10 Reasons Why Candidates With High Emotional Intelligence Make Great Employees
Welcome to Recruiter Q&A, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers!
Today’s Question: What’s one reason why it might be valuable for companies to recruit candidates with high emotional intelligence (EQ)? How does this impact the company overall?
These answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization composed of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs. YEC members represent nearly every industry, generate billions of dollars in revenue each year, and have created tens of thousands of jobs.
1. They’ll Develop Better Relationships
Emotional intelligence is at the core of relationship building, and meaningful relationships are what power teams and inspire word-of-mouth referrals. Investing in candidates who are invested in developing real relationships, both with other employees and clients, is a powerful way to create trust, commitment, and enthusiasm internally and externally. — Lindsay Tanne, LogicPrep
2. They’ll Understand Your Customers
Emotional intelligence is one of the most underrated traits. These people not only work better with their peers, creating a better environment for the company, but they’ll also likely perform well at their job. Why? Business is about people. On the other end of your product or service are people, so you better have staff who understand them, and that’s where EQ comes in to be helpful. — Andy Karuza, Teracube
3. They Can Better Handle Nonverbal Communication
With remote work being so prevalent after the pandemic, inter-communication and relationships between employees are key. It’s much easier for something to get lost in translation or for a tone to be misinterpreted over email, Slack, text, etc. An employee with high EQ is able to healthily handle the additional stress or tension that comes from nonverbal communication. — Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR
4. They’re Easier to Train
One of the advantages of hiring employees with emotional intelligence is that you’ll have an easier time training them for their role. People with a high EQ are more likely to take criticism better than those with low EQ. This impacts your company because well-trained, receptive employees tend to be happier and more productive than their counterparts. — John Turner, SeedProd LLC
5. They Ensure Effective Cooperation
One of the most important elements of a successful business is company culture, and emotional intelligence is one of those soft skills that ensures effective cooperation. When it’s not there, the amount of expertise of each individual person on the team doesn’t matter; they simply won’t be able to move in the same direction. — Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
6. They Understand the Impact of Their Decisions
Employees who have high EQ are more likely to be aware of the impact of their decisions. When you have employees who are emotionally intelligent, they tend to be better at dealing with work stress and are more able to acknowledge what the impact of making certain decisions would have on the business. This results in more clarity about decisions and, in turn, can lead to greater focus. — Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day
7. They’ll Attract Similar People to the Workplace
High EQ candidates will attract other high EQ people to join the company. Culture is extremely important, and if you can fill your company with high EQ people, it will make it a more pleasant place to work. — Josh Weiss, Reggie
8. They Make Good Leaders
A major reason to hire a person with high EQ is to ensure that you have people with potential leadership capacity in your organization. An employee who can regulate their feelings, work well with others and who is internally motivated will make for a great leader in the future. So, make sure that you include EQ assessments in your hiring process to find great candidates. — Blair Williams, MemberPress
9. They Excel at Handling Their Emotions
Individuals with high EQ are good at understanding and handling their emotions and the emotions of others around them. As such, a company filled with employees who have high EQ will benefit from a harmonious workplace with individuals who know how to collaborate efficiently with others. — Ismael Wrixen, FE International
10. They Encourage Better Collaboration
For companies that rely on constant innovation to succeed, collaboration is crucial. Of course, you need highly skilled technical workers like engineers. But to build a culture of collaboration, you also need people with strong soft skills and high EQ, even if their technical background isn’t as solid. High EQ employees grease the wheels of collaboration with empathy and help minimize any discord. — Andrew Powell, Learn to Win
Get the top recruiting news and insights delivered to your inbox every week. Sign up for the Recruiter Today newsletter.