My trainee colleague is not learning. How can I break it to the manager?
Part of my job is to train a colleague who has been moved from another department. Most of the training is done remotely, which isn’t ideal, and the work is clearly outside his comfort zone. He’s struggling and he often makes the same mistakes numerous times. I try to produce guidelines and I’m always there on the phone, but nothing seems to help. Going over the same thing endlessly, and taking 20 minutes to explain something that would take me 15 minutes to do, is tiring and is affecting the rest of my job.
He didn’t choose this work but was moved from his old role as he didn’t get on with his manager. I feel that raising this with our mutual manager now would therefore be a more serious escalation than it would otherwise be. (I don’t want him to get fired, nor is it likely that he will be. But I feel our working relationship would be compromised if he felt I’d “dobbed him in”.)?
Jeremy says
This is certainly a difficult situation. I’m not sure why you feel that this colleague of yours is safe from dismissal, though if you’re right it must be something of a comfort. On the evidence of your letter, he’s not up to the job he’s being asked to do and no amount of training from you is going to change that. Looked at charitably, part of the reason could be that most of his training is conducted remotely, which makes things difficult for both of you.
Whatever the rights and wrongs, you have a responsibility to your company to assess his progress or lack of it. To avoid any accusation of going behind his back (and protect yourself from feeling bad about doing so) I think you have to tell him face-to-face what you intend to do.
Say that you’re going to tell your manager that the present arrangement isn’t working and you’ve given it long enough to be confident that it won’t. Not only is he failing to respond to the training he needs, but your own work is suffering as a consequence. Ask him if he has any positive suggestions for change but don’t allow him to dissuade you. Then present this position to your manager. If you can suggest a solution, so much the better; if not, that’s all you can do.
Readers say
• I would say your working relationship is already compromised if he’s not able to follow the instructions you’ve repeatedly given him. I’d speak to your manager to see if someone else more suited to training (rather than someone with the actual job) could sit with him and work out what’s stopping him from picking the role up. If he’s not getting on well with the job, that’s your manager’s responsibility, not yours, to fix. rosylondon
• A major problem with a lot of trainers is that they just don’t have any patience. People learn at different rates, and since you already recognise he is out of his comfort zone you will have to take more time to train him. Perhaps you should insist on face-to-face training as teaching over the web might not be as effective. Jon Ashley
• Speak to your boss and suggest that someone more qualified, competent and experienced than yourself is assigned the task. Hypatia01
I expected a proper job interview, but got no more than an informal chat
I recently applied for a job with a local accounting firm which was advertising for an accounts clerk trainee. With no previous direct experience but a keen interest in becoming an accountant, I was excited when I was invited to an “informal discussion”. I did my background research about the company and looked into what sort of tasks I’d be expected to perform and how I wanted my potential career to develop.
When I arrived, the local partner spent a couple of minutes asking me how I was, what I was doing, questions to break the ice almost. He told me about the role in some detail for the next 15 minutes, after which he offered me his business card and told me to email if I had any questions.
I was taken aback by how “informal” this was. I asked some questions to see if he might ask me something to see how able I was for the role. Twenty-five minutes after I arrived, I was back in my car confused as to what happened. I then received a letter saying they’d chosen another candidate.
Due to the way the interviewing process works for the larger companies I have applied to, and the seemingly unstructured nature of the discussion and lack of key questions about my skills and abilities, do I have any recourse to take this further? Or do I have to take it on the chin?
Jeremy says
Realistically, as I’m sure you must accept, you’ve absolutely no “recourse”. How would you go about it? All you could do would be write to the partner who interviewed you and ask … what exactly? To be interviewed again? To be reconsidered? If so, on what basis? You’d have to accuse him of making an important decision on inadequate evidence, and even if you didn’t put it quite like that, that’s certainly how he’d read it. To which he would rightly respond that it was up to him to decide how much evidence he needed and he was entirely satisfied that the person to whom he’s now offered the job is a far better prospect than you.
Since you’ve never met this person and know nothing about them, you’re in absolutely no position to question the partner’s choice. The only conceivable result of such an approach would be to confirm the partner in the wisdom of his decision.
Presumably there are few qualifications required for an accounts clerk trainee, so appearance and manner would have counted for even more than usual. You didn’t do anything wrong. You just have to accept that – on the day, to this one interviewer – someone else came across better than you did.
If you want to follow it up at all, you might write a polite letter (not an email) thanking him for having asked you in for an interview and for letting you know his decision. You should say you’d liked the sound of the job and the firm so much that you’re naturally disappointed. If another such vacancy should occur in the future, you’d much appreciate being considered again. Only a very small chance of success, but certainly worth the price of a stamp.
Readers say
• Take it on the chin. Remember, the interview is a two way process. If you are unimpressed by a business at an interview you should see it as a warning sign about how they would be as an employer. In this instance, think of it as a good thing that you haven’t ended up working for them, and start looking for a better opportunity with a more professional company. starterforten
• I hate informal job chats. My advice would be to teat them as a proper interview in future and if you aren’t asked, explain why you think you would be good for the job. Two jobs ago when I handed my notice in, the first stage for my job was an informal chat and they used that to work out who to interview based on how interested they seemed and whether they asked good questions. ameliaposte
• As it is a trainee position they were probably more interested in finding out how you would fit in. A lot of smaller businesses work like that. pintsizedblonde
Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy’s and readers’ help, send a brief email to Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy’s and readers’ help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@theguardian.com. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or to reply personally.
