So you have set up a company, and it is up and running. You have endured the pain and stress associated with the first phases of starting a company. Your company has now acquired a middle-level status. With this status comes the need to hire qualified staff which will enable you to take your company to the next level. For you to hire qualified staff, you form a reputable company culture that will help you to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. With the dynamics experienced in the workplace, you look towards hiring an individual who is not only qualified and experienced but also emotionally intelligent.

The reason why you lay emphasis on hiring a person with emotional intelligence is that this quality has become a non-negotiable element when shortlisting the job candidates. The success of the individual in the workplace is highly influenced by this factor too. Another reason why you are looking to hire staff who are emotionally intelligent is that such individuals make better leaders.

Apart from making better leaders, these individuals have the ability to understand and manage their emotions, and also those of the people around them. On the same note, these individuals usually know what they are feeling, what the different types of emotions they have mean, and also how their emotions affect those around them in one way or another.

Such individuals are also able to regulate themselves well. It is interesting to note that they also derive their motivation from within and without and that is why they always exhibit high levels of motivation. Empathy is also another unique factor that these individuals possess. Because they are aware of how their emotions affect them and those around them, emotionally, intelligent people possess the necessary social and communication skills. Well, who would not desire an employee with these skills?

As the interview and shortlisting process draws nearer, you decide to collect some questions on emotional intelligence that the hiring managers will use to screen the job applicants. You, however, don’t want to come up with a lot of questions and so you decide to narrow down to the most important ones that are relevant to your company’s scenario. Some of the top 7 interview questions that you intend to use to determine the emotional intelligence of your job applicants are as follows:

1. What is it that bothers you the most about other people?

This question will likely test the candidate’s ability to handle other people despite their shortcomings. It also tests the candidate’s perception of the workmates. Moreover, this question introduces the hiring manager to how well the candidate understands the effect and the limits of their behavior on others. An emotionally intelligent candidate will focus on how they manage to smooth the relationship despite being bothered by some of the other person’s shortcomings.

2. Is there something that you can teach me?

This question seeks to explore whether the candidate has the required communication skills. Is (s)he able to explain an idea in simple terms. It is worth noting that an individual with high levels of emotional intelligence will always naturally assume the responsibility for getting their ideas across.

When posting this question, try to determine whether your candidate is showing signs of fighting back impatience and frustration. Be sure to take a keen look at the candidate’s tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language as they say a lot.

3. Who is your source of inspiration and why?

This question acts as a sneak peak into who the job candidate would like to be. It presents the interviewer with a view of how the candidate models himself/herself after. Based on the responses received, the interviewer will be able to determine the types of behavior and values that the job candidate highly esteems. Whether these behaviors and values are desirable in your company or not is yours to determine based on the responses received. Furthermore, make it a point to ask whether there are some qualities and things about that person that the job candidate does not like in spite of their great achievements.

4. Can you tell me about a day when everything went wrong?

This question seeks to look into how the candidate handled such a bad day. As an interviewer, your main interest will be to determine whether the candidate dwelled on the problem or did they look for solutions? You may also seek to determine whether (s)he blamed the events of the bad day on others. On the same note, you will be interested in determining whether the candidate exhibited coping mechanisms as you are looking to hire an individual with the necessary flexibility to handle the uncertain and often unpredictable.This question seeks to look into how the candidate handled such a bad day.

5. Do you fee like you are missing a certain skill or expertise?

Emotionally intelligent individuals have a high degree of self-awareness. They know their strengths and weaknesses. They are also aware of the limits of these strengths and weaknesses. One of the clear-cut characteristics of highly emotionally intelligent people, as may be brought out by this questions, is their curiosity and the desire to learn. They always strive to better themselves. Also, for a company to be successful, its staff need to have the burning desire to always better themselves at something one step at a time.

6. Which three factors do you attribute as being key determinants of your success?

The answer to this question in one way or another will help the interviewer to determine whether the candidate is selfless or selfish. If you want to know that the candidate is selfish, (s)he will talk in terms of ‘I did this’ or ‘I achieved that’. If you want to know if (s)he is selfless, you will probably hear terms such as ‘the team accomplished this or that’ or ‘us’.

The guiding factor here is to hire a team player who will bring about something positive to the company. Emotionally intelligent people are good team players since they have the necessary social skills and are also aware of how their behavior affects those around them.

7. Supposing you were a manager, what are the kinds of people you would hire and why?

This question takes you through what the candidate values most in others and on teams. It introduces you to the kind of people (s)he prefers to work with. You get to learn if the candidate focuses on people or on the outcomes. The candidate’s style of managing others to accomplish the shared goals and objectives is also determined by this question. Moreover, you will be able to determine whether the candidate likes to work closely with others or whether they have a preference for working independently.

Well, those are just some of the most crucial questions one can use to gauge the level of emotional intelligence of the job candidates. It is worth noting that moving away from the traditional interview model which is mostly interested in testing a candidate’s experience will help you gain more insight into their emotional intelligence which has become an important factor that employees need to possess in the current workplace.

It will be important that you come up with a recruiting mechanism that will assist you in hiring highly emotionally intelligent staff. One of the ways of doing so would be to make use of computer programs or even online sites that offer a sample of tests meant to determine people’s emotional quotient. As a hiring manager, whatever you do, please make sure that you use the right mechanisms to determine a candidate’s level of emotional intelligence.

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