The Soft Skills Revolution: Why Emotional Intelligence is Key to Career Success

You hear it all the time: you need a strong set of soft skills to get ahead. This includes abilities like leadership, communication, problem-solving, time management, and organization. That seems like a long list (and that roster only touches on a fraction of the useful soft skills). However, there is one factor that contributes to a large swath of these critical attributes: emotional intelligence.

Looking for the proper venue to showcase your soft skills? A top recruiter, like SmartTalent, can help you get the most out of your experience and background. Reach out to SmartTalent to find the right employer for you.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking to expand your soft skills, concentrating on your emotional intelligence is a good place to start. Here is some important information about this critical ability and how it can be a key to your career success:

What is emotional intelligence?

Your boss just told you to overhaul the project you have due tomorrow. That client won’t return your email. The coworker sitting next to you in the meeting won’t stop tapping their foot.

How do you handle these situations? A lot of your responses will be dictated by your emotional intelligence or EI. The term refers to your ability to monitor and manage your own emotions, as well as recognize and understand the emotions of those around you.

How does emotional intelligence help you in the workplace?

Now that you know the basics about emotional intelligence, it’s important to learn how it can contribute to your career development. Knowing the upsides attached to this critical attribute will give you the incentive you need to pursue it.

Here are some of the benefits you can expect by elevating your EI:

Upgrade Your Communication Skills

Having high emotional intelligence will improve your interactions with the outside world. You’ll be able to process information (both good and bad) much better. Meanwhile, you’ll be better positioned to connect with those around you on a deeper level.

Become a Better Collaborator

Building on your upgraded communication skills, you’ll become a better teammate and a stronger employee. With tighter bonds with your colleagues, you’ll serve as a hub for the people in your orbit. This will open up new opportunities in your career and lead to improved networking.

Improve Your Leadership Skills

With a high emotional IQ, you open up your ability to take on additional responsibility. You’ll be ready to handle the additional pressure that comes with leadership. At the same time, you’ll have the improved communication skills needed to connect with your team.

Stay Motivated

Emotional intelligence doesn’t just connect you to other people. It also bolsters your ability to stay engaged in your work. You’ll lose less time to petty frustrations, letting you remain on track, whatever challenges come your way.

How can you improve your emotional intelligence?

Understanding the value of emotional intelligence represents the first step. But once you grasp the advantages you can receive, how do you unlock them? You’ll need to invest the time and energy necessary to improve your EI. Here’s how:

• Start Internally: The first part of EI involves understanding your emotions and controlling your reactions to them. Begin your journey by looking at yourself and working on this key ability.
• Track People’s Reaction to You: Learn to recognize the feelings of those around you. See how they react to you and adjust your behavior to get the emotional response you desire.
• Stay Positive: Remain calm and maintain an upbeat approach, even under times of stress. Time pressure and frustrating events become an important test of your improving EI.
• Get Better at Receiving Feedback: Emotional intelligence is most useful at moments when you’re most likely to get defensive or lose your cool. Hearing unpleasant information ranks among the most challenging of these situations. As such, you need to get better at absorbing criticism in a detached, logical way.
• Share with Others: EI isn’t just about controlling harmful emotions. It also involves sharing your pleasant feelings in a constructive way. This will help you connect with those around you.

Investing in your emotional intelligence will help you unlock a host of soft skills. From there, you just need the right place to showcase them. SmartTalent can guide you to the ideal positions for you.

Contact SmartTalent today to make the most of your abilities.