Every Hire Has a Heartbeat.

An article I came across this week got me thinking.

 

HRD Australia published an interesting piece stating that gut feel hiring is out and structure is in. They’re right. And it’s something I’ve lived on both sides of.

 

Over my career, I’ve hired a lot of people. In the early years, like most, I relied on instinct, a strong interview, and a good feeling across the table.

 

Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t.

 

And when it didn’t, I felt it.

 

Many hiring managers will have heard the expression a “warm body”;  a hiring approach where the primary goal is to fill a position quickly with anyone who is available. I was never a big fan of that approach. Behind every new hire is a person, a family, a mortgage, a set of hopes about what this new chapter might bring. When it doesn’t work out, real lives are affected. I never forgot that.

 

So, when the feedback started coming in about a struggling new hire, I took it personally. I then invested time, and energy, trying to make it work. Not every manager does that. Some cut quickly and move on. I understand that approach, but it was never mine.

 

What I kept asking myself was, what did we miss? What did the recruitment team overlook in the selection process? Could we have onboarded differently, trained more intentionally, set clearer expectations from day one?

 

The honest answer, more often than not, was yes.

 

In the past ten years, that has changed significantly. Today, we use psychometric assessments and spend time upfront benchmarking a role; identifying the precise requirements, the skills, the attributes, the behaviours that genuinely drive success in that position.

 

When a hire does struggle now, we can clearly identify the gaps. We can make an informed decision about whether those gaps can be closed and how. That clarity changes everything, for the business and for the person.

 

To be honest, we still have times when a person doesn’t work out, but it’s rare for us now. Not because we got lucky, but because we got structured.

 

Gut feel had its place. But every hire has a heartbeat. And heartbeats deserve better than a yes or no decision based on a feeling.

 

I’d love to hear your experience. What’s one hire that taught you the most, for better or worse? Share your story in the comments.