Gut Feelings Are an Unreliable Hiring System. How do I know? I hired many employees on gut feelings. That was prior to implementing our Applicant Processing System.
Unfortunately, sometimes too late, you learn things about a person that should have been discovered by a SIMPLE question you failed to ask during the initial interview.
Before I learned about THE POWER OF SYSTEMS, I often heard business owners (including myself) say, “I just go with a GUT FEELING, and I usually get it right!” But, truth be known, in my case, when I got it wrong, I REALLY got it wrong!
Yes, there IS such a thing as a Applicant Processing System. It was simple enough to build, given a little time and research, and the experience I’d gained over the years. I developed several checklists of questions to be asked when interviewing various types of applicants, i.e., sales, production and other positions. Different positions require some VERY different questions.
As a result, we used our Applicant Processing System for years, and, like most good systems, they kept on giving good results.
Testing the Applicant Processing System
However, the real TEST for our Applicant Processing System came after turning most of the interviewing responsibilities over to our production manager.
It was their first time doing that, so they stopped by my office for a little advice. That was simple! I just gave them access to our online Operations Manual that contained our Applicant Processing System and all its various documents.
Affirmation came the next day, after the production manager had interviewed two or three applicants, and again stopped by my office.
They were excited to tell me, “The questions on this checklist are great.
In fact,” they said, “I asked every question on this checklist, although I thought some were a little bold. However, those well-considered questions really brought out things I might not have known otherwise.”
For me, that was good confirmation!
Then my production manager said, “You know, I believe now I would have hired the WRONG person, had it not been for this checklist!”
Did I mention? Great systems work!
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