Watch: Emotional intelligence in the workplace
1 minute
A short overview of what emotional intelligence is, why it matters for hiring, and how it can be measured reliably.
Hiring the right people isn't just about skills and experience — it's about finding candidates with the right underlying traits to do the job well and fit into your team. The challenge is knowing which qualities actually matter. There's no shortage of opinions on this, but the research consistently points to the same five traits.
This article outlines those five qualities, why they matter, and how you can reliably measure each one during the hiring process.
| Quality | What it predicts | How to measure it |
|---|---|---|
| Cognitive ability | Problem-solving, learning speed, decision-making | Ability tests |
| Conscientiousness | Reliability, work ethic, attention to detail | Personality questionnaire |
| Resilience | Stress management, sustained performance under pressure | Personality questionnaire |
| Emotional intelligence | Teamwork, communication, handling conflict | EI assessment |
| Industriousness | Drive, perseverance, self-motivation | Personality questionnaire |
Cognitive ability
Of all the qualities you can assess in a candidate, cognitive ability is the single strongest predictor of job performance. It refers to how well someone can reason, solve problems, learn new things, and make sound decisions — the mental horsepower that underpins success in most professional roles.
This matters most in jobs where people regularly face new challenges or need to process information quickly. But the research shows it's relevant across almost all roles and levels.
How to measure cognitive ability
Psychometric ability tests are the most reliable way to assess cognitive ability. The three most commonly used are:
- Verbal reasoning — can they read and evaluate written information accurately?
- Numerical reasoning — can they work with data and make logical, numbers-based decisions?
- Inductive reasoning — can they spot patterns and solve problems they've never seen before?
Used together, these tests give you a strong overall measure of general cognitive ability. The good news is that running them is straightforward — candidates complete them online, and you get scored results instantly, ranked from highest to lowest.
Here's what selecting and launching ability tests looks like on the Test Partnership platform:
Pro Tip
Cognitive ability tests are the most useful screening tool available — and cognitive ability is the most important single quality to look for when hiring.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness is the personality trait that best predicts reliability and work ethic. It describes how organised, diligent, and thorough someone is — the kind of person who follows through on commitments, pays attention to detail, and takes their responsibilities seriously.
When hiring teams say they're looking for someone with a "strong work ethic" or attention to detail, they're describing conscientiousness. It's one of the most researched personality traits in occupational psychology, and the evidence is clear: more conscientious employees perform better and are more reliable.
What conscientiousness looks like in practice
It shows up in everyday behaviours: meeting deadlines without being chased, doing thorough work rather than just sufficient work, following procedures carefully, and staying organised even under pressure. These aren't flashy qualities, but they make a real difference to how well someone performs over time.
How to measure conscientiousness
The most reliable way is through a personality questionnaire based on the Big Five model. Our TPAQ-45 personality assessment measures conscientiousness directly, breaking it into five sub-traits so you can see exactly how it shows up for each candidate:
| Sub-trait | What it means |
|---|---|
| Diligence | Follows rules, upholds procedures, fulfils obligations |
| Discipline | Stays productive and focused through routine tasks |
| Methodical | Thorough and careful in their approach to work |
| Self-confidence | Trusts in their own abilities and judgement |
| Vigilance | Considers consequences and avoids impulsive decisions |
Here's an example of what a conscientiousness report looks like on our platform — showing a candidate's scores across all five sub-traits at a glance:
Resilience
Resilience is a person's ability to handle pressure, bounce back from setbacks, and keep performing when things get difficult. It matters in almost every workplace, but it's especially important in roles with high workloads, rejection (like sales), or emotional demands (like management or customer service).
Hiring someone who lacks the resilience a role demands isn't just bad for the business — it's bad for the individual too. Candidates placed in high-pressure roles without adequate resilience are more likely to experience stress and burnout. Thinking about fit honestly at the hiring stage is better for everyone.
What makes someone resilient?
Resilience isn't a single personality trait — it's built from a combination of related qualities:
- Emotional stability — staying calm and composed under pressure
- Low neuroticism — not over-reacting to stress or setbacks
- Positive affect — staying optimistic and motivated when things are hard
- Core self-evaluations — genuine confidence in their own ability to handle challenges
How to measure resilience
Our personality questionnaire measures resilience and emotional stability directly. When you're hiring for a demanding role, you can quickly see which candidates have the traits that suit it. Below is an example of a resilience and emotional stability radar chart from our platform:
This kind of visual report helps you quickly compare candidates and identify who has the personality profile best suited to the specific demands of the role.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognise, understand, and manage emotions — both your own and other people's. In practice, it shows up as the ability to communicate well, handle conflict calmly, pick up on how others are feeling, and build strong working relationships.
Employees with high EI tend to be better collaborators, more effective managers, and better at navigating difficult conversations without escalating them.
How to measure emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence isn't well-measured in interviews — people can easily present as emotionally intelligent without actually being so. A structured EI assessment gives you a far more reliable and consistent result. Our platform measures EI across four key areas:
| EI area | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Self-awareness | Recognising and understanding your own emotions |
| Social awareness | Understanding the emotions and needs of others |
| Self-management | Regulating emotions and staying composed under pressure |
| Relationship management | Navigating social situations and building professional relationships |
Industriousness
Industriousness refers to a person's drive, motivation, and tenacity — their willingness to work hard and keep pushing towards their goals even when it's not easy. It's closely related to conscientiousness, but the two traits show up differently:
| Trait | Shows up as | Key for roles involving |
|---|---|---|
| Conscientiousness | Organisation, reliability, attention to detail | Processes, compliance, quality |
| Industriousness | Drive, ambition, perseverance | Sales, targets, high-accountability roles |
Industriousness is especially important in roles with quotas, targets, or measurable performance outcomes. A highly industrious candidate will push themselves without needing external motivation — which is exactly what those kinds of roles demand.
How to measure industriousness
This is one of the traits where interviews routinely let hiring teams down. It's easy for a candidate to say they're driven and motivated in an interview — but a well-designed personality questionnaire measures the underlying trait directly, regardless of what someone says about themselves. That's the difference between hoping someone has drive and actually knowing.
Conclusion
When you're deciding which qualities matter most in a new hire, these five give you the best foundation: cognitive ability, conscientiousness, resilience, emotional intelligence, and industriousness. Together, they cover how well someone thinks, how reliably they work, how they handle pressure, how well they get on with others, and how motivated they are to succeed.
The key insight from decades of occupational psychology research is that you can't reliably assess any of these traits from a CV or an unstructured interview. You need the right tools — and the good news is that those tools are simple and quick for candidates to complete.
Test Partnership measures all five of these qualities on one platform. Ability tests cover cognitive ability, and the TPAQ-45 personality questionnaire covers conscientiousness, resilience, emotional intelligence, and industriousness — with results ranked automatically so you can focus on the candidates who stand out.
If you'd like to see how it works or talk through your specific hiring needs, our team is happy to help.
Measure all five qualities with Test Partnership
Our platform combines ability tests and a 45-trait personality questionnaire — giving you a complete picture of every candidate, scored and ranked automatically.
Primary author
Oliver Savill
Director and Founder of Test Partnership. Over 10 years experience in the psychometric testing industry.
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