Bringing a notepad into a job interview

Yes. It's ok to bring a blank notepad and pen into an interview. I rarely see candidates do this, but have never had a problem when one did. I noticed they did so to write a word or two to remind themselves of the focus of the question and we had no issue with them doing so.

Note: Since writing this blog, I have been told that some candidates were asked not to use a blank notepad by their interview chair. So, you might want to clarify with the chair of your interview if the use of a blank notepad is permitted or not.

However, if we saw that you had notes on that notepad, you could expect to be asked to close the notepad. We're conscious of being fair to all candidates and wouldn't want one having notes when others in that competition hadn't.