It’s well-known that soft skills will be fundamental skills of the future. One thing that will be of a great importance and includes various soft skills is emotional intelligence. More companies are willing to hire people that show high emotional intelligence, which means that showing your potential for skills during a job interview is inevitable. How do we demonstrate emotional intelligence in a job interview?

The first thing, which is crucial to succeed in an interview is to actively listen to the question being asked. Employers are rather looking for a reply that was thought through carefully, than an immediate reply that answers the question vaguely. Also, don’t be afraid to assure whether you understood the question correct. It’s better to ask the interviewer to repeat the question, than giving an answer that doesn’t fit the question.

Moreover, when the interviewer ask a question about your achievements, sharing credit with previous team members always makes a good impression. It shows the capability of team work and valuing every member that took part in a project. Speaking of achievements, talking about weaknesses doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. Stressing out how mistakes helped by improving yourself, frames it as something that is a strength.

In addition to that, the things that you don’t say are as powerful as the things that you do say. In many interview situations, interviewees want to illustrate their value in a limited amount of time. This can lead to a feeling of either stress or excitement. A useful tip is to pause before answering a question. This shows, that you take your time to think about the question thoroughly. Besides, your body language can show what kind of a person you are or which emotions you feel after certain questions.

At the end, when the job interview is almost finished, it’s your turn to ask some questions. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate if you have high emotional intelligence. By asking the interviewer questions about the company, previous projects or their way of working, you show interest in working for this certain company. However, instead of simply outlining that you want to get the position, the focus should be on the impact you want to have and how you want to succeed in the job.

All in all, job interviews are situations that can cause a feeling of stress and tension. However, the aspects mentioned above can help a lot when preparing for an interview.  Emotional Intelligence is something that you can’t show by talking about your CV, profession or technological qualifications. Emotional Intelligence includes many soft skills that are vital for every company, and that should not be underestimated.