Let’s assume you are about to meet a promising candidate for an interview, which makes you excited in these times of labour shortage! 

You immediately have a good opinion of them because, after reading their CV, their skills and work experience correspond perfectly to your requirements. Your expectations are high, and you are eager to meet them.

However, from the moment you see them, a little doubt settles in… You have a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, discreet, but nevertheless disturbing. After a few brief introductions, the doubt grows. Despite everything, you tell yourself that your reaction is premature. You decide to keep an open mind and begin the interview process with gusto.

As the conversation progresses, you notice that their answers to your questions are adequate, even perfect. However, you still feel uneasy. Despite the candidate’s obvious skills, you feel – you know – that you will not hire them, even before the interview is over.

Has this ever happened to you?

This is an example, which you are probably familiar with, of the way human beings think, this more or less conscious debate between reason and emotion.  

This is because your rational thinking allows you to evaluate the resume and the answers to the questions asked. You gather information, consciously evaluate it and draw conclusions. Your conclusions are easily expressed in words. It all makes sense.

However, another thought mechanism comes into play, which causes this doubt and uneasiness, despite the fact that, rationally, the candidate meets your expectations. You might say it’s your instinct, or your feelings, because these are emotions that come out in you, even before the words do.

And isn’t it fascinating that these take precedence over your decision? Your feelings, rather than your reason…

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In fact, it’s not your instincts per se, nor your feelings. 

It’s actually your intuition, which is the term used in neuroscience.

Indeed, the human brain thinks in two different ways. There is the rational process and the intuitive process. The latter is neither esoteric, nor magical, nor premonitory.

Intuitions are, in fact, the conclusions that spontaneously present themselves to your mind, without your being aware of the intermediate steps – although it is often possible to justify your intuition afterwards. 

They are transmitted to your consciousness by your emotions. The first thought that comes to mind when you meet a new person is how you feel about them. You like or dislike, trust or not. This is your intuition coming through.

Rather than dissecting information, the intuitive process makes connections almost instantly with your past experiences. By analogy and association, it synthesizes and draws a conclusion. Beneath the conscious surface, your brain finds similarities between this new person and those you have known in the past and makes a judgment. 

Intuition is therefore essentially based on the knowledge accumulated through your experiences, which are too often forgotten, and on the models of the world you have created for yourself. In this case, perhaps you feel that the candidate would not get along with the rest of your team. Your opinion of the candidate and the vision you have of your team members may not be compatible in your eyes.

In fact, because it is spontaneous and effortless, intuition is the way of thinking that determines the majority of the decisions you make on a daily basis. If the stakes are not high, intuition will prevail because it is an easy and efficient thought process. Whether you are aware of it or not. Whether you like it or not.

But your intuition can be wrong … just like your reason.

(To be continued)