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Emotional intelligence and its effect to a job interview

Job interviews have always been a stressful matter for both young unexperienced people and older people with more experience. Going to an interview for a job position, especially a popular job that everyone seems to want, can make things even more difficult.

Do not let feelings overwhelm you

Now, being inside the interview room is not easy. The stress can be overwhelming for some people. They see the interviewer as a person who is there to fail them on purpose. Everything in the room makes them feel nervous. And because of the stress, people do not understand that with a few simple ‘’tricks’’ and by using their natural instincts, they can actually turn the table and succeed a lot more.

Emotional intelligence is everything a person needs in order to succeed in a job interview. Starting from the basics, Emotional Intelligence is basically the way we can understand and deal with the world and especially the people around us. When you can understand if a person is sad, happy, angry or calm, that is emotional intelligence.

When you are able to understand the feelings of a person, you can understand how to work with or around those feelings to make sure that you will get what you want. Being able to understand the emotional state of a person can make things a lot easier, when you are talking to them. And this is just one of the skills emotional intelligence can offer you.

Train your emotional intelligence

Your general mental ability is part of your emotional intelligence. Entering a room and understanding what goes on, without asking. That shows a strong emotional intelligence. Imagine being able to do something like that when you are in a room for a job interview.

Emotional intelligence can help you ‘’read’’ your interviewer, understand their feeling towards you and towards the situation and give you the opportunity to use them to your advantage. And not everyone knows that they can actually do that if they want.

Every interaction you have, stimulates your emotional intelligence and makes it just a little bit stronger. Imagine it, as some sort of training for your brain. Before going for a job interview, it is a good idea for you to try and enhance your emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence skills will help more than you think, during the interview.

Imagine being able to tell exactly what your interviewer is thinking about. Being able to understand how they feel. What they feel not just about what you are telling them, but on a personal level as well. You can redirect the subject and use it to advance your position. Emotional intelligence will, on some level, allow you to do that.

During a job interview, emotional intelligence will help you understand more about your interviewer and will give you the opportunity to use that to your advantage. Knowing whether you have a chance on the job or not is going to save you a lot of time, will help you learn from your mistakes and do better next time.


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Maria Dalakoura
Senior Project Manager