TODAY’S POLL

LAST POLL RESULTS

36.6% of you voted Most training happens informally on the job in yesterday’s poll: In your experience, how much training do most jobs provide?

“Just in my experience, most training happened informally while doing the job. Sure, companies sometimes have manuals for the platforms they use, but it was always easiest to learn as you go — much easier than reading a manual for hours at a time. Plus, many responsibilities in the job description are usually already acquired through past experience. Keep in mind, my experiences are more corporate-based in customer service and marketing. I’m sure many other jobs are different, like blue-collar work such as plumbing or electrical work.”

“A public school teacher has to go to school. A stock person at a grocery store has on-the-job training, while the supervisor has had experience.”

“The training for jobs when I was younger was good — waitressing, working at a donut shop — but when the school where I was teaching science needed a robotics teacher not that long ago, I had to learn it and write the curriculum myself.”

“My first job as a baker had lots of training. My second job, as a teacher, had great preparation and training. In the military, I was highly trained in my field. Otherwise, I had on-the-job training for other employment.”

“Hands-on training is the way to go.”

“For all but one job, I had to find my own way of doing things. As a bank lender, I had oodles of training and lots of people showing me ‘their’ way things should be done!!!”

“Any ‘training’ beforehand is just cursory — you have to do it to learn it.”

“Despite multiple degrees, I learned most of my skills through actually interacting with clients and their pets.”

“Retailers do not prepare workers to focus on, help, and understand clients. The customer isn’t always right, but workers are not taught tolerance and, yes, they are responsible for finding an answer. Therefore, managers need to be available or train employees where they can get an answer quickly, and not turn it around on the customer like they don’t have the right to be upset. We do not train employees to be people persons.”

“Transfer of knowledge is non-existent. And good luck with remote work.”

“I think it takes a couple of months just to learn the phone and company nuances. In my opinion, it takes about three months for someone to feel comfortable and be accepted by the team. After a year, you should know your job well.”

“Depends on the company and the person hired. If the person has experience, then little or no training is needed. If they’re green, then a lot of training is needed.”

“I received some training at my new job, but a lot of things were assumed, even though I admitted I was a newbie in the field. It was a little scary, but there are some benefits to trial by fire — the lessons learned are more easily recalled.”

“If I wanted a job, I would train myself beforehand as much as I could, then learn even more while working. These were jobs I wanted almost passionately. In no time, I would become the go-to person or get promoted.”

“My first job was as a telephone operator, and that careful training has stayed with me for 60+ years. Grateful for high standards and expectations.”

“Definitely depends on the industry. When I worked in restaurants, there was intense training. Now that I’m in ‘Corporate America,’ it’s more like, ‘Here’s a badge and a laptop — good luck!’”

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