Title: My experiences with different training classes
The most useful training class I have taken was for the three years I worked as a firefighter. I got taught how to use my tools efficiently, the main dangers of the job, most useful equipment to take along, the chain of command, fire behavior, and many more things. On top of that, it was required that everyone took a physical test where we ran four miles with 40 pounds of weight. This helped make sure that everyone applying would have the physical capabilities to complete the work on the field. The way I was taught how to use my equipment, such as shovels, hoses, hoes, and picks was a hands-on experience. They took us out into an open field and simulated smokes coming out of the ground. We then used our tools and the knowledge we gained to find the smokes and put them out. The most important thing I learned in that class for fire safety was how to use my fire shelter. We were timed and tested to see how long it would take us to open and correctly get under the fire shelter. Overall, it was a fantastic class.
On a more negative experience, I would have to say that I got very little useful training when I was harvesting apples. There were a couple safety videos but nothing to show one how to harvest quickly and efficiently. It was almost like the managers were looking for pure talent and didn’t really want to wasted time waiting. However, this really set me up for failure and I had to learn from watching the fastest guys. This taught me to use some, honestly, dirty tactics that wasted more fruit than was necessary and was just wasteful.
Looking at “The making of a UPS driver” by Hira, I wish I had gotten as specific instructions as this UPS driver for my harvesting job. For him it looked like this, “You take 15.5 seconds to carry out “selection,” the prescribed 12-step process that starts with parking the vehicle and ends when you step off the package car, delivery in hand. It’s all laid out in UPS’s “340 methods” – a detailed manual of rules and routines that, until now, was taught to UPS’s legions of driver candidates in two weeks of lectures.” This is closer to my experience with firefighting where processes were specifically lined out.
As for “Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly” by Ellis this stat doesn’t surprise me, “On average, companies lose 17% of their new hires during the first three months, one study found.” This is because I saw more people leave the harvesting job than firefighting although the latter was more physically demanding.
Citations:
- Driver, Paul William, (born 14 Aug. 1954), writer and critic. (2007). Who’s Who. https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u33604
- Ellis, A., Nifadkar, S., Bauer, T. N., & Erdogan, B. (2017). Examining managers’ perception of newcomer proactive behavior during organizational socialization. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2017(1), 10592. https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.2017.282
