more than one interviewer.

**What if I did not ask about something I was meant to assess?**

Say so. 'Not assessed: system design; ran out of time' is useful to the next interviewer. Guessing a verdict on something you did not test is not.

**Can I include salary expectations in the feedback?**

Only if the candidate gave a figure, and then quote it as said. Do not estimate one from their current role, their location or anything else. The same goes for notice period.

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