Emotional Intelligence Test

Emotional intelligence tests measure candidates' ability to perceive, understand and manage both their own and others' emotions.

  • What is an emotional intelligence test and what does it measure?

    Emotional intelligence (EI) reflects one's emotion-related abilities in all settings. More specifically, someone with high EI is better able to accurately perceive, understand, use and manage emotions.

    Being aware of one's own emotions and able to regulate them, facilitates personal effectiveness in a number of situations, such as when interacting with others, working hard to achieve a goal, recovering from a setback, and much more.

    People who can perceive, understand and manage the emotions of others are incredibly effective at persuading others, empathizing with them, and supporting them through change or tough times.

    EI is often touted as the key to leadership success along with general effectiveness in the workplace. It is commonly sought out as a positive characteristic in employees given its wide-reaching benefits.

Jump to a section on this page:

  1. What is an emotional intelligence test and what does it measure?
  2. Why should you use an emotional intelligence test for recruiting?
  3. The format of Pickeds emotional intelligence test
  4. Emotional Intelligence Test FAQs

About the Emotional Intelligence Test

Popularised by Daniel Goleman in the mid-1990s, emotional intelligence has risen in status as the key to success at work and in life. There are several different frameworks and models behind EI.

The ability model frames EI as a competency or a set of skills that can be learned and improved. The most famous of which is the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso model which has four branches - perceiving, using, understanding, and managing emotions. This approach has the most scientific evidence behind it to date.

In contrast, the trait model sees EI as part of an individual's personality, where certain characteristics lend themselves to enhanced EI. There are also several mixed models that define EI as a combination of personality and ability.

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  • Why should you use an emotional intelligence test for recruiting?

    Emotional intelligence can be very difficult to accurately measure. Recruiters may get a feel for whether a candidate seems like they have high EI during an interview but this subjective impression may not be accurate and it's likely difficult to compare impressions across candidates.

    Using a test in the hiring process can provide an objective and reliable measure of EI. The results allow for a fair comparison across candidates. When EI is considered a key ability for success in a role, the EI test can illustrate which candidates would excel in this area.

    Due to its broad utility, the EI test applies to a wide range of roles. In terms of managing one's own emotions, high EI is very useful for people who work in high-stress situations or have to deal with a lot of pressure.

    As it's also useful for being more effective in interpersonal interactions, the test should be considered when hiring for customer-facing, sales, leadership, teaching, and other roles.

More Aptitude Tests

Sample Emotional Intelligence Test question

Which two emotions combined resemble the feeling of remorse?

  • Anger and grief

  • Sadness and disgust

  • Grief and disgust

  • Sadness and anger

Picked Sample Report

View a sample report

Results for the Emotional Intelligence Test along with other assessments the candidate takes will be compiled to produce a candidate report. The report is automatically generated and available both online and as a downloadable pdf so they can be shared with other team members and employees alike.

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The format of Pickeds emotional intelligence test

Our test is inspired by Mayer-Salovey-Caruso's Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) in that we measure EI as an ability with four branches: perceiving, using, understanding and managing emotions.

Candidates are required to answer 16 multiple-choice questions in 10 minutes. The questions target a range of emotion-related skills, in order to provide a comprehensive assessment of each candidate's EI.

For each question, there is one correct answer and three distractors - response options that are purposefully similar to the correct answer, but incorrect. Candidates will earn points for every correct response, but will not lose points for answering incorrectly.

The results are easy to interpret - you will receive the candidates' raw scores, which you can compare across the pool of applicants. Additionally, we provide a global average which you can use as a benchmark for inviting candidates to the next stage of the recruitment process.

This test was developed and reviewed by organizational psychologists and emotions research experts to ensure it can accurately assess EI in a diverse sample of job applicants and that the results are meaningful.

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Picked provides evidence-based recommendations for tests to use for over 750 jobs. Our recommendation engine leverages data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) developed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA).

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    All our Emotional Intelligence tests are written by accredited psychologists and fully validated.

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    For all levels

    We offer Emotional Intelligence tests for all levels so you can assess all roles within your organisation.

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    Simple, easy-to-use candidate comparison reports mean you don’t need to be a psychologist to interpret them.

“We used Picked as part of our Finance Graduate Scheme recruitment and it was just what we needed – really simple to send candidates the link to complete and clear to see how they all compared. And great value for money!”
Christina, HR Director, Cancer Research, UK
Christina, HR Director, Cancer Research, UK
Emotional Intelligence Test expert

Written by an Emotional Intelligence Test expert

This test was created by our team of assessment experts, made up of I/O psychologists and psychometricians who are dedicated to making all of our tests as reliable, valid and fair as possible. They strictly adhere to best practices in the industry and stay on top of the latest innovations to ensure job candidates’ unique profiles of characteristics, abilities and knowledge are being measured accurately while minimising bias. They leverage decades of research and advanced predictive analytics to build assessments that link to outcomes that matter, such as job performance, turnover, engagement, culture fit and more.

“Personality profiling allowed us to perform lookalike modelling of our most successful employees and use this as a blueprint for new hires.”
Nick, HR Operations, Airbus, Spain
Nick, HR Operations, Airbus, Spain

Emotional Intelligence Test FAQs

Why are employers using emotional intelligence tests during recruitment?

Emotional intelligence is an important ability to have in today's work environment. It is relevant both for interpersonal interactions and high-stress roles, which means having employees with high EI will have a positive impact on the organization's success. However, EI can be tricky to assess. This is why employers and recruiters often decide to use an objective and reliable measure of EI, in order to understand which candidates are most suitable for the open role.

What is the most popular model of emotional intelligence?

Mayer-Salovey-Caruso's model of ability-based EI defines it as a set of skills that can be learned and improved. The authors have defined four branches of EI - perceiving, using, understanding, and managing emotions. This model is widely used in academic research and has the most scientific evidence behind it to date.

What is the cost for Picked's emotional intelligence test?

Picked offers monthly or annual subscriptions for businesses of all sizes, so choose the one that best fits your needs. You can also contact us to discuss the possibility of a custom plan suited to your specific requirements. You can check out our subscription plans here.

Can I mix the emotional intelligence test with other tests?

Yes. You can combine multiple tests to create a pre-employment package that meets all of your organisational and hiring requirements.

“Focusing on data reduced the subjective decision making from our hiring process and allowed us to reduce bias and make better hiring decisions.”
Izzie, Head of HR, iZettle, Sweden
Izzie, Head of HR, iZettle, Sweden

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