• Active Listening

• Empathy

• Critical thinking (analysing information objectively, looking at evidence rather than personal views)

• Being open-minded

• Clear, honest and transparent communication

• Being aware of cultural differences and avoid making assumptions/stereotypes.

• Developing decision making skills that are based on policies and guidelines

• Being consistent!

• Self-awareness, being aware of areas where I am potentially biased. For example, I know talking about the travel industry I would probably be far more engaging and energic than talking about engineering! Working on ways to ensure I can be more consistent when talking about all sectors and not revealing my own personal preferences.

• Communication skills, particularly listening to ensure that nothing is presumed.

• An open mind to different perspectives and the ability to critically evaluate on value not just own personal thoughts.

• Being up to date on LMI to make sure have accurate and relevant information, it can get outdated very fast.

• Awareness of cultural differences.

  These are just a few of the many skills required and I personally think being impartial is something that will constantly keep us on our toes! I do think sometimes we will be better than others and will keep learning with each new experience. Being transparent is an important part of being impartial.

Firstly I think you need to be open minded and listen very carefully to the client about their ideas/skills/ambitions.

You then need to try and park any biased thoughts you might have so you can signpost a selection of resources to the client .

Encourage them to research options and show them trustworthy sources you know about.

LMI must be as up to date as possible so they are armed with statistics/data that might help them decide on a certain path.

Cultural awareness is important as is stereotyping.

Need to reassure client that you may not have all answers, but there to try and help them.

Being client centred. By putting the client at the heart of my thinking, and actively listening to their story, being empathetic and acknowledging their wants and needs, preferences, experiences, skills and ambitions, there will be less room for partiality or bias on my part.

Being resilient. It’s important to resist external pressures, from one’s own employer, and other external stakeholders, such as local employers and educational establishments. For example, a local employer might apply pressure on me to steer my secondary school students towards them. Having the ability to develop relationships in which it’s okay to point out ones duty of impartiality is a key skill to have.

Avoid making assumptions. Is it in the best interest of the clients to make assumptions like “that profession is well out of your reach, you won’t get the grades so there’s no point me giving you information about it “? It’s a tough call. Why waste time on dead ends? But what right does one have to write off somebody’s future career on the basis of this kind of judgment?