Correlation Emotional Intelligence and Career Success

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to analyze one's own and others' emotions and use them as a guide to thinking and action, whereas career success refers to achievement in a profession or line of business. Correlation is a technique for determining the relationship between two variables. As a result, this topic will place a strong emphasis on how an individual's expression can positively effect their achievements.To measure EI seven major dimensions are considered i.e. self-awareness which means the ability to recognize one's self as an individual away from what others and the environment perceive of you, next is managing emotions, this enables an individual to be open to feelings and able to transform them at individual level to help one and others to promote personal understanding every person has to deal with a multitude of emotions regularly and it is essential that they do not dictate your behavior, self-motivation this simply means one's ability to do what needs to be done without influence from other people or situations, a person with this quality is not driven by money and job titles. They are fueled by an inner ambition that is resilient to disappointment and failure. The third dimension is relating well, and is manifested when a person can make a connection and positively interact with others and find it easier to build rapport and trust their colleagues, the last major dimension is behavior, and this means a response of an individual to a stimulus or a person.

The other dimensions of emotional intelligence are communication skills this is the ability to convey information in the right manner to the target audience or recipient through gestures, non-verbal signals facial expression and even one’s appearance. Lastly, emotional mentoring, according to Goleman's definition this is the ability to be aware of and handle one's emotions in varying situations (Petridis, 2009). In addition to this, Mayer-Salovey-Caruso have designed (MSEIT) which is an emotional intelligence test that measures four branches of EI ability model. The test shows how well people are able to go about their businesses and also solve their emotional problems, as opposed to a scale that relies on an individual’s subjective assessment of their perceived emotional skills.

Emotional intelligence was defined as a different way of being smart. It includes knowing what your feelings are and using your feelings to make good decisions in life. It’s being ableto, manage distressing moods well and control impulses (Winnicott, 2016). It’s being motivated and remaining hopeful and optimistic when you have setbacks in working towards goals. It’s empathy, knowing what the people around you are feeling and it’s social skills – getting along well with other people, managing emotions in relationships, being able to persuade or lead others.

According to (Petrides, 2009) for career success to be measured the following dimensions were well thought of, job satisfaction this is how content an individual is with his or her job, career satisfaction this is the comfort felt by a person in their own profession, job involvement means personal effort put in any assigned task to be executed as per the expectations. Another dimension is intention to quite career, this happens when a person decides either to abandon their profession or have a change of heart, prospects and promotion every employee has their positive predictions and expectations towards their career goals this can only be determined by them scaling higher and higher in their daily jobs. The seven dimensions measure career success. Career commitment and career success are the moderating role of emotional perception. A study of the “Big Five,” i.e., the relationship of traits from the five-factor personality test and general mental ability with career success argued that career success comprises of both intrinsic successes (Winnicott, 2016). Traits included in the test included, job satisfaction and extrinsic success also known as income and occupational status. It was generally noted that personality was related to career success where conscientiousness positively predicted intrinsic and extrinsic success, and generally mental ability positively predicted extrinsic success. Education level shows that individuals with higher education level experience more skills in EI compared to those who had lower educational level. This then means EI can be acquired from learning institutions where it will differ from graduate trainees and undergraduates. Committing these skills to one’s career then means catapulting one’s self to greater professional heights. Apart from enhancing emotional intelligence through learning centers, one can also achieve this by one not interrupting the subject, if feelings get uncomfortable at times, one may want to interrupt them, a person should not judge or edit feelings too quickly, finding connections between current feelings and previous times with similar feelings. Listening to once body can also enhance EI, asking a trustworthy person of how you are feeling can also illuminate and surprise a person. These other factors among others can enhance once EI and successfully progress an individual coupled with career success.

EI has been associated with career success (Papadogiannis, n.d.), it has a direct correlation with job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and career prospects, the higher educational level could help individuals to have more EI competency skills compared to lower education level. People who are good at connecting thoughts to feelings may better “hear” the emotional implications of their thoughts, as well as understand the feelings of others from what they say.

The effective regulation of emotion in self and others, and the use of feelings to motivate, plan and achieve in one’s life is presented in a framework for emotional intelligence, a setoff skill hypothesized to contribute to the accurate appraisal and expression of emotion in self and others.

In conclusion the correlation between emotional intelligence and career success is eminent according to this research in that a person’s EI can make them successful or otherwise in their respective careers. The ability to understand when to make a step or when to hold back in decisions involving ones career is very paramount and that can only be guided by ones emotional intelligence. Leaders must posses’ higher intelligence to drive their organizations in an appropriate manner and achieve their companies’ missions and visions. Applying the seven dimensions of emotional intelligence as explained above can greatly make a positive impact in one's life by accomplishing their career goals. This can only be well defined by the topic “Correlation of emotional intelligence and career success.” That shows indeed emotional intelligence must be an input to career success and for a thriving professional, their emotional intelligence must have been tested severally throughout their career life and emerged the best.

References

Papadogiannis, P. K. (n.d.). Achieving success through emotional intelligence. PsycEXTRA Dataset.

Petrides, K. V. (2009). Psychometric Properties of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue). Assessing Emotional Intelligence, 85-101. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-88370-0_5

Winnicott, D. W. (2016). Primitive Emotional Development. Oxford Clinical Psychology.

Winnicott, D. W. (2016). The Family and Emotional Maturity. Oxford Clinical Psychology. doi:10.1093/med:psych/9780190271381.003.0018