Companies want to prevent employee conflicts and hiring emotionally intelligent people is one of the best ways to do so. Emotionally intelligent people are able to maintain an even-keeled demeanor at work. They don’t throw off the workplace flow. In today’s world, employees have to work together as a team and companies would like to prevent employee conflicts as it creates an unproductive work environment. One way to do that is by hiring emotionally intelligent people.
World Economic Forum predicted in 2016, that emotional intelligence would be one of the top skills recruiters should be looking for in the candidate. Fast forward to 2020, EQ is regarded as one of the top skills the companies need according to LinkedIn 2020 Workplace learning report.
What is Emotional Intelligence(EQ)?
Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to perceive the environment and keep feelings in check. This ensures that the workplace environment is not thrown off by emotional outbursts.
Why should you use Emotional Quotient (EQ) in recruitment?
People with high EQ tend to react better to workplace situations like :
- The dynamic and high-pressure environment
- Working with multiple team members towards a goal
- Contributing to multiple projects
- Working with different seniority levels
- Working in different work environments like remote working or unsupervised learning
- Interacting with customers or clients
Candidates with high EQ can adapt to a changing work environment and contribute to building a positive working environment for themselves and for others. As most of the companies will resort to working in teams or working remotely, this aspect of the candidate will be crucial.
3 tips to hire a candidate with High Emotional Quotient (EQ)
The fact that EQ is important to the work environment is established. Now comes the issue of integrating it into the recruitment process. Here are 3 tips for HRs to hire people with high EQ :
1. Observe the candidate closely in different settings
Candidates provide many touchpoints like a resume, phone calls, and interviews and thus, they give you a lot of information to work on. With several points of recruitment being automated, you can observe a candidate in a one-way interview setting and two-way interview setting.
- Pay attention to the language a candidate uses in the resume, while describing themselves or while talking about their previous workplace. The more specific they are, the more likely they are to exhibit emotionally intelligent behaviors.
- Notice their levels of self-awareness by asking them questions about themselves, their strengths, weaknesses, or about the biggest hurdle they faced in life. An emotionally intelligent person will prevent using cliched language.
- Observe their reactions when they are asked to explain and re-explain a certain situation. An emotionally intelligent person will remain calm and answer questions in different ways to ensure the recruiter understands.
2. Leverage AritificiaI Intelligence (AI) tools to make better decisions
Despite the subjective nature of EQ, some sophisticated AI tools are entering the field by providing data points about candidate behavior. AI can use the resume or written answers submitted by the candidates to understand certain aspects of candidate behavior which could be used along with your analysis of the candidate during the interview to assess the candidate effectively.
3. Get a 360-degree feedback
Everyone picks up different cues of personality and therefore, the inclusion of multiple team members to evaluate the candidate will lead to better results. For better understanding, social media activity and previous employee feedback can also be considered.
While including multiple team members, ensure diversity in terms of job function and seniority to assess candidates well and ask each reviewer to share their observations on the candidate and make a decision based on the interaction of the candidates in the multiple interview rounds. Candidates who are selected based on group consensus will have greater support from the team members and will be accepted in the team quickly. This will ensure smooth interaction, better communication, and a positive work environment.
