Caught in the undertow

The first three days of my new job have been....what's the word...confounding.

I work for a company that sells tungsten heavy alloy products for a variety of uses - aerospace, metallurgical, machining and milling, and so on. We may not make most of the things in your home, but our products help make the machines and tools that make most of the things in your home. I am an inside sales representative, ostensibly responsible for all of our clients outside of North America.

When I was interviewed and then hired, I was advised that the company did not consider itself very good at training new non-floor employees, and that with us (me and my fellow new inside sales rep), they were going to try to use a more comprehensive training. No more sink-or-swim; now, it's seminar-and-snooze, as I like to joke.

My supervisor gave us a detailed three-week training schedule. She is due to be on vacation for the second and third weeks; however, much of our training during that time was to be provided by other employees - engineers, outside sales reps, product specialists, and so on. However, already people are coming to her with tweaks to the schedule and conflicts. For example, our plant tours were supposed to be next week, on days that she was gone. Now, they are taking place this week, on days that she was to provide training to us.

We have a slightly better idea of what products we sell, and what their properties are, and how they are manufactured. However, we still have no good sense for what our actual jobs will be like. We have not been trained in detail on our product line - thousands of different types of tool holders and inserts, for example, and which one is best for which application - nor have we learned about our all-powerful computer system. Those days are certainly coming. However, in the meantime, the last three days of work have not seemed like work at all.

So far, these days have felt more like, I don't know, college orientation? You feel like you know what to expect. You are shown a bunch of things you won't recall, and you are introduced to dozens of people you won't remember until you need them. You aren't taking notes, you're just watching and hoping things will stick when it is time to need them.

The training schedule gives only a vague idea of what we are doing each day. Yesterday was supposed to be about products and procedures. But I don't remember learning much that was new or not intuitive, and then the day ended early so we could go buy our steel-toed safety shoes (on the company's tab). Today, we toured our plant in La Vergne, outside Nashville. It was interesting to see the products being made, and I did learn a few things. But I have not seen our products being used yet. I don't know what they actually do, or how they do it, or how tiny differences in design create different outcomes, or why certain grades or materials are used for certain applications. I know what our products look like. I don't know what they do. So it felt like today's long trip (four hours on the road, three in the plant) was not the best use of time, at least at this point in our training.

I am still neutral about this job. Frankly, I don't know what to feel about it yet. I know I am not ready to deal with customers, not for a few more weeks or months, but I am chomping at the bit to do something, anything more meaningful and hands-on and productive. I am frustrated because I want to get to work.