Empathy can be defined as the potential to understand someone’s emotions and thoughts from their perspective in any situation similar to the way you understand your own. This specific emotion holds a big deal of importance in building relationships with people around oneself.
Learning to empathize with people in your surroundings such as co-workers, friends, and others around you can help build up trust and a better bond. And empathy is a major component of great teamworking ability, which is ultimately among the most important qualities one can hire for.
During an interview, the recruiting talent will sometimes seek to understand the applicant’s personality. That plays a big role in recruitment: noticing carefully the candidate’s capability to perceive others’ emotions while working as a team.
What recruiters can do in such situations is try to analyze their answers by asking questions where they will be compelled to think deeper rather than replying with simple “yes” or “no” answers. Also, the interviewer can ask for some examples of personal experiences where the candidate’s self-esteem and self-awareness would be evident for better knowledge on the subject.
Here are few questions that can help in an aspirant’s analysis:
What might they do when involved in a sensitive or emotional moment with a colleague?
One way is by asking how he or she will tackle a situation if they come across an emotionally sensitive employee or co-worker, or someone who is simply having a tough day.
For instance, what will he or she do if they find out that a colleague is going through some emotional distress and is completely or slightly overwhelmed in the workplace, unable to get things done properly on their own?
Some enviable answers that fit best with the given circumstances would be:
- The candidate says he or she would take out time to listen to his co-worker’s problems instead of getting annoyed or dismissing their issues.
- They will attempt to come up with solutions for the given problems, if possible.
- They will check up on that fellow employee every now and then to make sure if he or she is doing okay and dealing with things in a better way.
- Dividing, sharing, or helping with his workload is one of the most empathetic and noble suggestions you might hear.
Things like these give us the idea of how the applicant is concerned for others’ feelings and what measures he would go to serve betterment in the profession and create a positive vibe for everyone around.
What things might trigger them the most during work?
This may appear like a tricky topic that can throw off a candidate. But it will tell you about the level of comprehension and patience he or she has for others’ emotions and thoughts. An idea of the subject’s self-awareness is a major part of looking for empathy. By asking this question, you’d know the contender with deeper insight. If he or she answers the question precisely and deals with the case carefully, that implies you are on the right track.
It is fine to get annoyed or irritated by something or someone while sharing a workplace woe, but what matters is the way you handle the situation. The outburst, fights, and quarrels among co-workers are unhealthy for a corporation. Being aware of your problems and their solutions is quite useful when it comes to teamwork, and these are excellent qualities in a candidate for any important role.
Are they a positive influence on others?
Concerns like these can reveal the exact answers the interviewer is looking for. An applicant who holds emotional intelligence will have a vast range of answers for this topic. The candidate will be given a better chance to flaunt his socializing skills or his positive nature.
Also, the knowledge of their impact on others can provide the detail of the ability to self-monitor a candidate’s behaviors. Moreover, the positivity behind the experience shared can be sensed easily. Furthermore, assessing and judging the body language during an interview would help the recruiter a lot to understand and differentiate the truth behind the words. This may sound like magic, but it’s simple observation of human behavior.
How would they resolve a dispute among others?
People who are compassionate and understanding towards the feelings of others tend to make the fairest decisions since they can understand the issues of both sides.
For obvious reasons, someone with strong emotional intelligence has more chances to dissolve a clash, conflict, or argument because of their understanding personality and capacity for empathy towards both sides of the quarrel.
Their ability to stay neutral in such situations and their potential to settle down a problem is vital for a corporation and for teamwork. It shows they prefer work done with mutual understanding and with team harmony.
These are a few of the examples of what can be asked or looked for by the interviewers. Empathy is not just for making better relationships or building trust, but it is also vital for building a team and working together as a team. Looking for empathy within a person is extremely important when hiring someone, especially for a long spell.
