Inadequate Work Skills

[KaraBoo]

I wish we had a way to start a thread and then put it in a "pending" status instead of immediately posting....I'm still on the fence about whether or not I want any opinions or advice to these questions....  

What would you do if you found yourself in a work position where you have woefully inadequate skills for the requirements of the job?

What if you were initially encouraged to take the job - after telling the hiring manager that you were neither knowledgeable enough or experienced enough to take on the position - and encouraged to take it anyway with the promise of training and support and none of that materialized?

What if after a year in the position, progress has been made, but that progress is slow and cumbersome due to the lack of training, with mistakes along the way that are upsetting to the president of the organization - who, by the way, is also your new boss....and the original hiring manager is no longer with the company?

How would you handle being in a position like this?

I am currently in a position that should have been given to an industry veteran as the position is with a start-up company - not to a green newbie with less than a year's worth of experience with little training.  The further I get into the job, the more I realize that I do not have the necessary skills and experience for a position like this, and probably will not for at least another 3-5 years (even with training) as a majority of the "real" knowledge is real-life events that happen, not the mundane day-to-day tasks (which I'm also struggling with).

How would you approach this problem?

FYI - I can't get on the boards while at work, so any questions will be answered as I can get back on (either tomorrow morning or later tomorrow evening).  I appreciate any suggestions!

[moneymaven]

I would first start by writing down what you think you lack for the job, then start making an action list about how you can overcome the item. Sort of a SWOT analysis, i.e., Are you able to seek mentor ship, outside training, online courses, is it a lack of Managment, etc.

It may help to put the issue into a black and white, objective assessment. Then if you find it to be too overwhelming or lacks adequate timing, you may decide to seek alternatives within or outside of the company.

[flopsy]

How much satisfaction do you get from your job? Is there anything that makes you think there will be a change in the lack of support/training? If you are not in love with it then get ready to move on. If you feel like you are failing then move on.

Leverage your connections to get you to a point where you can feel more confident/secure in what you are doing. You will be happier and that's what matters 

[whoisjohngalt]

I would try to find a mentor and beg, bribe and try to entice them to teach me as much as they could.

If that was not possible, I would try to research research research in any way possible

If that was not possible, I would either stay and deal with it and wait until I learn it during the course of working or look for another job

[Regis]

Jan 24, 2014 0:02:29 GMT -5 moneymaven said:

I would first start by writing down what you think you lack for the job, then start making an action list about how you can overcome the item. Sort of a SWOT analysis, i.e., Are you able to seek mentor ship, outside training, online courses, is it a lack of Management, etc.

It may help to put the issue into a black and white, objective assessment. 

This.

And then I'd talk to my boss about it to see if these "action items" can actually be accomplished.

[zibazinski]

What are you lacking? Can it be learned online or in a class or is it just learn as you go?

[Shooby]

I think you just need to step back and ask yourself what you really want. If you knew what you think you do not know, is this a job you would WANT to do? Maybe it really isn't your cup of tea and you prefer other aspects of whatever industry you are in. Maybe this job involves too much paperwork and you are a people kind of person. Or, maybe it involves managing people and you are not the type who wants to deal with those annoyances. Or maybe there are more technical aspects and you prefer a different venue. Whatever. Only you can answer those questions for yourself.
However, if it is a question simply of knowledge of the industry and this is the job you want to keep doing or would keep doing, then you just need to continue to learn as much as you can. But, if you really don't care for the job, that is OK to decide that too.

[KaraBoo]

I have just a couple of minutes before work, so I'll try to answer as many questions as I can before coming back tonight:

seek mentor ship - I did this initially after the hiring manager left.  My original mentor will answer questions I have, but doesn't comprehend that I missed even the "basic" training.  I've commented on that multiple times and the response has been less than encouraging.  The replacement manager to the original has gone above and beyond trying to help me and has been replaced as a mentor in my eyes.  However, she's struggling as well as the position she took over is totally disorganized and she has her hands full.  

