I haven’t had too much experience with training programs just yet, but my current job has given me a few training experiences across a few departments. Some of the training has been extremely effective for me, while others have not been as strong.
When I first began my job, I had to undergo some training for the basics on how the store overall functioned and how each department worked to help one another. I found this training to be a type of crash course for all the departments so we at least loosely had some experience with where things were and who to go to with problems. After this short training session, I had a much more in depth and lengthier hands-on training of the registers and how to efficiently work in customer service. I felt like this training was extremely effective for me, as it walked through how to go about each process and emergency procedure we would need in the position. With it being a hands-on training, I was able to ask questions where necessary and fully understand each skill needed to perform my role. Eventually I was promoted into a customer service lead, and with it came some new responsibilities and training. I needed to be taught how to properly fill out scholarship invoices, handle returns, book buybacks, and more. Once again with it being the same department and my supervisor that I had become close to, I felt the hands-on training was extremely efficient and helpful for me. I have felt very confident since the first day in this position, and I firmly believe that it was due to this training.
Unfortunately not all training programs have been as efficient. At one point while working in my current position, we had a significant shortage of people in one of the departments. Specifically, in the textbook and supplies department where there was normally a supervisor and three major employees, but at this time there was only one other person so they were overwhelmed. I had offered to help, and the supervisor of that department decided to train me that day. This training was a lot less hands-on, and I spent more time watching them then actually doing it myself. Once the time had come to do things myself, I felt completely lost and felt terrible asking so many questions. Over time I started to get the hang of it, but then I was introduced to more advanced tasks that the other employees were also learning, like handling the faculty textbook orders in the system. I was completely out of my depth with this situation, since I wasn’t familiar with the system they were using like the others were. This was something discussed in Lecture 1 this week, where it was stated that for training to be efficient, it needs to be appropriate to the employee’s skill level. This was not the case with this training for me, and ultimately it led me to move away from that department altogether.