Founder and Head of the international IT recruitment company Lucky Hunter.
getty
In recent years, we have been hearing the expression, “emotional intelligence” more and more frequently. Various exercises for developing emotional intelligence (EI) skills have appeared and employers are talking about its importance — in fact, a 2019 survey showed that 71% of employers are prioritizing EQ over IQ in employees.
Emotional intelligence studies emotions and a person’s ability to keep them under control, use them effectively in communication and interactions with others, show empathy and recognize other people’s intentions.
Nowadays, many different models of EI (and sets of competencies within it) exist, but one of the most popular is the model suggested by science journalist Daniel Goleman in his book, “Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.”
The Goleman model includes several EI components — I suggest we talk about how we can apply them in recruiting. Why? Recruiting involves constant work with people (with candidates or, if the recruiter is working at a recruitment agency, with clients as well), daily negotiations and different mental states. So, being able to understand the reactions of the interlocutor and how to “work” with them, as well as how to control your own emotions, is particularly important in recruiting.
Getting Along With Others
Finding a common language means not only listening to the interlocutor but also being interested in their personality. I’ve often seen cases when recruiters successfully “sell” a specific vacancy because they managed to correctly determine which points to focus on during the interview in order to light up the interest of a particular candidate, taking into consideration that candidate’s preferences and values.
Taking Responsibility For Your Actions
It is important for a recruiter to be able to distinguish where their responsibility to the candidate ends and the responsibility of the company begins. Failure to do this can lead to the recruiter regularly taking things to heart, which will significantly affect their stress level and mental health.
Being Aware Of Your Strengths And Weaknesses
Emotional intelligence also includes self-development. Every day, recruiters look through a fairly large flow of CVs and evaluate various candidates. In order to give an objective assessment to others, it is important first of all to be able to look at yourself from the outside and determine your strengths and weaknesses.
Exercising Self-Control Of Emotions
As I have already said, we work with people, and working with people means feeling emotions that can be completely different and not always positive. Sometimes we have to work with a difficult client, and other times candidates blame the recruiter for their unsuccessful interviews.
For recruiters, it is important not to allow your emotions to affect your work. This does not mean that it is necessary to suppress your reactions: On the contrary, controlling emotions is about awareness and elaboration in the appropriate setting. Why is this necessary? So that “unlived” emotions do not accumulate and do not affect working moments (by the way, this can affect colleagues in addition to candidate interactions) and the psychological comfort of the recruiter.
Demonstrating Ethics And Empathy
Conducting complex negotiations for a vacancy, searching for a compromise with a candidate or client; these are just two out of many examples of scenarios in which a recruiter needs to not only achieve an effective result, but also act ethically without hurting any of the involved parties.
This is difficult without demonstrating empathy at the right time. When handling objections and seeking to understand the root of the problem, it is important for the recruiter to put themselves in the shoes of another person: to understand the reason behind their opinion and what that person feels at the moment. The “we are all human beings” rule applies in recruiting — I often say that the profession of a recruiter consists of several other professions, including that of a psychologist.
Focusing On The Present
Instead of worrying and complaining about what has already happened in the past, it is important to think about how you can solve the problem in the present. In recruiting, like any other job that involves working with people, things can go wrong, often through no fault of the recruiter — for example, the company decided to fill the vacancy with the help of internal resources and withdrew the offer, or the candidate missed the final interview.
Being present-focused means not wasting internal resources on worrying about the situation but directing your energy toward looking for a solution — for example, perhaps a candidate whose job offer was withdrawn will be interested in the other company you work with.
Setting Personal Boundaries
In my article about stress in recruiting, I wrote about the importance of this point: You need to be able to say “no,” whether to a client or a candidate. Recruiting requires the ability to build personal boundaries. It is important to refuse to work together if there is even a small risk that the cooperation will be stressful.
In general, a high level of EI allows you to work effectively with the reactions and emotions of other people, as well as your own, correctly plan your internal resources and learn more about yourself — remember, these are useful skills not only in work, but in your daily life, too.
Forbes Human Resources Council is an invitation-only organization for HR executives across all industries. Do I qualify?
