HN2150 Discussion Post 1, Fall 2019

Directions

• Read and response to the question below. Use 300 words or less.
• Add a meaningful reply to a classmates post.

Question

1.      Recall a job that you have had and how you were trained. Explain the purpose of the training. If you cannot recall such a time, you may interview someone else. Were you trained off-the-job? Were you trained on-the-job? Was there an online component? What methods were used? Was the training effective or not? Explain why. What could have been done to make it more effective?

I have had very minimal formal job training. I began working at my father’s restaurant the summer I turned 13 years-old (the summer of 2002) and I learned to cook, clean, run a kitchen, run the front of house, do sales, do cash, create menus, work with a team, lead a team, and more, all through on-the-job training, endless hours of practice, many 16-hour days, late nights, and 7 day work-weeks. Being raised in the restaurant industry is a unique experience in terms of training and development, because I have, in the best ways, have had time and space to train and develop at my own pace over many years. That is the most pervasive, persistent form of learning—when it is ingrained into your identity. Our business foreclosed in 2012 (yay, the economy!) but I still work with my dad and brother at a different business where we are all in leadership positions.

Throughout my experiences in kitchens, I have completed online training for WHMIS and Safe Food Handling, both of which I received certification for. The online programs were very standard. Both programs included reading through several documents and performing a test at the end. They were short (several hours each) and were paid for by my employer. The concepts I learned in the Safe Food Handling course have stuck with me, because it is very straight-forward and applicable to everyday life, so once you learn the material you are constantly recalling and practicing in your mind as you go through your various activities. The WHMIS, however, didn’t stick with me as much, because I don’t frequently work with hazardous chemicals, so it wasn’t something that was on my radar as often. Practicing more definitely would have helped me maintain that knowledge, but now I will likely have to re-do the certification when I re-enter the workforce upon completion of my college program.

These training programs could be made better with modern technologies. With access to interactive, touch screen applications, training programs can be enhanced to include visuals, sounds, videos, games, quizzes and other components that stimulate meaningful, active practice for users.

Training and development in my industry is something that I am very interested in pursuing post-grad. As a senior staff member and oftentimes in leadership positions, I have had many opportunities to engage staff in training-like activities. However, I have not had the educational background, or support from my employers in achieving that education, to be very effective in any sort of structured, modern training program. It is something I want to learn so I can bring those skills back to the workforce. Unfortunately, most of the places I have worked have had weak management structures (don’t tell my parents! Lol) Something I have always grappled with was that I had this passion for education and desire to guide and mentor others to bring out their excellence and perform at as high a capacity as I can, but I didn’t have the management, supports or tools to be able to follow through on any of those passions. Hence why I chose to come to business school! My goal is to make myself an effective trainer so I can bring those skills into my career and enhance the operations of my organization, the job satisfaction of my team, and bring education into the industry.