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How much should I rely on gut feeling during an interview?
August 15, 2007

I recently saw a question posted on a professional networking website that is a question I have been asked myself many times. It's a common question for anyone involved in recruitment:

"How much should I rely on my gut feeling vs technical competence when interviewing a candidate?"

I posted a reply and decided to share it here for the benefit of any readers who might have asked a similar question :

In our recruitment work we find that a structured interview process - which does not need to be anything more than a specific set of very well designed questions at each stage - garners the best results.

I believe that the most important thing to consider besides technical competence is not even your gut reaction (as strong as this might be).
It's cultural fit. For instance:
- Will this person get along with colleagues?
- How does their work ethic line up with those with whom they will work?
- How do their priorities, motivations, personality, and values line up with our company culture, the day to day demands of the role and what it's going to take to be successful?

Let's say you have two equally experienced and qualified candidates for a position..

You meet the first one and you think subconsciously "I like her, she's cool, she gets it".

Without a consistent set of questions that actually probe her ability to handle some of the trickier aspects of the position (usually people related), you are very likely to ask questions that validate your initial feeling rather than look for evidence to the contrary.

You interview the next candidate and you think "He's a bit weird". So you're tougher on him, again looking to validate your gut feeling.

All of this is subconscious and most of the time we don't even know that we are doing it. A good recruiter or consultant can help you develop a simple, structured process that ensures consistency, validity and fairness so you don't end up too dependent on gut feeling.

Where "gut feeling" becomes more important is when you get to the stage of a candidate meeting more people as part of the process - if 6 out of 7 of your employees don't like a candidate, there's something to be said for gut feeling.. But I would caution against relying solely on your own, if for no other reason than you could be turning away great employees.

One other way to avoid this trap is to interview with a colleague. Despite the obvious amount of time that it takes, my business partner and I always make sure that before we present a candidate to a client we have both met them. That way, there are 2 "gut reactions", plus a very consistently applied process that gives all candidates the same chance.

Bottom line : Your decision should always be based on more than a gut feeling : structure your process consistently and get other people involved.

Posted by Alan Ibbotson on August 15, 2007 | Comments (3)