It does not necessarily have to be an interview, it could be random networking or meeting new people or even your first day at work or a particular role, making a great impression always goes a long way. Like the popular saying that the first impression lasts longer. So, a great first impression is what precedes a great person in summary.to make a great first impression, developing your emotional intelligence skills is an excellent and almost perfect approach to boosting and enhancing your first impression game.
Instead of working majorly on just your first impression, it is worth noting that the emotional intelligence you build would be the one to actually score you a great first impression and also sustain this positive impression you already created in the first contact. Right before we go into what ways emotional intelligence can help you create a great first impression, we should first look into what emotional intelligence really is first.
When we talk about emotional intelligence most times shortened as EQ clearly an opposite of IQ, it is specifically referring to individual ability to recognize and control your emotions and the emotions of people around you, and to in turn use this information in front of you as a guideline to the way you think and the way you act or react. Emotional intelligence would strengthen and boost your relationship and relations with people.
Let’s get down to the major discussion on how to effectively use emotional intelligence to make a great first impression.
- You have to self-reflect: this part is quite underestimated and can never be over emphasized. Right before you step into the room, take a pause and ruminate on how you feel, check if you are quite confident and relaxed before stepping into the room. Take a pause off the environment you are in at that moment, try to center yourself in trying to help yourself out. It would definitely help to find a more positive and calming state of mind in the process. This process might definitely sound pretty much as a cliché to you but finding a very quiet place and running some breathing exercises before a first meeting can be very helpful in having a first time great impression. Try to practice taking a bunch of big, deep breaths (breath in deeply and exhale) might be a simple and very effective way to lower stress in the moment. And it further helps to know and recognize what feeling you have precisely at that moment and would help you give a name to the precise feeling you are going through and help you work through those feelings in the long run.
- Try to match your energy or zeal to the room or person: a very good emotional intelligence skill gives you the luxury to be able to read a situation or a mood and helps you adjust and adapt to whatever situation or mood that you could possibly find yourself in. This process does not necessarily mean you have to change who you are, instead it is just you rather adjusting your energy levels and body language to match the mood or situation of the room at the moment. A perfect example could be a situation when you step into a formal setting, and perhaps the people in the environment greet you in an overly casual manner, it definitely would look awkward so in a situation like this you could probably just go for a friendly smile or a polite eye contact.
- Be sure to focus your attention solely on the person you are speaking to: definitely when you are trying to communicate or converse with someone, the attention should be on the person and try to avoid any distraction whatsoever. Trying to connect to someone, be void of distraction and be focused majorly on the individual, everyone loves a listener. It is very necessary to listen in a way where you are totally present. This notes that you should remove and avoid any other distractions in the process such as your phones and focus on who is talking to you.
- Ensure you find a common ground: in engaging in a first-time conversation with someone be sure to have a conversation of some common interest so it would give the new person the chance to also talk about something they also enjoy. So, this helps build a connection and great networking that both of you have an idea of what fascinates the other. How do you find or discover a common ground? it is best advised you ask questions that show interest beyond the reasons for the meeting in the first place.