Negative “Gut Feelings”/Intuition

We’re all pretty good at recognizing those cautionary, “red flag” feelings we sometimes get when we’re interviewing a candidate. I’ve learned that I ignore them at my own risk. If there’s a red flag waving, pay attention to it.  See smoke, there’s probably fire.

Positive “Gut Feelings”/Intuition

By the same token, I’ve been misled by getting very positive feelings about a person because of their interview skills or because we both went to the same school, lived in the same town, worked at the same company, etc.  I’ve learned that those positive feelings may cause me to give the candidate the benefit of the doubt regarding questionable aspects of his or her suitability for the job in question.

Here’s a reminder:

Negative “Gut Feelings”/Intuition — Pay attention!

Positive “Gut Feelings”/Intuition — Don’t get carried away by them!

Balance your “gut feelings” with carefully selected pre-employment tests and assessments to give you objective information, free from personal bias, about the candidate’s strengths and liabilities.