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There seems to be a very disappointing trend of training on the job or mentorship quickly disappearing. I've only had one position over the past 10 years provide mentorship and it was wonderful. Otherwise though, it seems most companies expect you to hit the ground running or figure it out on your own, which for me has led to lots of stress and feelings of inferiority when expectations are high yet wholly unrealistic. I've always had the belief that no matter how skilled you were, every new job was going to have a ramp up period where it's crucial to mentor and train the new hire. After all, every company as it's own processes, policies, procedures and you can't really expect someone to know them off the bat?
Have I just had bad luck with bad jobs, or is on the job training a thing of the past? Many of my friends in other careers say the same thing. Only jobs with decent training yet seem to be in blue collar fields, but everything else it seems you're expected to make it on your own and alone!
There seems to be a very disappointing trend of training on the job or mentorship quickly disappearing. I've only had one position over the past 10 years provide mentorship and it was wonderful. Otherwise though, it seems most companies expect you to hit the ground running or figure it out on your own. I've always had the belief that no matter how skilled you were, every new job was going to have a ramp up period where it's crucial to mentor and train the new hire. After all, every company as it's own processes, policies, procedures and you can't really expect someone to know them off the bat?
Have I just had bad luck with bad jobs, or is on the job training a thing of the past? Many of my friends in other careers say the same thing. Only jobs with decent training yet seem to be in blue collar fields, but everything else it seems you're expected to make it on your own and alone!
Thoughts?
I don't know if Help Desk or being a Computer Desktop technician is considered blue or white collar but when I started in the public sector as an intern
I was mentored and trained a lot to learn the technical skills and how to treat customers well and despite the change of technology I usually just google things I don't know
The most important thing I learn about being an IT Support professional was learning where to find the answer and have a very good attitude with the teachers and students I am providing my services to.
With that said yes I have a mentor that taught me well ( Still my mentor) and now I can resolve most Basic Level 1 and 2 issues on my own now.
Depends on the places you work for there are good places that will give you a bit of training and may even give you a good mentor.
It may not be common thou sadly
I wish every place was like that for everyone
Last edited by CosmoStars; 01-24-2017 at 03:32 PM..
A few years ago when I started under the old regime yes (then they threw them out the door with no decent replacements for them or not replacing them period. ) . Great training. Thats not the same story for people who get hired at my company nowadays though. A quick crash course and everyone is thrown to the wolves. No investment in the employees.
The result? Operational issues all over the company. Loss of business. Astronomical ungodly HIGH turnover rate and a lot of people doing everything wrong.
Old management who were there for years understood. New management? You're just some number while they sit back and bark orders (usually from thousands of miles away over an email . Well thats great.... Good luck lasting in the long term.
Companies ultimately don't survive throwing people to the wolves and lack of training/leadership/mentorship. Unless they go into full damage control and fix the issue before it escalates out of control.
Not investing in your employees you're ultimately causing the downfall of your company. Sooner or later it comes crashing down.
Of course, companies that engage in this cheap, lazy type of behavior don't deserve to be in business truthfully
I've only worked at one company that provided formal training for the day to day. Mostly, I've just had to learn as I go. I think it's extremely disappointing, but I've come to accept that this is likely to be how it is for the foreseeable future. The frustrating thing about it all is that corps will spew all sorts of gibberish about employee satisfaction and career mobility, but then don't spend any time or money developing programs that will develop their employees and retain them.
If I had half a brain, I'd think that that was just a bunch of hooey to attract employees that they never intended on fulfilling anyway. So when those employees catch on after a couple of years and decide to leave, they bring in a fresh batch and start all over. I guess they've decided that this model works just as well, at least for making money (not so much for employee satisfaction).
I've only worked at one company that provided formal training for the day to day. Mostly, I've just had to learn as I go. I think it's extremely disappointing, but I've come to accept that this is likely to be how it is for the foreseeable future. The frustrating thing about it all is that corps will spew all sorts of gibberish about employee satisfaction and career mobility, but then don't spend any time or money developing programs that will develop their employees and retain them.
If I had half a brain, I'd think that that was just a bunch of hooey to attract employees that they never intended on fulfilling anyway. So when those employees catch on after a couple of years and decide to leave, they bring in a fresh batch and start all over. I guess they've decided that this model works just as well, at least for making money (not so much for employee satisfaction).
This economy is very unfriendly towards newcomers who enter a new industry/ new to the field with zero experience or training
It's sad most companies don't providing training anymore.
Enrolling in an apprenticeship and internship is sometimes your training and after you are hire permanently you are expected to be on your own after being mentored for a while.
Sounds like the most fair way.
I was lucky now at this point I don't really need much training anymore
Neither really. Your situation sounds normal to me.
I have never had formal training/mentorship at any of my jobs.
And training is NOT a thing of the past, as my past goes back to my first job in 1971.
I have had to 'learn as I go' over the decades.
This lamenting about needing formal training seems to be the latest craze....
It depends on your career field. Back in the day, there were far more people working on assembly lines or with their hands in technical roles. So there was much more formal training for that type of work. For instance, my father's company trained and paid for him to learn how to drive a truck, and that's what he's done for the past 40 years. Now, there are far more desk jockeys, so there aren't as many formal training programs as most of what you should know about doing the job should come from past education (college, trade school, etc.). There will obviously need to be some training with proprietary software and what not, but that, in my experience, is usually picked up as you go.
As for mentors, I think those are people who you seek out on your own and whom you can learn from. There is typically no formal agreement, per se. It is more of an unspoken bond that you agree to and it just happens over time. I've had a number of "mentors" along the way, and most of it them occurred after I reached out to them and expressed interest in learning something.
Neither really. Your situation sounds normal to me.
I have never had formal training/mentorship at any of my jobs.
And training is NOT a thing of the past, as my past goes back to my first job in 1971.
I have had to 'learn as I go' over the decades.
This lamenting about needing formal training seems to be the latest craze....
Seems normal in the current generation, but I don't think so much in previous generations. Many I know in their 50s-70s found some job after college/high school based on just having the degree and were basically spoonfed how to to do their jobs. Whether that be learning specific equipment, software, processes, whatever, the employees were invested in. I think this a large part why employees often stayed with companies long term versus the current trend of job hopping every 2-3 years.
In the job I was mentored in, I was perfectly educated and qualified to do the job, but my boss really took the time to mentor me by actually spending time with me to go over how processes were handled at that company, how their tools and software worked, and basically was just there for my questions and support which by itself was amazing. Now... we are expected to get hired, sit down at a desk, and get to work right away by ourselves!
Not only that, but many European countries still strongly use an Apprenticeship system even for white collar or highly professional roles like doctors, and it works very well for them. My friend in Finland went to University for electrical engineering and upon graduation received an apprenticeship that I believe went 3 years (paid highly too! way too many unpaid internships in the USA...) then gets hired as an associate where additional training and mentoring is provided. It's a beautiful system.
There seems to be a very disappointing trend of training on the job or mentorship quickly disappearing. Thoughts?
Many companies argue that there is no point in training someone when all they will do is just jump ship in a year. However, in my experience, companies which are willing to train seem to have higher employee retention rates.
If a company is worried that their employees will dump them for competitors, then they should probably try to figure out what they're doing wrong as an organization and improve that aspect. Gotta love the free market, though.
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