When Should Intuition Guide Recruitment Decisions?

When Should Intuition Guide Recruitment Decisions?

In the nuanced world of recruitment, sometimes intuition plays a pivotal role beyond the resume. We've gathered insights from an Executive Recruiter and a VP of Recruiting, among others, detailing four instances where gut feeling steered their hiring decisions. From relying on intuition during a misdirected offer to letting it influence the candidate selection process, these professionals share their experiences and outcomes.

• Intuition Guides During Misdirected Offer
• Communication Skills Trump Technical Expertise
• Passion Leads to Customer Satisfaction Success
• Intuition Influences Candidate Selection Process

Intuition Guides During Misdirected Offer

Whenever recruiters get together, you can be assured they share stories of "deals gone bad." It's an opportunity to share a drink and a laugh.

In my 20-plus years of recruiting in the advertising/marketing niche, I've had my fair share of deals that required quick thinking. But there's one situation that happened 15 years ago that still brings pain to my stomach.

I was partnering with one of the leading creative-awarded ad agencies in the Midwest. They were in need of someone to collaborate with their president and other key executives and spearhead their new business efforts. After much researching and vetting, I identified three candidates that I felt confident would be a great addition to this team. All three candidates were interviewed. All three were highly regarded.

When it came to deciding which of the three should be extended the offer, we had a conference call to discuss each of the candidates' pluses and minuses. After 30 minutes or so, we came to a consensus that the candidate from San Francisco would be given the offer. As every veteran recruiter knows, while I was extending him the offer, I kept the other two candidates "warm." You never let any of the finalists go until one has accepted the offer.

After he was given the offer, he wasn't nearly as excited as he should have been for receiving such a generous compensation package. Upon receiving the offer letter, he was instructed to return a signed copy to the President, the HR Director, and me promptly.

Later that afternoon, the signed letter arrived in my email. Upon reading it, I immediately turned white and felt sick to my stomach. While he was thrilled to accept the job—unfortunately, it was with an agency in Boston—not the agency that I was representing in the Midwest. In his letter, he mentioned he was going to need a day or two to wrap up an interview with another agency in the Midwest... (yup, my client).

Not only was I angry, I was embarrassed. He used my client's offer to get another job in Boston. I immediately called my client and recommended that we rescind our offer to this candidate and start negotiating with one of the other two candidates I initially represented. The president agreed. Thankfully, we were able to hire her quickly and with much enthusiasm. She ended up staying at my client's agency for nearly 8 years.

I never again contacted the first candidate, so I cannot be certain how his career has unfolded.

Communication Skills Trump Technical Expertise

As a technical recruiter specializing in remote placements for over seven years, I recall a situation involving a senior back-end developer position. We had two final candidates: one with extensive experience in the exact tech stack our client used, and another with a more diverse background but less specific experience.

On paper, the first candidate was perfect. However, during the technical interview, I noticed they struggled to explain their problem-solving process clearly. My intuition flagged this as a potential issue for remote work, where clear communication is crucial.

The second candidate, despite having less direct experience with the client's stack, demonstrated exceptional problem-solving skills and articulated their thought process clearly. They also showed enthusiasm for learning new technologies.

Trusting my intuition about the importance of communication skills in remote settings, I recommended the second candidate. Initially, the client was hesitant due to the learning curve, but I advocated for this choice based on the candidate's adaptability and communication skills.

Three months later, the client reported that the hire had not only quickly mastered their tech stack but had also improved the team's documentation and code review processes, significantly enhancing their remote collaboration.

This experience reinforced the value of considering soft skills alongside technical expertise in remote technical roles.

Passion Leads to Customer Satisfaction Success

While interviewing for a customer-support role, a candidate showed minimal experience but demonstrated an extraordinary passion for our industry, particularly during a detailed discussion about our latest product. Trusting my intuition, I recommended we hire her, and within six months, she was learning rapidly and even contributed to a 25% improvement in customer satisfaction ratings due to her proactive approach and personalized customer interactions.

Intuition Influences Candidate Selection Process

In my experience, intuition plays the largest role in deciding how to speak to people and which candidates to omit from the submission process. Usually, the phrase 'you catch more bees with honey' is in full force when speaking with anyone, and that has served me well. However, there are some instances where I have to stand up for myself or put my foot down with certain folks—it's a coin flip on how it turns out. Oftentimes, they respect my reply or realize how they were speaking to me and apologize. The other side of the coin is they take offense, their ego takes a hit, and the conversation/relationship sours.

Sometimes my intuition steers me clear of certain candidates—based on something I heard during a conversation or how they approached a particular subject. More often than not, my intuition has a pretty good track record with whom to submit (or not submit) to a client. The goal is to introduce clients to the best possible candidates. If I think a particular person might lead a client to question our firm’s process, then they don't make the cut.