We do have a tentative time set up to meet on the weekends and after work to go over some of the basics I am missing as we're both just too swamped during work to tackle any of it.

outside training, online courses - available, but expensive to go the "official" route.  I have a book on order recommended by the new manager.  It's 5 years old (newest version available) and it's still $100.  I'm signing up for all of the forums she's recommending (similar to asking for money advice here) and training seminars that I can afford or I think I can get reimbursed for.

I took vacation days in the summer and spent the time going to different facilities attempting to get an idea of how they do my job.  One facility gave me a gold mine of advice, the other was a bust as they acted like I should already know the questions I was asking.

is it a lack of Management - this was an issue originally with the hiring manager.  Spent 4 months without any manager/direction (when I spent time trying to gain knowledge on my own).  New manager sees exactly what I'm struggling with - however, the way my position is set up, she's not my direct manager and can only offer advice and suggestions.  I report directly to the president who is frustrated with my lack of knowledge and mistakes I've been making.  However, I am not housed within the facility, so the president does not see or receive reports on everything I am attempting to accomplish on a day-to-day basis, so that is working against me as well.

Job satisfaction - the more I learn about the job, the more I love it.  However, having the lack of knowledge/experience is causing issues and affecting other areas of the company (to some degree), which is what's frustrating the president.  I suspect I will be VERY good at this job....some day.  The question boils down to - will management allow me to grow into the position?  I don't know.

One last item that is probably relevant - the president's experience with my job is based on her previous position with an employee who is now a 20 year veteran of the industry.  It is my understanding based on reading between the lines - the president was not impressed with her abilities.  The vice president that I had worked with before told me she told the president, "I know X and I know Karaboo, Karaboo is not X".  So....now the president is comparing my job performance with less than 2 years experience to a veteran she wasn't impressed with who had 20 years experience.

Okay - I've got to go...but I'll be back later.

[Deleted]

I'm assuming that your current boss doesn't know the background of how you were hired, and that you made reasonable attempts to get the training you were promised, and that you have the desire and the smarts to pick up the skills and knowledge you need. Given all that I'd talk to the boss and it would go like this:

"Boss, when I was hired, I made it clear to X (hiring manager) that I didn't have the deep experience needed to do this job well, but X was very supportive and encouraged me to take the offer, promising the training I needed to get up to speed. That didn't happen, despite the fact that I proposed A, B and C to help build my expertise. (Add any brief, non-emotional info you can provide about the response. Did X refuse, promise it "later", tell you it wasn't in the budget?)

I'm really beginning to feel my lack of expertise and I know I could do better at this job with more support. Here's what I propose to help me catch up. (Courses? Mentoring?)

I wouldn't even have a problem with proposing that they bring in a new person between you and the boss. I had that imposed on me once and stuck around despite people telling me that I was being screwed and I should get out. He was one of the best bosses I ever had.

The previous hiring manager was probably trying to fill the position with someone with as little experience as possible so he/she would look like a hero by saving money. It was unfair to you and to the company. I hope your current boss is more supportive.

[Shooby]

If you love the job, then you just have to accept that you have been placed in a position of authority and a higher level and you are going to work hard to be worthy of the job and to grow and learn.
It is kind of how I feel now. I just got elected to the School Board. And, the amount of information I am trying to absorb is overwhelming from School laws, to budgets, and on and on and on. I have a 10 binders at home FULL of huge amounts of school code, information, etc. And, I have to go in and vote on all kinds of matters that I really don't know that much about. So, I seek out the information I can, but I simply do not really have a clue about a lot of things yet. And, I have been going to some training seminars, etc but it is going to take a long time to really get a handle on this.
But, I just accept that I was put in this position and will just seek to do my best. Obviously, they value you and put you in this position. ANd, of course there will be growing pains, but my advice is to stick with it and keep working and you will get to where you need to go.

