For nearly three weeks, I have been training two new writers who have joined our team. Both are contractors. One is a young man. The other is an older woman.
It's like night and day with these two. The young man is curious and learns quickly. I see him fitting in well and doing a great job in his role.
The older woman has issues. The first is comprehension. I will mention specific details in an e-mail and she will miss reading them. Something as simple as our manager saying to not come into the office did not register at all in her mind.
I had this brief text chat yesterday, for instance:
I noticed going through her work that involved reading a report that she doesn't pay attention to details. She asked me whether we had an answer when we barely read through it. It makes more sense to me that she does not read carefully -- that she jumps from section to section -- almost as if she's in a rush or is impatient.
She didn't read this exercise carefully. I've noticed this issue with the previous three.
Her third exercise was interesting. She missed step 5. She managed to change step 9 when it wasn't called for. She didn't bother doing steps 10 and 11. Yet, she said that she was done and that her output was the same as her male peer in our training session.
Um, no.
I remember asking her, rather politely, why certain steps were omitted or missed. Typically, when you are following a procedure, you do each step sequentially. I asked if there were too many concepts presented to her. She said maybe. Hmm.
I have concerns about her. I don't think that she'll do well because she can't grasp simple concepts expressed in exercises or messages. She jumps all over the place when reading text and almost seems like she can't focus.
It's weird.
I have both new writers on my team. I get to continue to work with them, which is a breath of fresh air with the young man. However, it requires more effort on my part to work with the older woman and her omitting key details in whatever she is working on.
It's be interesting.
