I hear all the time from employers that they trust their “gut” and if they get a good feel that the individual is right then they recruit them. I am not going to rule out the “gut feel” at all however, what I am going to do is suggest that we have evidence which supports it. The “gut” feel approach like any of our decisions is based on good instinct and experience, therefore it will be right about 70% of the time, so it will always feel more right than wrong.

For me and our clients it is about getting the people decisions nearer to an accuracy of 90% and to do this we use evidence to support or counter our “gut” feel, with some psychometric testing. This should verify how you feel about the person, but more importantly why you feel like this and then it allows you to question areas you might be ignoring because of this “gut” feel. It will more than likely not change your decision but now you know what to expect of them because of these further questions and you won’t expect everything you initially thought in that “gut” feel. Managing expectations through profiling leads to a much higher percentage long term success as you understand the flaws as opposed to being blinded by “gut” feel. Use your instinct as it’s what has got you to this position today and also get the evidence, as it’s why you will get to succeed sooner with your recruitment.

Comment based on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-41777926/ceo-secrets-trust-your-gut-when-recruiting-staff