[cronewitch]

I was working in accounting software support when I passed the CPA exam and applied for a internal job in software development in tax software. The person I applied with didn't hire me but she gave my resume to a manager I had worked with before and he hired me as a programmer/analyst. He was an accounting developer not tax but they gave him tax work so I started converting some mainframe software to Unix. Suddenly they took his tax work away from him and I was given to a tax software development team. I had to figure out how to digitize forms in Unix using and VI editor and decide what was on the forms I was responsible for. So I had my own programmer and I told her what went in the fields but had to make the fields myself the size to fit the data then test the software to see if it did what I wanted it to and have my programmer fix any problems. I hated it, I had no training, didn't talk to my boss or coworkers because everyone was swamped. After a few months she loaned me back to software support after development season. So I was back in support doing I job I was great at they called me the goddess. Then they decided to downsize and laid off 1/3 of the company. My manager found me and said we need to talk but I told her I didn't have time to talk maybe next week, she said no now. She told me I was getting two weeks notice and could leave now if I wanted. I talked to the software support manager and asked him for a job. He said he let 5 people go and was thinking of letting 6 go and keep me but it wasn't fair since I wasn't in his group. So he called headquarters and got me assigned to him from Feb to April 15. After April 15 the developer of the accounting software was writing payroll software and wanted me to help and do testing so I worked for him until I quit. Then I worked for him from home, started a financial statement formatting business at home and went to work in a CPA firm for a few months then quit that. I went back to work in software support at the old company as a temp for another 6 months then quit again to go to a new software company.

Some jobs take a long time to learn. Fake it until you make it means you keep showing up doing the best you can as long as they let you. If they let you go you at least learned something. Next job you will be a little more experienced if not a lot more experienced. You may be better than you think just not as good as you want to be.

[JustLurkin]

Jan 24, 2014 9:03:46 GMT -5 KaraBoo said:

outside training, online courses - available, but expensive to go the "official" route.  I have a book on order recommended by the new manager.  It's 5 years old (newest version available) and it's still $100.  I'm signing up for all of the forums she's recommending (similar to asking for money advice here) and training seminars that I can afford or I think I can get reimbursed for.

What field is it--there are plenty of free resources on the internet, people can help point you in a specific direction if we knew the field. Is there anything available at your community college?

[KaraBoo]

Jan 24, 2014 9:10:36 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

I'm assuming that your current boss doesn't know the background of how you were hired, and that you made reasonable attempts to get the training you were promised, and that you have the desire and the smarts to pick up the skills and knowledge you need. Given all that I'd talk to the boss and it would go like this:

"Boss, when I was hired, I made it clear to X (hiring manager) that I didn't have the deep experience needed to do this job well, but X was very supportive and encouraged me to take the offer, promising the training I needed to get up to speed. That didn't happen, despite the fact that I proposed A, B and C to help build my expertise. (Add any brief, non-emotional info you can provide about the response. Did X refuse, promise it "later", tell you it wasn't in the budget?)

I'm really beginning to feel my lack of expertise and I know I could do better at this job with more support. Here's what I propose to help me catch up. (Courses? Mentoring?)

I wouldn't even have a problem with proposing that they bring in a new person between you and the boss. I had that imposed on me once and stuck around despite people telling me that I was being screwed and I should get out. He was one of the best bosses I ever had.

The previous hiring manager was probably trying to fill the position with someone with as little experience as possible so he/she would look like a hero by saving money. It was unfair to you and to the company. I hope your current boss is more supportive.

Athena - I appreciate this response (I appreciate all of the responses!!!) because so much of it already echos what I've already been mulling over in my head.

Looking back over the past year (along with help clarifying my issues with a counselor and the new manager) the original hiring manager had multiple issues going on that did not translate to appropriate training for me:

• She had her own personal work crisis going on and did nothing to prevent it as far as we (the employees) could tell, which lead to her "resigning" in lieu of being fired.
• She was very hands-off with managing the department and allowed the other employee in the office to handle my training and direction the office headed; only answering specific questions of mine when I directly asked her.
• The other employee left in charge of my training - cannot train to save her life.  She knows what she's doing, but she cannot translate that into anything that makes sense to anyone else (I've helped train 3 other people - at their request - after they tried to learn from her).  I had several talks with the original manager that I could not learn from employee and that there were personality issues as well (she can be catty and demeaning) - those concerns were both acknowledged that the manager also had issues with learning from her and also waved away as just being a difference in personalities and I just needed to have more patience and understanding.

