More Than a Gut Feeling
by Don Doman

Mary seemed like a nice person. I don’t know who hired her. She gave the impression of a hard worker.

She’s the kind of employee who would be happy to share photos of the grandkids and bring in freshly baked cinnamon rolls to the office. The problem was she just wasn’t very bright.

The travel industry isn’t rocket science, but you need to be aware of rules and regulations as well as fare plans.

An experienced clerk worked with her one day. He presented possible scenarios for her to work out. In the middle of a problem, Mary announced, “My brain is full.” She turned and walked away from the clerk who looked on in disbelief.

All of the employees in the office who worked with Mary knew that she wasn’t making progress. Each day was like starting over. No one said anything. Finally, one clerk told her, “You don’t seem to be making it,” even though it wasn’t his job to do so.

Mary had a fit. She complained to HR and she was sent to a different office for “better” training. She was unable to learn anything there, also. Her career in the travel industry was short, but expensive. Basically, she should never have been hired. Mary was very personable and she was probably hired on a “gut feeling” that she would do well.

A gut feeling is not a good rule of thumb for hiring in today’s world.

One of the best tools for hiring is the training video More Than a Gut Feeling III, which was produced years ago, but has been constantly updated to keep current with ever changing employment law.

“Viewers of More Than a Gut Feeling III will learn helpful job-related interviewing techniques practiced by so many hiring staffs all over the world. You can refrain from judging an applicant on gut feeling by: asking rapport-building questions; discussing the job; taking notes and explaining why; asking specific, open-ended questions to get specific answers; allowing for silence if necessary; maintaining control; getting contrary evidence and evaluating. This video applies these techniques to the most common interviewing situations and helps you to refrain from judging the candidate on intuition.”
– Description of More Than a Gut Feeling III

The constant best-seller comes with a facilitator’s guide for training classes. The training video is also available in Office and Manufacturing versions and may be rented or purchased.

If the person who hired Mary had been given proper training, Mary would have been saved the embarrassment of failing, and the travel company would have saved several thousand dollars. I've been to Vegas and I know that gambling on a gut feeling doesn't work. Hiring on a gut feeling just doesn’t usually work out for anyone. Now, that's a safe bet.

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