Weekend/News/Coaching: EQ plays a major role in the job search process;
James Yoakum shows how understanding emotional intelligence has a direct impact getting you the job you are seeking
by James Yoakum, WCW Columnist
Emotional Intelligence is a key factor that significantly impacts the likelihood of your securing employment. Emotional Intelligence Quotient or EQ is the sociological term which refers to the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, attitudes and optimism that mark a person. It is a gauge of how well a person will “fit” or excel in a particular social structure namely the new potential place of employment.
According to most recruiters, headhunters, human resources hiring professionals there are two primary considerations in the hiring/selection process; i.e., what an employer considers in making an employment decision. These are: (1) a candidate’s technical or hard skills and (2) a candidate’s “fit” that is chemistry, personality. This probably is not a surprise. But what may be a surprise is the impact each has on the hiring decision. Technical skills are only 10-20% of the decision.
That means “fit” is a whopping 80-90% of the employment determination.
Given today’s tight job market, an interviewee’s emotional intelligence needs to be honed as they enter the job market, especially for job interviews.
There are 4 core EQ abilities:
Self-awareness
This is the ability to recognize your own emotions and understand how they affect your thoughts and behavior; know your strengths and weaknesses; and have self-confidence.
Self-Management
This is the ability to control impulsive feelings and behaviors; manage your emotions in healthy ways; take initiative; follow through on commitments; and adapt to changing circumstances.
Social Awareness
This is the ability to understand the emotions, needs, and concerns of other people; pick up on emotional cues; feel comfortable socially; and recognize the power dynamics in a group/ organization.
Relationship Management
This is the ability to develop and maintain good relationships; communicate clearly; inspire and influence others; work well in a team; and manage conflict.
The traits that comprise a person’s EQ are sometimes referred to as soft skills. Soft skills are the non-technical, intangible personality traits that determine your strengths as a leader, listener, negotiator, and conflict mediator.
Soft skills differ from hard skills. Hard skills are part of a person’s Intelligence Quotient or IQ. Soft skills are the particular personality traits that allow an individual to effectively use their hard skills.
EQ is almost impossible to measure. On the other hand, our abilities to memorize and problem-solve, to spell words and do mathematical calculations and the skills that make up our IQ are easily measured by written tests.
However, IQ is usually less important in determining how successful we are than EQ. We all know people who are academically brilliant and yet are socially inept and unsuccessful. What they are missing is emotional intelligence.
Given the importance of EQ in the hiring process, one should take action to improve and enhance. One can boost their EQ by simply understanding the skills that comprise EQ. Here’s an comprehensive list of the skills or attributes that make up one’s EQ:
(the order of the list is abritrary)
1- Ability to be a team player, lead, participate, unite and work effectively with a team
2- Ability to lead, teach, coach, inspire
3- Nonverbal communication skills; body language
4- Strong work ethnic
5- Positive “winning” attitude
6- Ability to accept and learn from criticism and stay positive
7- Time management skills
8- Problem-solving skills
9- Self confidence
10- Flexibility, adaptability
11- Listening skills
12- Critical thinking
13- Conflict resolution
14- Focused, driven
15- Action-oriented
16- Motivation; ability to motivate oneself and others
17- Working well under pressure
18- Negotiation skills
19- Exude confidence
20- Creativity; thinking outside the box
21- Ability to multitask and prioritize
22- Ability to read others, listen to them, observe them
23- Ability to see the big picture
24- Political astuteness
25- Knowing thyself; ability to self assess
Improving your EQ, means you need to find how to manager your emotions and behaviors. Then you need to learn to manage those behaviors necessary to succeed in a job interview and ultimately in the business environment.
To improve your EQ, self-analysis and the following steps are suggested:
Reduce stress rapidly and reliably. When under high levels of stress, rational thinking and decision making are more difficult. Learn to manage stress. Be resilience; stay balanced, focused and in-control.
Connect to your emotions and feel comfortable with them. You need to understand your emotions and connect to them. You can not avoid your emotions. You need to be emotionally aware and manage emotions with dexterity.
Understand and effectively use nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication sends messages. They show you are listening, that you care. You need to manage your nonverbal messages and to be able to read those from other people.
Use humor and play to deal with challenges. Humor helps lighten your burdens. Humor helps you take hardships in stride, smooth over differences and promotes relaxation, energy and creativity.
Resolve conflicts with confidence and self-assurance. Conflict cannot be avoided. So learn to resolve and manage it. Learn to diffuse and forgive.
EQ is an important element of any job search, as well as being an important aspect for managing both our personal and professional lives. Work to understand your EQ and improve/enhance your EQ before you head into your job search and the job interview process.
