She’s the one.
Just when I thought I’ve talked to every HR leader in this city … and you found her?
Unbelievable job. She’s the one. You watch.
Those were my exact words when I walked into the office of my Director of Executive Recruiting after I interviewed an HR executive for one of our client searches. At the time, it was one of five retained executive search projects in the Human Resources function our team had been recruiting in the first quarter of 2026.
The hiring leader of our client company advanced this candidate in the interview process. After several interviews with the hiring leader and executive team members, our candidate was extended an offer. She accepted and all parties were thrilled with the outcome.
Inside our office, it has become a bit of a running joke when I make the bold proclamation, “We found the one!”. But sometimes, when you know it, you just know it. Am I right?
It got me thinking: How important is trusting your gut when making an executive hire?
Our team conducted some research and found several interesting studies and articles. One suggests that 60% to 80%+ of executives and hiring managers rely on gut instinct or intuition as the decision point when making a critical hire – despite what the additional data points suggest.
Other studies yield caution and the danger in relying too heavily on gut-based hiring decisions. Some data suggests 50% to 75% of “gut-based” hires can result in bad hiring decisions, resulting in a costly mistake that affects the business performance, team morale and candidate termination.
In a complex world with unlimited access to data at our fingertips, one article explores how intuition is our defining difference in the age of AI. It states, “In this uncertain and fast-paced world, we need more than just logic and data to navigate. We need a strong inner compass – a well-honed intuition.” This is especially important to making good decisions and innovation.
Certainly, this extends into the talent market and hiring executive leaders in today’s world.
As a leader who has made hiring decisions and retained executive search consultant who advises client companies on hiring decisions, I have experienced both an overreliance on gut instinct and data-driven analysis that empowers the data to drive the decision making outcome.
So, what’s the solution?
I believe it is striking the right balance with several key ingredients. For our firm, this includes:
- We maintain a highly credible, ethical and professional standard governed by the Association of Executive Search Consultants & Leadership Consultants.
- We use a consistent candidate interview framework, coupled with a close client partnership to create the ideal candidate profile, tailor a custom set of interview questions and evaluate each candidate using an objective interview scorecard.
- We recruit and deliver a competitive slate of multiple highly qualified candidates. It’s our job to be objective while using our discernment to present a highly qualified slate.
Above all, it’s our experience that creates a “well-honed” intuition. This instills the confidence and credibility when making the bold proclamation of “We found the one!”
