Page 13 - Graduate Recruitment Handbook 2025

Emotional intelligence

a secret ingredient for career success

Emotional intelligence can help a graduate become the best at what they do, be the best
colleague possible and achieve career success.

Communication, teamwork, and relationship building While higher levels of emotional intelligence are
skills are enhanced by higher levels of emotional undoubtedly an asset in ‘people-centred’ roles,
intelligence. such as those in HR, health professions and people
management, it can be helpful in any job that
What is emotional intelligence (also known as EI or involves interaction with people, whether colleagues,
EQ)? A basic definition is: customers or bosses.
• the ability to identify and deal with our own
emotions How can emotional intelligence be
• the ability to recognise and understand the an advantage in the workplace?
feelings of others, and Emotional intelligence can help build better
• to adjust our own behaviours and our relationships and make things run smoothly. For
responses to others accordingly. example, if you request work from a colleague whom
you suspect is feeling down or overwhelmed, how
It requires self-knowledge and empathy. The concept and when you make the request should be different
of emotional intelligence – coined by Peter Salavoy than it would be if you thought that they were in
and John Mayer – entered popular understanding ‘a good place’. If you are a manager who has to
with Daniel Goleman’s books on the subject in the introduce a significant change, your awareness of
1990s and there is much that you can read about how people react to change might inform how you
the subject online if you are prompted to do further choose to approach it. If you have to persuade a
research. What we are concentrating on here is client to take a course of action about which they
how it can be beneficial in the workplace and, in have doubts, understanding what makes them tick is
particular, to graduates starting out in their first job. likely to improve your chances of success.

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2025/26 Graduate Recruitment Handbook
2025/26 Graduate Recruitment Handbook 13