By Natalie Bland
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Schools teach students to perfect their technical skills when it comes to getting a job. But what about soft skills—known as emotional intelligence—such as communication, teamwork and leadership?
Employers are now using emotional intelligence guidelines to choose the best applicants for job positions. The emotional intelligence markers demonstrate to an employer whether an applicant can fit in with the organization.
“We use behavioral interviews to uncover shared values with our organization—passion, positivity, accountability, and ‘be the solution,’ ” said Craig Mitchell, the United States Recruitment Manager at Jellyfish, a digital marketing agency in Baltimore.
Aside from the interview, employers get a sense of an applicant’s emotional intelligence through social media and digital footprints. The assistant director of career communities at the Towson University Career Center, Cory Anderson, studies how employers are looking at social media.
“Employers now want to see that, as a student, your digital presence and your brand aligns with the mission of the organization,” Anderson said.
Schools like Towson University are teaching students about the five pillars of emotional intelligence–self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.
Lisa Michocki, the director of Student Academic and Career Services within the College of Business and Economics, wanted to break the stereotype that students can only communicate with their phones.
“The perception is that today’s student is tied to their phones,” Michocki said. “But we want to get them really engaged and ready to enter the workplace.”
Students struggle to make the connection between emotional intelligence and the workplace. Towson senior and accounting major, Christina St. Jean, learned the importance of building relationships in a professional setting.
“Knowing yourself and comprehending that everyone expresses themselves in different ways allows for relationships to develop more smoothly,” St. Jean said.
Mitchell gains an understanding of a candidate’s emotional intelligence by finding out how they have handled and managed difficult situations in the behavioral interview.
“Values, emotional intelligence, and soft skills are harder to teach than technical skills,” Mitchell said, “so we place a higher value on them.”
Emotional intelligence provides the skills needed to work well with the company and coworkers. Elizabeth Hardesty, a Talent Acquisition Manager for Enterprise Holdings in the Baltimore Group, said emotional intelligence is critical.
“We work in a team environment so the ability to relate to each other is important,” Hardesty said. “Finding out what motivates your team members and knowing what everyone’s strengths and weaknesses are help us to achieve both personal and team goals.”
Grayson Holmes, a paid search manager at Jellyfish, also found value in soft skills.
“When you are able to connect with your team members on topics outside of work or be there for them when they are having a difficult day and support them, it makes for a more positive environment,” Holmes said.
The associate director for external relations at the Towson University Career Center, Manette Zinkand, said emotional intelligence also helps you to become a leader in an organization.
“Any and all of those skills can really help someone in an organization to thrive and rise and expand their skill sets,” Zinkand said, “because the higher we go in organizations, the more it’s about being able to effectively work with others.”
Emotional intelligence can help young adults in their social and personal life, along with their professional career. Having those soft skills in today’s polarizing climate will help the diverse community that is the greater Baltimore area.
“If we are going to be able to grow and progress as a community, then more of us are going to have to have some sense of emotional intelligence, so then we can actually have a decent conversation with each other and be able to be in tune with our own feelings and what others feel and be able to see other people,” Anderson said.