The first week at a new job can feel like the first week of school.  There are nerves, excitement, and “first day jitters.”  You don’t know if you will make new friends or anything else that is going to happen. The first week goes by in a blur and yet takes forever. Here is the low down of our first week as IDOLs.

Kristi:

My first week started off crazy with my orientation day (which you can read about in the Day 1 blog). Tuesday I started working remotely. I worked on what the company calls technology-based training (TBT) ALL. DAY. I literally sat at my computer all day clicking through the epitome of bad training. The team reassured me that these were made by a higher level of the company, not by them and we all laughed. I checked my calendar for Wednesday and I was invited to a training session by the Learning Consultant on my team. It was a four hour training! Basically it consisted of the Learning Consultant and the other Instructional Designer either reading to me from a manual or explaining parts of the manual. 

After about an hour, my brain honestly couldn’t take any more. They kept asking me how I was doing and I was honest and said that I had hit my limit of new information. But they just kept going! After about two hours, I was adamant that I wasn’t remembering anything and that I thought maybe we were misusing our time, so they finally said that they would reschedule the rest for Thursday and we would continue then. Thursday we continued with the same thing and, honestly, I started to question my new team. I kept thinking if they think that I can sit for one to two hours at a time and listen to lecture-style learning, what kind of training are they producing? Better yet: am I going to be expected to produce this type of training? I was concerned. 

My first week all led up to the culminating moment that I was waiting for! I got my first assignments! On Friday afternoon, I had a meeting with the Learning Consultant where she walked me through my first three training assignments. The first two were basic tutorials of a program that the company uses for meetings and virtual live training. The third was what the Learning Consultant described as a project that I could be “as creative as I want to be.” I was SO. EXCITED! Finally, I got to start playing in Storyline, Adobe, Vyond. ALL. THE. FUN. STUFF!!!! It made all the painful training I had been through that week worth it and I could finally look forward to the next week ahead of me.

Veronica:

Overall, I will say that my first week as an IDOL went well.  The company is experiencing a lot of growth including an influx of new hires.  This is great during a global pandemic, but it has kept me from getting access to Articulate 360 and other software I need.  One of the main goals for my team is to revamp the many virtual led training the company currently has. I was assigned to observe the three-week customer service virtual new hire orientation to give feedback on what was working well and what could use some improvement. 

During my first week I was able to attend the weekly Learning and Development team huddle and I was able to virtually meet many people in the L&D department.  The SVP of L&D was at the meeting and she sent me a private chat saying she was glad that I was a part of the team.  That made me feel good that she was supportive of me being on the team and was looking forward to what I can bring. I was able to get access to our company “university” so I could take the usual assigned harassment and compliance courses.  This was a good opportunity to see how the team had created courses in the past and the level of interactivity that was built into the course.  I was also able to access our brand guidelines including fonts we are supposed to use and brand colors.

The first week was a slower pace because I was still in the process of getting all of the access I needed.  I actually think this was a good thing because it gave me time to explore on my own and come up with a game plan of how I want to approach designing courses.  My manager has been great about checking in and setting expectations of what she wants me to focus on.  I’m looking forward to getting my first assignment and getting to work with more people within the organization.

Ready for your own IDOL Success Story? Check out the IDOL courses Academy