10+ Sample Interview Summary Report

What is an Interview Summary Report?

An interview summary report is a document created by professional interviewers in various kinds of work or job settings that outlines the integral points to convey sufficient information about a specific person, event, place, situation, or issue collected from all sorts of business or event interviews.  Interviews are conducted in order to exchange essential information either on a one-to-one basis or by an interview panel. This is a fundamental tool that many professionals, mostly in business, news, and entertainment industries, utilize to fully record the primary content of the interaction between interview and the interviewee and generating facts and opinions from the interviewee.

Nowadays, an eclectic selection of video interviewing platforms are dominating the workforce scene as 60% of HR managers utilize or have utilized video interviewing in the hiring process. This setting is useful for interviewers especially in recording their interview sessions accurately and makes their job easier when it comes to summarizing the essence of their interview sessions. If you are a beginner or an average interviewer, you should learn appropriately on how to write an excellent interview summary report.

Different Types of Interview Summary Reports

Being aware and mindful about different types of summary reports for all sorts of interviews is helpful when it comes to developing your overall report. By properly utilizing summary reports, immediate heads, operations managers, employees and other key professionals are able to record the core information and help the readers decipher the essence of the interview without the need of observing the entire discussion. In this section, you will know and understand more about the different types of interview summary reports. Read the following details below:

1. Stakeholder Interview Summary Report

Do you need to write a stakeholder interview summary report? A stakeholder interview summary report is an organized document that provides a comprehensible  summary of the process and results of interviews with business, corporate or community stakeholders for preparing several business, corporate or organizational plan updates. The consultants for the business, corporate or organizational plan updates interview business leaders, decision-makers, and key representatives of business firms and organizations from several industries and sectors they are affiliated with. Stakeholder meetings are a major component of the larger corporate firms and organizations’ visioning process. By summarizing the primary assets and areas of improvement identified by the majority of stakeholders in certain planning areas, you are able to write an effective stakeholder interview summary report.

2. Forensic Interview Summary Report

Forensic reports and opinions are required in criminal and civil investigations including forensic interview analysis report summary reports. One example of a forensic interview summary report is a child forensic interview report. Forensic practitioners and investigators work together in setting up a forensic interview of a child. It is a developmentally sensitive and legally sound method of collecting factual information concerning allegations of abuse or exposure to violence. A competently trained, neutral professional utilizing research and practice-informed techniques are conducted as part of an enormous investigative process. The forensic interview needs to consider a number of critical factors such as timing, documentation, setting, interviewer, questions to be asked, and whether to use interview aids or media. While developing the summary report, they need to go through the different stages of a legally sound interview such as the initial rapport-building phase, the substantive phase and the closure phase.

3. Interview Summary Technical Report

In technical report writing, summary is a restatement of the core findings and conclusion of a document, placed after the content and aimed to guide readers understand and review the overall report. Most of the technical report writers place the summaries first before the body. Generally used in longer interview technical reports, the executive summary is a brief overview of the report which presents the main point or to provide the gist of the contents of the interview session. If you need to write an impressive interview summary technical report, keep in mind to assist the readers in finding our the gist of the report without fully reading the entire document, in discovering if the report is relevant to their necessities, in getting an overview prior to digesting the details, in keeping up with latest developments in the field, and in deciding whether to read the report. To be efficient in writing interview summary technical reports, understand basic summarizing strategies: methods of organizing a summary and details of form.

4. Medical Interview Summary Report

According to the book Clinical Methods: The History, Physical, and Laboratory Examinations, 3rd Edition, one of the most challenging clinical skills to master in conducting a medical interview yet it appears to be the most versatile diagnostic and therapeutic tool of a practicing physician. The analytical skills of diagnostic reasoning must be balanced with the interpersonal skills needed to set rapport with the patient and promote effective communication. An empathic, patient-centered interview can bolster the patient’s sense of self-esteem and lower the feelings of helplessness. Also, the medical interview differs from other conversations and why special skills are required. It is the sense of direction that distinguishes the medical interview from the casual conversations of most social encounters. Especially, the medical interview is a purposeful conversation undertaken with a set of goals and priorities clearly maintained in the mind of the physician. The doctor actively conducts the interview in order to clarify the problems of the patient and derive diagnostic and therapeutic plans for the benefit of the patient. Through a well-detailed medical interview summary report, you can provide useful information like what the patient says about the illness and how it is said.

5. Interview Executive Summary Report

In this type of report, you basically summarize the main points of the interview being conducted so that anyone who glances through it can easily grasp and familiarize themselves with the message you’re trying to communicate. Proposals, business plans, research reports, market surveys and other documents are some examples of documents where an executive summary is included. Make sure that your interview executive summary report is interesting and unique in order to increase the reader’s attention and encourage them to read the rest of the document. Also, it can also help in informing people who can’t afford to read the overall document by highlighting all the significant details they need.

6. Focus Group Summary Report

Focus group discussions in businesses, communities and organizations are helpful in voicing out their thoughts and observations about specific matters and ideas. By initiating and holding these discussions, business firms, communities and organizations are able to gather local feedback and establish a set of necessary improvements to the current system. For instance, each session was focused on one stakeholder group involved in the system such as foundations, service intermediaries, financial intermediaries, government, community development organizations and corporate firms. Conducting an interview and generating data with focus group participants is beneficial in writing the summary report to bring valuable information and to explain their passion and interest that they expressed in pursuing things like initiatives in the business firms, communities and organizations involved in the discussions.

