A time for change: Emotionally Intelligent Recruitment
The pandemic forced businesses and individuals alike to embrace technological solutions to bridge lockdown and social distancing. Now, with the end of lockdowns in sight, it is time to make sure that our recruitment initiatives are equally forward-thinking.
For many businesses across the UK and worldwide, the pandemic meant a dramatic drop in hiring new staff members as organisations sought to cut losses and ride out the crisis.
As vaccine uptake skyrockets and the rate of COVID-19 infections, hospitalisations and deaths now more under control, there is a spike in recruitment.
Recent evidence by CIPD, a Human Resources Body, found that UK employers are struggling to recruit despite many initiatives put into place, such as:
Raising pay (44% of employers).
Upskilling more existing staff (39%).
Advertising more jobs as flexible (38%).
Although the recruitment initiative may now be gaining momentum, the challenges of recruiting during a pandemic will remain the same for some time.
Recent research suggest that that nearly half of senior decision-makers believe they have made a bad hire in the past 12 months, with small businesses more likely to experience a bigger impact.
The insights and impressions gained from an in-person interview are clouded through a virtual setting, with people’s ability to detect falsehoods, overconfidence, genuine passion and honesty hindered.
These could be challenging enough in a pre-pandemic interview, let alone now.
With that being said, this recruitment period comes at an exciting time for businesses and organisations.
At EBW Global, we know that an Emotional Intelligence (EQ) approach to recruitment can give you that next cutting edge by providing crucial candidates insights that can not be discovered by an interview alone. Now is the time to reflect on how to maximise the longevity and effectiveness of future employees.
Similar to companies’ use of communications technology before COVID-19, using EQ approaches for recruitment initiatives is something that many groups have dipped their toes into, but are yet to explore to anywhere near their full potential.
The digital expansion that occurred since the pandemic has seen incredible financial and wellbeing benefits. The rewards of adopting a fuller EQ recruitment approach can be just as successful, both financial and in terms of team morale, spirit and effectiveness.
The so-called ‘soft-skills’, fundamental to EQ, are often valued more highly than IQ by employers, but with interviews online and without the same ease of assessment, these skills can be much harder to detect. An EBW recruitment package quickly and easily reveals the truth of your candidates, from their motivation to succeed to their emotional control and resilience.
By using EBW assessments and gaining more Emotionally Intelligent staff members, you’ll enable:
EBW Business Emotional Intelligence Certification Model
A better workplace environment – productivity and enjoyment go hand-in-hand with high EQ staff.
Better teamwork – improved communication skills, trust between colleagues and great creativity; to name only a few benefits.
Greater self-control – giving time to consider the best responses to challenging clients or difficult decisions.
Greater self-awareness – leading to professional development and more accurate project timelines.
Easier adjustments – adapting positively to organisations’ evolution and change, inspiring others in the team to do the same.
While this list is far from exhaustive, the benefits to incorporating an EQ approach for recruitment are clear.
Having staff that display high Emotional Intelligence results in a constructive and creative workplace atmosphere, cultures of respect, offices – virtual or in person - full of people ready and willing to get along, greater productivity, flexibility, and self-reflection.
The ideal future to post-pandemic working life.
To hear more about how Emotional Intelligence assessments can improve your recruitment processes, click this link to read more about Emotional Intelligence and Recruitment.
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