I spoke with the new manager (not my boss remember) today and in the course of our talk made this statement:

"Knowing what I know now, if I were the hiring manager, I would not have hired me to do this job with my level of knowledge and experience.  This particular job should have been given to a seasoned veteran because of all of the issues associated with a start up company.  I would not even hire me at this point because truth be told, it may be another 3 to 5 years (or longer) before I have enough experience under my belt to handle the challenges this company is going to go through in the very near future.  Putting me in this position set all of us up for failure to some degree."

Her response, "Wow....that is a very mature and astute statement and I agree with you.  I came from a start up company where I was in your position and I have many years of experience.  At this point, I can say I would not do another start up because of the challenges and stress associated with it.  I cannot imagine what you are going through having next to no training."

Me - "The question boils down to - will management allow me to grow into this position knowing the likelihood that I will probably make more errors (some may be major) along the way?"

Her - "That is the question and only the president can answer that.  If it were me, based on what I have seen of you and know of your background - I would give you that opportunity."

So - like Crone commented "You may be better than you think just not as good as you want (need - my emphasis) to be" - I think this is where I am.  I'll need to have a meeting with the president to find out what her thoughts are before I'll have an idea of where I stand.

[KaraBoo]

Jan 24, 2014 9:16:14 GMT -5 Shooby said:

If you love the job, then you just have to accept that you have been placed in a position of authority and a higher level and you are going to work hard to be worthy of the job and to grow and learn.
It is kind of how I feel now. I just got elected to the School Board. And, the amount of information I am trying to absorb is overwhelming from School laws, to budgets, and on and on and on. I have a 10 binders at home FULL of huge amounts of school code, information, etc. And, I have to go in and vote on all kinds of matters that I really don't know that much about. So, I seek out the information I can, but I simply do not really have a clue about a lot of things yet. And, I have been going to some training seminars, etc but it is going to take a long time to really get a handle on this.
But, I just accept that I was put in this position and will just seek to do my best. Obviously, they value you and put you in this position. ANd, of course there will be growing pains, but my advice is to stick with it and keep working and you will get to where you need to go.

Shooby - you are very close to describing what I'm going through.  Out of all of the responses so far, you are probably going through what I am the closest.  My industry is governed by Federal and State laws, then there is also CMS/Medicaid rules and regulations, and finally, there is the hospital's Bylaws, Rules, Regulations and Policies to abide by.  There are "best practices" that need to be adhered to that dictates how I collect information.  And then there is also the politics of dealing with both Administration and Physicians - all while being off-site but still expected to "know" the environment and culture of the hospital I support - an environment and culture that is vastly different than the one I'm submerged in based on where my office is located.

JustLurking asked what field it is - Medical Staff Credentialing in a hospital setting.

[gooddecisions]

My friend owns a medical supply company, not quite the same thing- but they have similar compliance mandates. When she started the company 10 years ago, she went through a lot of attrition for at least 5 years. I was friends with her as well as a lot of the people she hired. Those friends had similar complaints about training, their lack of written policies and procedures and operational risks in general since they didn't know what they were doing and didn't have anyone to guide them. I heard concerns about medicare rules and ethics in supplying certain products/obtaining reimbursements.

Her positions didn't pay especially well, which meant she couldn't hire the best talent. The people I know who were hired lacked the exceeds, go-getter personality. They were very vocal about the issues with the company which is the reason for my awareness. Hearing their complaints and understanding what it takes to be part of a start-up- in my unbiased opinion, she wasn't hiring the right people. That's just the nature of a start-up. You either have what it takes to stick around, figure it out and be part of the solution- or you don't. While your proaction in volunteering your incompetency is admirable, if the company doesn't have the resources to give you what you need, you're not being part of the solution- but rather giving them more problems.

My friend's company is now over 100 people and she no longer has as many problems with attrition, but occasionally I'll hear about a mutual friend she hired- and I'll know immediately he or she won't be there 6 months and I'm always right.

I say go with your instincts and start looking for a position at a more established company. 3-5 years is a long time to deal with work-related stress if you don't have to.

