How Much Should You Trust Your Gut When Recruiting?

Your intuition is an incredibly powerful tool, even in a data-driven world such as recruitment. You can gather as much information as you like on a candidate – and you should – but if something doesn't feel right when you interview them, then it's worth taking that gut instinct into account.

There are flaws to gut instinct, no doubt. Your instincts may mean unconscious bias comes into play, and that's the last thing you want because it may eliminate some candidates with real potential.

That's not to say it doesn't have a place in the hiring process. After all, you can analyse some things about a candidate on paper, but not all qualities, skills and traits can be measured. Data can only get you so far. Certain qualities you can't get a picture of from the numbers and the printed word – how fast would they form relationships? How persuasive and personable are they? Can they think on their feet?

Those characteristics can only be measured in person, and can only be judged by gut instinct. If you're still not convinced, let's look at some science that has backed this up. One university research study found that the unconscious mind may be better at problem solving and processing information, so rather than make a snap decision, it's best to sleep on it. That gives your mind time to mull over a complex hiring issue.

In the end, gut instinct and hard data have to work together in unison. No Artificial Intelligence or spreadsheet can replace intuition, so there's a place for both when it comes to recruiting the ideal candidate. Measure what can be measured and feel what can't.