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3 ways to check IQ and EQ in Interview

Published on June 21, 2017

Anil Karamchandani 10 articles Follow

Experienced Banker, Author

1 August 1994.

Eight of us joined the bank after a written test (IQ), and a 3-person panel interview.

The test took place in a school, on a Sunday. I estimate over 800 people had appeared for the
test, in response to a newspaper advertisement.

As for the interview, I don’t remember much, except that a question came up regarding the
Share market. (It was 1994 and the Harshad-Mehta-scam was still fresh in everyone’s
memory.)

I replied that in spite of scams, there was logic and reason in the Share Market. I also gave
some examples I think. The interviewer did not seem convinced.

Nevertheless, I was selected, along with seven others.

After a decade and half (of which 5 years was spent in the compulsory clerical cadre), six of
us had moved into a middle-management role. One decided to remain in the clerical grade,
while another migrated to a foreign country.

I often think of my hiring – IQ Test + Panel Interview – as being very effective.

Seems no one failed. Management got what it wanted. Messaging

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In 1995, veteran New York Times science journalist Daniel Goleman published Emotional
Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. In it he conveyed, with convincing
examples, how EQ too matters, possibly more than IQ.

I would agree.

Sometimes I think one of the reasons I didn’t progress more than I did, was because of my
low EQ (on relationship management skills).

In later years, I took a couple of EQ tests – a sample report here – which confirmed my
belief, of my being low on relationship skills.

(What I mean by relationship-management skills, I have detailed below.)

———–

This article is on how to test for – IQ and EQ – in the absence of any HR-administered
tests.

Today, there are tests for everything.

For example:

ICICI Bank Career portal gives a sample IQ test that a candidate will be asked to take.
Likewise, firms like Hay Group and Sixseconds help companies to evaluate a candidate’s
EQ.

Then there are companies like Hogan and Predictive Index which will tell you about the
personality of a candidate (customer focus, patience, etc.) to better match the job on hand.

But many organisations don’t avail of this, OR

They give this test only to fresh-out-of-college graduates / bulk hiring. And not to one-off
hiring (as I experienced in one of the companies I worked).

In such a situation how can you, an individual Hiring Manager, check for IQ and EQ?

I share some ways.

1. General Intelligence (IQ)

Today, with the focus on Emotional Intelligence (EQ), we have forgotten to check for IQ.

IQ matters.
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In Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, an authoritative book Reactivate
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on intelligence, the authors state that other factors being constant, IQ is the single biggest
predictor of how well a person does in life.

Low IQ has a high correlation to a person’s susceptibility to crime, unemployment, welfare,

child neglect, and poverty.

How to check for IQ?

1. In the absence of IQ tests, a person’s School and College grades are a good indicator of a
person’s IQ.

In fact, according to one study, “grades and achievement-test results are markedly better
predictors of adult success than raw IQ scores ….. (because) grades reflect not just
intelligence but also “non-cognitive skills,” such as perseverance, good study habits and the
ability to collaborate – in other words, conscientiousness.”

So ask for a candidate’s SSC, HSC or Graduation report card. Likewise scores on SAT /
GMAT Exams too are a good indicator of a person’s IQ.

2. Another option is to get the candidate to answer the short 3-question Cognitive Reflection
Test (CRT)

This test was developed by psychologist Shane Fredrick. As per Wikipedia, the CRT
correlates heavily with results of standardised IQ tests.

The 3 questions are:

1. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much
does the ball cost?

2. If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines
to make 100 widgets?

3. In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48
days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half
of the lake?

(For answers, please click on the link above.)

2. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

If you Google, EQ is shown as made up of five components: Self-awareness, Self-

regulation, Motivation, Empathy and Social skills.

For simplicity, I have broken it up into two broad categories:

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A. Self-Management (Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Motivation) and Reactivate
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B. Relationship Management (Empathy and Social skills)

For managers and above, whose job requires working with a diverse set of people and
departments, relationship-management skills are crucial.

You can check for EQ by asking the right questions.

Consider the following questions:

(The questions are among the many from the book The EQ Interview: Finding Employees
with High Emotional Intelligence by Adele B Lynn.)

A. On Self-Management

i. Awareness of Triggers: Tell me about some situations or people that annoy you at work.
What do you do about these?

ii. Self-Assessment of Skills: What has been a consistent area of development for you? How
do you know about this?

iii. Resilience: Tell me about the last time you were criticised at work? How did that go?

iv. Taking Initiative: Have you ever solved a work-related problem that had been a problem
for a long time? What did you do?

v. Purpose and Value: What type of work do you find most inspiring?

B. On Relationship Management

i. Awareness of Impact on Others: Have you ever decided to delay presenting an idea to
someone at work because the timing wasn’t right? What did you do?

ii. Adaptability: Were there any behaviours you had to abandon that worked for you in a
previous role that didn’t work in a new role? How did you know these behaviours were not
working?

iii. Influencing: Tell me about a time when someone was resisting you, your ideas or your
authority. What did you do?

iv. Conflict Resolution: Tell me about a dispute with a peer. What was it about? How did it
end up?

v. Leading Others: Describe a time when you influenced people to follow you when you did
not have positional authority? How did you do it?
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If required, to ensure the candidate does not fudge or give ready-made answers, you can ask Reactivate
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for more. “Great, can you give another example where …”

Likewise, you can ask for specifics – when, where, and how.

The Big Picture

The big thought behind the questions comes from the book First, Break All the Rules:
What the World’s Greatest Managers do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt
Coffman.

The authors, in the chapter on how to uncover the intrinsic talent of a person, write:

“In the interview, ask open-ended questions that offer many potential directions… the
direction he takes, spontaneously, will be most predictive of his future behaviours.”

The authors further write – and this is crucial in the context of our EQ questions above –

“Past behaviour is predictive of future behaviour only if the past behaviour is recurring. If
the behaviour does indeed happen a lot, then the person should be able to come up
with a specific example with only one prompt.”

I think there is infinite wisdom in these 2 lines.

Once you grasp it, you can frame your own EQ questions, and get the most out of a
candidate in an interview.

End Note

Before publishing this article, to validate, I sent the above questions (Relationship-
Management related) to an ex-colleague.

I have worked with this colleague for years, and admire the way she handles her big
department, and also leads cross-department initiatives.

My question to her was, “Can you answer the above questions if they are asked to you in the
interview, giving concrete examples of each? I don’t need the answers, just your
confirmation of how well can you answer these.”

She got back to me with, “All could be answered with examples. Two of them I recently
experienced (in the new company that she had joined).”

—–

How do you check for IQ and EQ in interview?

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Anil

P.S.

In case you have never taken an IQ or an EQ test, you can go through the Psychology
Today website, a reputed bi-monthly magazine, published since 1967.

It has a test section where you can take different tests. After you take a test, you will get a
partial report. For a full report, you will have to pay USD.5 – USD.10, depending on the
test.

This article is second in my 4-part series on hiring. The first part was How to do a Reference
Check?

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Anil Karamchandani 10 articles Follow

Experienced Banker, Author
Published • 3y

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Ajay Grover
Delivery and Transformation Leader - BFSI BPO at TCS

Nowadays, the way our professional worlds have evolved - I would say it follows a 70 30 rule: 70% 3y
EQ plus 30% IQ
Like Reply 2 Likes

Rajiv Kumar Gulati

Operations leader with expertise in Customer Service, Process re-engineering, Automation in US Mortgage and Title

Well written Anil. Thank you for sharing 3y

Like Reply 1 Like

Anil Karamchandani
Experienced Banker, Author

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