Candidate
Number One is clearly brilliant. With degrees from the best
institutions, his vocabulary is liberally sprinkled with words that make
you want to reach for your pocket dictionary.
Candidate Number Two has a degree from a
second-tier school. While he’s more plain-spoken and street smart, you
actually like him more. But, you think hiring the candidate with the Ivy
League sheepskin is the better bet because you just assume that smarter
is superior.
Not necessarily, says Rick Kean, Executive Vice
President of Dunhill Staffing Systems, Inc.
"Human resource experts have begun to recognize
that while a candidate’s cognitive intelligence is important, his
‘emotional intelligence’ quotient, or EQ, provides a better
indication of how well he will actually perform on the job," said
Kean. Or, as Time magazine recently put it, "It’s IQ that
gets people hired, but EQ that gets them promoted."
The changing nature of the workplace has made
a worker’s EQ more important than ever before. Today’s company is
often less a hierarchy than a network of professionals, each with
different strengths and weaknesses. Assignments are carried out by teams
of individuals who pool their talents to get the job done.
As a result, the ability to understand one’s own
reactions to problems and stresses and to take into account the
attitudes and issues of others has become one of the most valued
business skills.
Emotional intelligence isn’t placating your
peers or schmoozing your sales prospects. It’s about personal
discipline and coping skills, as well as the ability to empathize with
others and enlist their cooperation, and to get things done within a
specific political environment.
"We used to call it street smarts," said
Kean. "We all know people who just intuitively seem to know when to
talk and when to keep quiet. They fire people’s enthusiasm, and keep
their head when those around them are panicking. People like that are
valuable assets to any organization."
Staffing professionals like those at Dunhill make it
a point to evaluate a candidate’s EQ just as they would any other
workplace skill. While EQ is a subjective measure, experienced staffers
include interview questions and scenarios that are specifically designed
to provide insight into a candidate’s ability to handle stress,
empathize with others, and work in a team.
Unlike cognitive intelligence, however, it may
be possible to increase your EQ. Older workers are often more self-aware
and self-motivated, and have better social skills. That has led some
researchers to believe that emotional intelligence is a learned
behavior…a skill that can be enhanced through proper training.
Clearly, it is an area worth exploring.
"Some people achieve success without people
skills, but it is safe to say that a candidate with a high EQ often is
the more valuable employee," said Kean. "In the end, the
ability to self-evaluate, steer clear of people’s emotional minefields
and build an enthusiastic team is far more important than a couple of IQ
points."
