Emotional intelligence-the savviness to be in tune with your emotions and others-can help land you that dream job. It’s not something you can fake in an interview, or convince your prospective boss that you have without demonstrating it through your behavior and stories. But emotional intelligence is one of the most in-demand skills of 2020.
What Is Emotional Intelligence and Why Are Interviewers Asking About It?
Also known as EQ, it encompasses both internal and external elements, and you can build it up like a muscle.
- In an interview, questions about your EQ might come at you in the form of behavioral questions (which ask you to share examples of how you’ve acted in certain situations) and other questions (such as “What weaknesses are you working to overcome?”) that can suss out how self-aware you are, how you take feedback, and how you deal with frustration.
Describe Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Emphasize your honesty, self-awareness, ability to take feedback, and motivation to pursue growth.
- Explain why the strength you mentioned makes you a great fit for this role, and what steps you’re taking to further your development in an area that needs improvement.
What’s Something You’ve Done in the Last Year to Grow Professionally?
People who are introspective and in tune with their own emotions and strengths and weaknesses are able to openly identify and convey what they’re doing to improve themselves
- Don’t answer this question by discussing mandatory training
- Discuss something you initiated on your own
How Are You Most Likely to Be Misunderstood by Others?
Show awareness of the vibes you put off in a workplace environment and your understanding of your impact on others.
- Discuss openly what you are doing to mitigate potential misunderstandings.
- For example, if you are quiet, and others have asked you what’s wrong, discuss how your careful and thoughtful approach can come off as disinterested.
How Do You Respond When a Coworker Challenges You in a Meeting?
How you answer this interview question reveals your ability to regulate your emotions when the stakes are high and the situation is charged.
- To succeed at communicating EQ in your answer, ideally pick a real example (you can turn to the STAR method yet again) and don’t shy away from explaining the emotions you did feel at the time.
A Few Quick Tips for Demonstrating Emotional Intelligence in an Interview
Integrating examples of EQ in most of your answers
- Asking questions
- Balancing confidence and humility
- Not striving for perfection-it’s not a thing
- Bringing specific, solutions-oriented examples
- Avoid common pitfalls that can convey lower EQ
- Bad-talking former bosses and coworkers
- Ignoring social cues
- Being cagey about weaknesses
When You Start a New Job, How Do You Adapt to Your Work Environment?
If your answer focuses broadly on relationship building rather than narrowly on getting up to speed on your own tasks, that demonstrates you value teamwork and realize your projects won’t happen in a vacuum.
- Your answer will give your interviewer a sense of your self-awareness and ability to read social cues in a new setting.
What Inspires You?
Being able to answer this question demonstrates you are thinking about your own future intentionally, rather than floating through your career half-heartedly
- You should focus on authenticity, which is much more sustainable than being fake anyway.
- Give an honest and emotionally intelligent answer, and let your voice and body language reflect how you feel.
Tell Me About a Time You Experienced a Conflict at Work
This question is really about your thought process in addressing an issue
- When you get a “Tell me about a time…” question, or others assessing EQ, answer using the STAR method
- Describe the situation (S), explain your task (T), lay out the specific actions you took (A), and end with the results of your efforts
Tell Me About a Time You Experienced a Setback and How You Dealt With It
Someone with high EQ tends to use setbacks to learn and gain the advantage of new knowledge about themselves, others, and workplace processes that will help them avoid similar issues and set them up to succeed the next time around
- If you can choose a time when a setback actually resulted in a better outcome, or led to an improved process in the future, all the better
What Would You Do if You Noticed a Coworker Was Struggling With Their Work?
When answering this question, illustrate concrete steps you would take to help a coworker who’s struggling. Remember that it may not be an indication of their abilities.
- People with a higher EQ are also able to identify when others need solutions.