[shanendoah]

Kara-
If I remember correctly, I do know the industry you are in, and yes, the official training is expensive, but worth it.

I agree with Athena that talking to your actual boss in necessary. Explain the situation. I might even ask him is someone who is an industry veteran can be brought in above you, or if he can have you start reporting to your mentor.

You know you're making mistakes. And you know the reason is that you don't have the skills and training, but that you WANT them and are willing to work at them. Bring up the fact that you are setting up time on the weekends and after work to try and learn this from new mentor. Talk about what you did on your vacation last summer, trying to learn more.

I think you can be excellent at this job. Your new mentor thinks you can be excellent in this job. But you need the chance to gain the skills you need. You need the training. You need the professional association membership.

You can't get what you need without your actual boss being behind you in this. And in order for you (and this company) to be successful, your boss needs to know that situation. I know that can be a scary talk, but it is necessary at this point.

[KaraBoo]

Jan 25, 2014 13:51:17 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

You can't get what you need without your actual boss being behind you in this. And in order for you (and this company) to be successful, your boss needs to know that situation. I know that can be a scary talk, but it is necessary at this point.

Hi Shanendoah!

I remember we talked before regarding this.  I do have membership now, but until my new mentor (I'm going to refer to her as S) came along, I was still spinning my wheels trying to figure out where to even start.  When I talked with S earlier in the week, she commented that she still had items to forward to me, but didn't want to overwhelm me with information.  I told her to send it anyway - I'd bookmark it, print it, save it, whatever I needed to, but just having the information would be beneficial to me.  I'm signed up for several forums and newsletters now as well.

I'm just frustrated that I've been in the Medical Staff department for over 2 years now and I'm having to "back into" how to do something.  I know what the end result should be, but getting to that point is hard when you don't know the path you should take.

Just an example - I struggled in the summer with pulling medical education letters from places.  My "trainer" never told me initially about the National Student Clearinghouse or the ECFMG (which I've since found out are basic basic basic information).  She knew I was trying to mail letters out of country and never once did she say, "you don't need to do that - just pull it from the ECFMG".  Her actual response was "Good luck with that, foreign countries rarely respond."  I finally discovered the National Student Clearinghouse after one school finally took pity on me (after sending multiple requests) and responded with "check here".

My trainer and I sit less than 10 feet from each other!  

I finally have a book loaned to me from S - "Verify and Comply" that has already filled in some gaps that I didn't have answers to.

The difficulties the new hospital is going to have going forward is:

• A green Medical Staff leadership and Credentialing committee
• Incomplete policies dealing with problem issues
• New ideas on how the formal Medical Staff Bylaws, Rules and Regulations should be handled - the documents I have are vastly different from the others in my system.  
• No CMO

I can see these difficulties and more, plain as day.  And I'm not trained with even the basics to help (although I am getting there....eventually).  

So...yeah - I'm going to have to have a talk with the president and see where to go from here.  

[Cookies Galore]

Ugh, that sucks that the person who is supposed to train you is so hands off. I'd be frustrated as hell, too! It's one thing to have the time on your hands to teach yourself new Excel skills, it's quite another to have teach yourself the basics when you don't even know what the $@!# basics are to begin with!

And just a "hey!": ECFMG is headquarted down the block from my office and we are partnered with them.

[Shooby]

Kara - When you do finally get to a level of expertise you are going to have a wealth of knowledge not just from what you know but of learning so many things the hard way like u just described.

[marvholly]

Karaboo
I wish we had a way to start a thread and then put it in a "pending" status instead of immediately posting....I'm still on the fence about whether or not I want any opinions or advice to these questions....


There is a way to do this. Simply do the post in word and save it for a bit on your computer in your documents file. Go back in a few day or week and make a decision. you can always send it to the recycle bin.

[marvholly]

Karaboo
I wish we had a way to start a thread and then put it in a "pending" status instead of immediately posting....I'm still on the fence about whether or not I want any opinions or advice to these questions....


There is a way to do this. Simply do the post in word and save it for a bit on your computer in your documents file. Go back in a few day or week and make a decision. you can always send it to the recycle bin.