Knowing that your employer is looking for a cue
gives you a competitive edge.
Hey, my name is Kwesi, and let me teach you something.
Imagine there's one job, and it's down to two applicants
both with impressive resumes.
The first looks great on paper.
But when asked about how they deal with challenges at work,
all they talk about is how they alone fix problems.
The second candidate responds to the question differently.
Their answer includes a mixture of reflection, resourcefulness,
and humility.
That mixture is emotional intelligence.
And it's why candidates who got the job.
By Pablo definition, Emotional Intelligence or EQ
as it's commonly called is the ability
to recognize, understand, and manage your own emotions,
and the emotions of others.
It's made up of different characteristics and skill sets,
all of which can be learned.
We can each get better at recognizing, understanding,
and managing our own emotions.
Having a high EQ, it's like understanding the gears
on a bicycle.
Think of it this way.
Gears help you pedal more efficiently giving you
a smoother and enjoyable ride.
They're especially important when
you take a road you haven't been on before when there
could be unexpected terrain.
Now, it's not enough just to have the gears on the bike.
You need to know how to use them.
When you understand what each gear really does,
as well as when and how it should be used,
you'll make the journey much more successful on the road
and in your career.
We'll dive into how the different gears of EQ
can help you during the interview process in a minute.
But first, a quick history lesson.
The term was first coined in a 1990 research paper authored
by 2 psychology professors.
Peter Salovey and John Mayer.
Not that John Mayer.
Unlike IQ, which measures a person's relative intelligence,
they define emotional intelligence
as a form of social intelligence that involves the ability
to monitor one's own and others' feelings, and emotions
to discriminate among them, and to use this information
to guide one's thinking and action.
Now, this idea may have just fallen into academic abyss
if it hadn't caught the eye of New York Times science reporter
David Goldman.
Goldman unpacked the relationship
between intelligence, and emotion,
and believe it could send shockwaves
across the business world.
This commitment even became the framework
for his 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence,
which was a global bestseller.
Later, Goldman and his team of researchers
developed the five components of emotional intelligence,
self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation,
empathy, and social skills.
But it's not just researchers who are interested in EQ.
Recruiters have found that EQ was one of the stronger
predictors for job performance, making these traits
desirable in applicants.
His long time career coach, Nicole Williams.
Recruiters are looking for candidates with high EQ
because these are the people who deal with stress better,
who have more collaborative relationships at work,
and who understand themselves better,
and understand how to perform at their optimal level.
In several studies, hiring for EQ
has proven to deliver measurable results for organizations.
It strengthens teams, fosters learning, increases sales,
enhances individual job performance,
and it has been found to boost retention.
So this is great for companies.
But you may be wondering, what's in it for me?
Well, one survey found that 75% of HR professionals
would promote an employee with high EQ over high IQ.
So your emotional intelligence is definitely
something to focus on.
Let's dive in further to see how it comes up in an interview,
and how seasoned pros show off their EQ to employers.
I think it's really important to be
thinking about interpersonal skills
when you're applying for a job.
You come ready to the interview to present
your technical skills.
These are my capabilities.
This is my experience, and all of that.
And I think in the same way, you want
to present your interpersonal skills, your emotional,
intelligence skills, so to speak,
in that same kind of way.
So have lots of examples ready, think of it as your portfolio
of interpersonal skills, so that you
can draw on those when you're asked specific questions
about how did you handle a stressful situation,
how did you handle some other difficult interpersonal task,
such as giving somebody bad news.
It's not that your IQ or your technical skills
don't matter in an interview, they absolutely do.
It's like if you don't know the basics of riding a bike,
it really doesn't matter if you use the gears or not.
You first got to get the wheels turning.
But EQ brings you to the next level,
and allows you to take more challenges in your career.
You may be comforted to know that EQ is not
about your personality, it's about your behavior
and actions.
Your recruiter wants to see that how to control your EQ gives,
and any workplace situation.
There isn't an all encompassing set of emotional intelligence
questions because they're all going to be situational.
The interviewer has broken the job down
into the special skills and abilities
that a person needs to perform that job.
And then the questions are going to test for those things.
What you want to think about is that the interview is a test.
For example, is in sales, then they're
going to ask you questions about your skills
in dealing with customers, maybe dealing
with difficult customers.
What was the outcome?
Was it effective?
Now, answering questions isn't the only way
to show off your emotional intelligence.
The researchers from Harvard University found that people
who ask thoughtful follow-up questions, in particular,
become better managers and land better jobs than those who
don't.
To demonstrate motivation in your interview,
many applicants talk about their why.
Everyone has a why.
And it has to be more than money, or more than fame,
or more than influence.
Your why is connected to something personal inside
of you.
It's connected to your personal motivation, and the reason
why you do the thing that you do.
Your employer is thinking to themselves,
why is this person doing the work that they're doing?
And the more intrinsically motivated
they are to do something of value, the more likely
they are to succeed.
Employers are looking for self awareness during interviews.
Several studies show that people who see themselves clearly
are better communicators, have stronger relationships,
and become more effective leaders
with more profitable companies.
Here's another important thing to know.
Your interview isn't only about showcasing
your emotional intelligence.
It's also a time for you to learn the emotional pulse
of the company.
Is this a place where people are warm and welcoming?
Talk to people there, ask questions like,
what is it like to work here?
You can use your emotional intelligence
to assess the emotional climate of the organization,
and figure out if it's a good fit, if it's the place where
you want to work.
The gaze of your own EQ are always
something you can learn to navigate.
And it's critical.
Your future employer is looking for evidence of EQ, your EQ.
Your emotional intelligence can have
an impact on your work satisfaction,
and your ability to get hired.
Yeah.
If you enjoyed this video, and you learn something,
please like and subscribe.
And we would not.
Oh.
Yes, settle down.
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
Oh, look.
Oh, all right.
Got it.
That's more common.
Yeah.
All right.