At this stage of your enrolment (depending on when you have accessed this resource), it is possible that you have a pre-placement interview scheduled soon, or have already met one or more agency representatives as part of initial conversations. Some of you may have already started your placement and will be introduced to other colleagues and clients over the next few days. These interactions will contribute to the impression that you make on others and will therefore influence your working relationships.

This is also the time to remember that forming beneficial working relationships as a human services practitioner is not restricted to clients and extends to co-workers and stakeholders as well (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2017).  Therefore, it is important that you think carefully about the kind of first impression you want to make.  This is because first impressions can have lasting effects. In fact, research suggests that a negative first impression is hard to recover from and may persist throughout your placement despite satisfactory performance (Schaller, 2008). Elements such as being professionally dressed and being on time are critical to create a positive first impression (Gamble & Gamble, 2013).

The research conducted for the development of this resource indicated that for Human Services, interpersonal skills are at the heart of building rapport and relationships. Interpersonal skills (or terms such as interactive skills, people skills, face-to-face skills or social skills) refer to one’s ability to understand and deal with the social interaction dynamics (Hayes, 2003). Examples include negotiation, effective communication (both verbal and non-verbal), leadership, and training and development skills. People that demonstrate high levels of competence in interpersonal skills tend to work well with other people (including in formal/informal settings as well as team/group settings). You will need to engage these skills from the very first contact at your host organisation to create positive first impressions and develop effective working relationships (Chenoweth & McAuliffe, 2015).

The next part of this resource focusses on two video-based reflection activities that will enable you to learn about interpersonal skills required for placement and how these skills enhance your employability now and in the future.

First, watch the following video where the Employability Lead of the School of Health and Wellbeing (Ms Lee Kolbe-Masher) and the Program Director of Human Services (Dr Aastha Malhotra) at the University of Southern Queensland talk about the role of interpersonal skills and how students can reflect/develop their own skills.

Consider the following questions as you watch the video: