In the world of employment and business there's a lot to be said for qualifications and academic success. This is, of course, because it reflects upon a person's intelligence and how well they will cope with a potential job. Yet in today's society there is just as much emphasis and focus on emotional intelligence as there is academic and it's important to understand how, when and where it is best displayed.

Emotional intelligence is essentially the ability to asses the moods and behaviors of both yourself and other people in order to make sense of a situation and interpret what the right things to say or things to do would be. Many people have half-jokingly referred to it as 'blagging-skills' as essentially in a job emotional intelligence could well be used to bring people round to your way of thinking and persuade them to do what you want them to, without making anyone feel awkward or put out. A job in sales, for instance, is perfect for someone with high emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence incorporates a huge number of things, such as body language, speech methods, timing, eye contact and vocabulary itself. One of the most important times you can possibly use it is for a job interview. Showing compassion and understanding towards your potential boss or interviewer shows you are nice to have around and could enhance the working environment. Similarly, it shows you can get on well with people you've just met and when you're under pressure; a quality that's essential when meeting with new and important clients.

A high level of emotional intelligence is essentially a guarantee of how stable you will be in a job, how reliable and how good at colleague and client relationships you are. It involves understanding your own emotions as well as those of others so it should that you know your limits and how to push them, but never to the extent that you get stressed and under perform or need time off work.

Now we come to how to display emotional intelligence. The trick is not to outwardly say things like 'I can tell when I'm getting stressed and know when to stop', in fact there are very few tricks at all. Emotional intelligence is best displayed naturally and if you have it then great. If you don't, don't worry too much as it's easy to learn and pick up from emotionally intelligent people. Many employers now have an emotional intelligence test put in place, that asks you simple and multiple choice questions on various subjects and situations. A lot of them will be common sense, but it's well worth looking sample tests up online or asking your employment agency so that you can practice and get to know what your employer is looking for.

Finally, remember that while emotional intelligence isn't reliant on self confidence, your own happiness is and a happy employee works to the best of their ability. Show your employer, client of potential boss that you are confident in yourself and you'll give them absolutely no reason to doubt your judgment.

Stan Tian

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