Basic Elements of a Interview Summary Report

In this section, you will learn how to create a remarkably written and well-detailed interview summary report according to a professional interview summary report format. However, an interview summary report has different features. Include the following elements for you to create an impressive document:

Title: One of the primary elements of an interview summary report is the title. It is an engaging line of the document which features the main topic, or subject of the interview session, as well as to captivate the attention of the reader to read the overall report. It is commonly set in a size larger than other remaining text elements in the page.Brief Introduction: Provide your readers the major details about the interview being conducted. Indicate the name and position of the subject. Then, explain the reason why you interviewed him or her and include the expectations to look word with the information. Executive Summary: This part is the fundamental section of your interview summary report. Include the names, places, events, adn topics appearing in each interview session, with indications of how substantial the reference is. Point out where in the course of the interview the reference appears using a timecode. Instead of detailing the specific opinions or anecdotes, give a clear statement of what is talked about in the interview. Leave out prepositions and possessives where possible to maintain brevity and economy of language. Discussion of Primary Findings and Current Situation: Add one or two paragraphs about the discoveries you made during the interview. Incorporate only the facts or anecdotes that are correlated to the aim of the interview. After that, write about the circumstances of the interview like the way the subject behaved or discuss a pattern of movements.Conclusion: Do your best in summarizing the essence of the interview and your primary findings and current situation. Emphasize your plans for utilizing the collected information from the interview session. 

How to Write an Interview Summary Report

Struggling in writing or completing your interview summary report? Writing a summary of an interview won’t take much more time than it took to conduct the interview. However, writing a transcript of every work spoken may take up to six times as long. We highly recommend that you try doing some easy-to-follow tips that indicate how to design and write a professional interview summary report:

  • Step 1: Be Prepared and Define the Goals and Objectives of the Interview

    The most important factor in writing an effective Interview summary report is being prepared when it comes to planning a successful interview and interview report. Colin Powell said: “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” So, you need to plan questions ahead of time in order to make the interview and report writing process more convenient and systematic. Also, define the goals and objectives of the interview so that you are able to focus on the fundamental areas of your interview report.

  • Step 2: Consider your Readers, Style and Tone

    There are different types of interview settings such as medical interviews, exit interviews, stress interviews, appraisal interviews, event conference interviews, meeting interviews, job interviews and promotion interviews. Also, there are various forms of interviews like structured, semi-structured, and unstructured interviews. These aspects can help you in considering your readers, and tone because the questions you are planning to ask and the writing style you apply can differ dramatically depending on the occasion for writing. Decide between two main styles: question-and-answer (Q&A) style and narrative style.

  • Step 3: Insert an Introduction and Develop a Systematic Executive Summary

    Provide your readers the integral details about the interview by inserting a simple introduction. State the name and position of the subject and indicate the reason why you conducted an interview. Prepare an accurate interview summary of the information reported during the interview sessions. If an interview is transcribed, relisten to the tape or video to ensure the accuracy of the transcript. Write an overview of the interview in one or two paragraphs. Add general topics that you discussed with the interview subject. Offer summary statements that give the reader an idea of the content without revealing enormous details.

  • Step 4: Proofread and Revise the Summary Report

    Review your overall Interview Summary report and check if you fully emphasize all the major elements in your interview summary report based on the conducted interview session. If you notice that you miss some sections that require fundamental points, we suggest that you edit and revise the document carefully.

  • Step 5: Prepare the Final Interview Summary Report

    After the proofreading and revision process, you can now prepare the final interview summary report. Include some important notes and other messages you want to inform the readers and key individuals who need the report on the ending part of your document. Skim your interview summary report for final Evaluation and quality check.

FAQs

What are some examples of interview summary reports?

Some examples of interview summary reports are stakeholder interview summary report, forensic interview summary report, interview summary technical report, medical interview summary report, interview executive summary report, focus group summary report, job interview summary report, school interview summary report, event interview summary report, news coverage interview summary report, class interview summary report, employee interview summary report and more.

What are the benefits of writing an interview summary report?

The benefits of writing an interview summary report is to record all-inclusive information, to integrate facts and subjective impressions for the readers, to supply a searchable record of events, to serve as a model or structure for interview planning and to guide the decision making process of a business firm, community or organization. It is a time-saving and informative tool to help readers gain understanding from long technical reports and process vital information easily.

What are the significant steps in writing an interview summary report?

When you write your interview summary report, be prepared in your interview and report writing, define the goals, and objectives of the interview, consider your readers, writing style and tone, insert a simple and compelling introduction, develop a systematic executive summary, proofread and revise the summary report, and lastly, prepare the final interview summary report.

What is a summary report?

A summary report is a sample brief document that is made for a wide-ranging type of purposes which includes demonstrating a concise description to an individual about the details of a particular event, forming an analysis about a certain matter and conclusions, and many more.

What are the key features of interview documentation and summary report writing?

The key features of interview documentation and summary report writing are conciseness, straightforwardness, brevity, originality and order. It should condense the original text, includes only what is the content of the passage, and written in the original words of the writer.

Creating an interview summary report provides a unified narrative framework that guides the reader to comprehend and remember the details as they are demonstrated later in the overall interview report. Reports are not written like mystery novels in which the pleasure in reading is spoiled if we already know how it concludes. Consider that your readers need to decipher the story of the person being interviewed, not the story of the interview of the person. So, here are some of our downloadable and printable interview summary report samples, interview documentation summary report templates, interview evaluation form templates, interview essay samples, and other interview summary reports available in different kinds of formats. Simply click our sample interview summary reports in this article and start downloading now!