14 Activities to Enhance Your Emotional Intelligence

Seeking to enhance your emotional intelligence to better understand yourself and others is a critical requirement of a successful job search. 

This requires an effort to be aware of what is going on around us and the emotional intelligence to work out how we feel about it. If we are not conscious, we are unconscious. When we are unconscious, there can be no self-awareness.

Working to enhance your emotional intelligence will bring you benefits far beyond your job search. You will live an authentic life to your purpose and help others realise their potential. EI will allow you to make great decisions and build strong relationships.

In terms of understanding EI for your job search, Daniel Goleman’s writing on emotional intelligence shares five core components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Levelling up in each area will allow you to come across better during interviews, keep going as the rejections pile up and give you the courage to make the right career decisions.

Enhance your emotional intelligence in 14 ways

…. Reflect on how you feel right now. What is affecting your mood?

…. Talk about your purpose with friends and family – let them question you.

…. Explain your decisions and explore why others make theirs.

…. Make a list of your daily emotions – become more self-aware.

…. Reframe past career moments from a more positive perspective.

…. Start a practice of daily meditations and breathing exercises.

…. Live in the moment when talking to anyone (yes, even the barista).

…. Take on board criticism if justified, and don’t let it bother you if not.

…. Observe situations that do not seem directly relevant to you.

…. Try to tackle conflict from a place of shared ground where possible.

…. Pause more. You connect with your emotions in that void.

…. Watch a film and try to imagine what the characters are thinking.

…. Take some recognised personality tests – get to know yourself.

…. Spend as much time in the company of others as possible.

These brief ideas scratch the surface of what is a vital ingredient for a contented life. Please do some more research into any of these activities that sound meaningful for you. Invest in understanding yourself better regularly.

You never quite know when you might need to rely on EI in your life, but you can be sure that cultivating emotional intelligence during your job search can act as a vital compass when decisions come along. You will feel more in control of your career destiny.

When you discover who you are, you will be free.

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This blog is shared with Job Seeker Duetists. 

Written by former recruitment ghostwriter Paul Drury (not AI).