Emotional Intelligence (Emotional Quotient) during Job Interviews in Nigeria

Use high emotional intelligence to garner points for yourself during your interview. Avoid pitfalls many people fall into by being inadequately set for these kinds of questions.

Many organizations now use emotional intelligence (Emotional quotient) testing to hire new staff. It is a strong indicator of whether a candidate will succeed in the job or break down from personal or relationship stress or even negatively impact team- work ability of existing staff.

“If you view all the things that happen to you both good & bad as opportunities, then you operate at a higher level of consciousness”

Les Brown

What recruitment managers want to know is if you are aware of your feelings and actions and how they affect people around you. 

The ability to stay calm and in control is highly valued in organizations today. So, you should be able to keep your emotions under control even when things go wrong.

Let’s examine some Emotional intelligence questions:

1.    “Think of a conflict that occurred between you and your colleague or boss. How did it start? How did you resolve it?”

2.    “Tell us about a time when your feelings or mood affected your job performance positively or negatively. How did you handle it?”

In this job interview situation, you must demonstrate that you are a master of your mood. Even when angry, you are expected to display self control. Emotional intelligence in a job requires that you control your feelings for the sake of team-work and success of projects

3.    “Do you remember a time you said something that had negative impact on your customer, colleague or boss? How did you know the type of impact?”

4.    “Have you ever been in a business situation whereby you felt you needed to change your behavior? What was it? What did you do?”

5.    Have you ever benefitted from a disappointment?

You must be able to demonstrate that you can easily identify your shortcomings by yourself and quickly adjust. An emotionally intelligent person can see himself as he is and make valuable and positive adjustments.

6.    “Can you think of any anytime or situation where you felt you were on the wrong course? What was it? How did you know? What did you learn from that experience?”

Recruiters want to know that you can pick up lessons from your day-to-day interactions with clients. It’s a sign that you have the ability to grow and develop in the job.

7.    What do you think of your last boss?

8.    Describe a situation where your work or idea was criticized.

9.    Tell me about a time when you worked with a difficult person.

In job interviews like this, you are suppose to display a high capacity for understanding others perspective and technically convey your own point of view without making a fuss anything.

Generally, it is expected that an emotional intelligent person would value others, listen to their wants and needs and empathize/identify with them at different levels or situations.

·                  You should take responsibility for your actions – apologize directly when you hurt somebody’s feelings rather than avoid the person or ignore the issue.

·                  Accept that you are not perfect and you can work on some areas to become a better person. You must be able to look at yourself honestly

·                  Don’t worry too much about getting praise for your hard work

·                  Look honestly at how you think and interact with others – put yourself in their shoes and be more pen to accepting their perspectives and needs.

 These are indicators of high emotional intelligence- an invaluable trait in the corporate world and a good tool in a job interview.

As a final point, you should begin to examine your ability to put yourself in another man’s shoes (your emotional intelligence) properly even before you are being invited for a job interview. Emotional quotient is a lifetime tool of success. So, make it a duty to use it wisely.