It’s considered one of the most important factors in the hiring process, but it’s something few employers and hiring managers consider: Emotional intelligence. 

Simply put, emotional intelligence is developing skills that allow a person to manage their own emotions while understanding the emotions of people around them. It means keeping calm and steady without allowing those sometimes strong emotions to get the better of them. They remain composed when others are angry or upset and can be a cool-headed leader when things get stressful. 

There are five components to emotional intelligence and it will be easy to see why this is such an important characteristic in making a great employee and leader: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Emotionally intelligent people know what hits their emotions, see those stress or emotional issues coming before they’re a problem, while also recognizing what others are feeling and working quickly and calmly to deescalate a situation before it becomes problematic. 

Here are some tips on how to find candidates with strong emotional intelligence skills in order to bring these qualified employees onto your team. 

Start by reading cover letters and resumes carefully.

• Most employers only spend a few precious seconds or moments reviewing a cover letter and resume looking for key words to show the candidate has the right kind of experience to warrant further consideration. However, take the time to read the actual words a little more closely and you might find some language that indicates someone with strong emotional intelligence. Does the candidate talk about interpersonal skills, team building, the importance of communication? Is there any conflict resolution experience or leadership training included on their resume? All of these indicate someone who will be a great asset to your team. 

During interviews, listen closely to how they speak.

• Someone who is emotionally intelligent will be calm, and self-assured but not overly confident; rather, someone with high emotional intelligence will want to present themselves in the best possible light and will be eager and ready to talk about times they’ve been able to help avoid or resolve a conflict among colleagues. Include behavior-based questions and pay attention to body language and other non-verbal communication cues to gauge their sincerity and experience in keeping themselves calm during a trying time. You’re also looking for someone who is self-aware enough to be truthful about an experience that might not put them in the best light, a fantastic indicator of a trustworthy and honest candidate who could be a great future leader within your company. 

Incorporate some emotional intelligence assessment questions to the interview process.

• If your company already provides assessment reviews as part of the interview process, whether given in paper form during the in-person interview or as part of the initial online screening process, this is a great way to gauge someone’s emotional intelligence. It can all be automated as well, allowing you to get the results as soon as the candidate completes the assessment. Working with a staffing company like FurstStaffing allows you to offload this responsibility to our recruiters, who can initiate the assessment and provide analysis of the candidates’ aptitudes and emotional intelligence, allowing you to speed up the process even more and receive information on candidates that will meet your needs even faster. Emotional intelligence assessments are a standardized way to ensure all candidates have the same opportunities to provide their honest (ideally) responses to a series of the same questions; those who score more highly will easily stand out. These assessments typically include situational judgment tests, personality questions and/or questions specifically designed to gauge emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills. 

You might be wondering why this matters at all — an employee is supposed to be a professional and keep their feelings to themselves during business hours. While there’s some truth to that, it’s better to have an employee who not only keeps themselves in order and held together during the day but can help keep things under control while offering a shining example to other employees on how to keep themselves calm and focused during difficult times. 

Emotionally intelligent employees typically have great interpersonal skills, creating additional resources for other employees to rely on if they need help or are having any issues at work. These employees often have fantastic communication skills and will be great examples for the rest of your team, who will want to learn from someone they see excelling at their job. Further, they’re often natural leaders who will help navigate change, inspiring adaptability and confidence in those around them. 

 If you’d like to learn more about how emotional intelligence can be vetted in candidates and why it matters to your company, call FurstStaffing now! Our recruiters can help you set up an emotional intelligence screening assessment and explain how we can automate it as part of the resume review and screening process. When you’re ready to get started, call FurstStaffing !