Ladies, how do you discern whether you're in over your head or whether it's just part of the learning curve? I recently started a new job at a new place and my co-workers have made comments about how tedious/troublesome the area I'm working on is. The person who is training me is leaving soon and only has a short amount of time to train me, which only they know how to do. They have also made the same insinuations. I'm a bit overwhelmed and anxious about what's to come. Any advice?

I usually always tend to feel a BIT over my head in any new role, but... I will never forget what my manager told me when I got my FIRST leadership role as a Clinic Supervisor. She said something along the lines of "you have the job, you're here. You don't need to continue to prove yourself." and... we all have imoster sydrome at some point. Just rely on your skills, intuition, the resources you have around, above and even under you. You will be fine. :)

Have you established what you’ll do when this person leaves and you have a question?

Personally, I think it takes 6 months-ish to really understand a new job and expectations. So based on that approach I think how your questions change over time is a good benchmark of your progress.

You are probably doing better than you think you are, and other’s comments about the workload only mean they definitely couldn’t do it, and should attest to you landing the role! ✨🫶🏻🥰🥥🫧💐🥂

The lowest level/lowest paid type jobs (except extremely technical such as medicine, etc.) have actual roadmaps. The higher you go in the business world, the less real training is possible. Most training would be about navigating that particular organization and getting that business unit’s history/background/dynamics, and understanding the current goals and drivers. You’re hired to use that foundation and chart new progress, identify opportunities, and create solutions, etc. You can do that with the skills and knowledge you bring to the table.
Less and less can those be trained. If it was all employee “plug and play”, then anybody could do it. So, you are likely not in over your head, but are at a point that requires YOU to craft and chart the way forward. It’s a good thing.
It’s still possible that the role hasn’t been given the needed support in the past and current. You should ask your trainer for candid feedback on that. And now, it’s up to you to articulate to leadership what further support is needed to help you and the org to be successful there.
Remember, if it wasn’t challenging, then anybody could do it or the role would be at risk of becoming obsolete.
Acknowledge that any and all new roles come with a learning curve, but this one is totally accomplishable, and you can absolutely do this!

I’m not sure what stage you’re in your career, but you got where you are because of your skills and personality. This was not by accident. I actually took my current job to work with somebody who is supposed to be like a mentor and she got laid off and I got thrust into doing stuff she used to do except she was paid as a VP. I have a broad range of experience and have done parts of what she had but I was always hesitant to take that next step. The irony is now I’m doing it, but I didn’t plan on it. It wasn’t a choice. But I got a nice increase And I plan on asking for a promotion Soon. Just remember what you’re capable of and how resourceful you are, and how far you’ve come. Every once in a while I take a look at my résumé and realize everything I’ve been through and how much I’ve learned.

I’m not in finance, but I’ve been through many audits, and there’s a phrase: it’s not what happens to you. It’s how you handle it. Trust yourself that you’ll be able to handle it. Show your leadership. Let yourself shine. 5 or 10 years from now you’re going to look back and realize you were ready and this set you up for success in your next step. You don’t realize it now because you’re inside the Fishbowl. (no pun intended.) why don’t you talk to a few of your mentors there on the outside, looking in to give you perspective? Let them give you a boost and some strategy. I love another quote: there is no such thing as luck. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. This is your moment. shine!🌟

U got this!!!!!!!

I would take anything an employee says that’s leaving lighting — for whatever reason they are leaving so they probably have a mindset that isn’t focused on helping the company any more and just getting out of there.

Agree with above, the fist 6 months are so overwhelming in any job— learning where things are, who reports to who and does what, understanding the flow and style of the company can take almost up to 9 months to feel like you’re finally getting a rhythm, so go easy on yourself!

Come in with a positive mindset and remember you were hired for a reason. You can take these challenges you see and turn them into goals to make positive change and an impact, there’s power being the new person to affect change and innovation so channel that energy!

I think that as long as you try to do a little bit each day it’s okay.
Any new role is overwhelming and it is usually too much pressure to be straight away operational. But the thing is that it takes time to grasp details and understand the subtleties of the job especially when you have little knowledge transfer or on a short period of time.
Just know it’s okay not to know or understand everything and it’s okay to ask for help.
Also people leaving are not always the ones that will sell you the job. And sometimes when a person leaves they want to feel like they were indispensable to the company so they will exaggerate on the difficulty of the job so that they are seen as the only ones that could possibly have done the job.
If you got the job you can make it work, just take it one step at a time and it will be fine.

I think we are all in over our heads when we dive into a new or unfamiliar territory. It is easy to let the panic and fear of others wear off on us. While you may only have 1 month to learn from the individual training you, that’s actually a pretty significant time. Think about ways that you can position yourself to succeed once that person is gone.

Can you make a list of tasks that they are responsible for that you’ll be taking over? Then go through each of those one-by-one. Create process steps that will allow you to 1) refer back to them when you need to and 2) enables you to poke questions where something doesn’t make sense and get clarity while you still have your trainer.