Reflective Essay On Employee Training

When I first heard the words “on the job training”, I didn’t think much about it. I thought this was just another way for management to say we don’t have time to train you to do your job and you will have to learn as you go. At first, I thought this was absurd. How could I extinguish fires and save people’s lives while keeping myself and my crew safe? I hardly knew how to use half the tools on the truck and knew even less about what they were used for.

When you go through the fire academy, they only teach you the basics of how to fight fires and it is within a controlled environment. I was certain I was still going to receive some type of formal training from the department that I was assigned to once I was on the job. One thing I didn’t realize was how big of a roll on the job training was going to play when it came to the learning process. I knew that I would have to learn from my accomplishments and mistakes. It wasn’t until after a serious emergency response that I truly understood what management meant by on the job training. In that very moment my eyes and mind were opened to why this way of learning was and is so successful in many career fields.

Interpretation

The emergency response was for a Motor Vehicle Accident that my crew responded to. My crew and I arrived to the

I suddenly realized what management meant by on the job training and that it wasn’t just empty words. They cannot prepare you for the unexpected. They cannot prepare you how to process the loss of one’s life even though I did my best to save him. A flood of information was being processed in my head. I realized that management was never denying me formal training on steps or processes. Sometimes hands on learning that is driven by one’s instincts and split second decisions, prepares you better than any textbook or formal training ever