As a trainee, you need to remember that you are there to help busy colleagues and learn as much as possible. You will be on a bed of nails if you do not show that you will be a good investment for the company.
The mistake is that some trainees keep waiting for an opportunity to hide and shrink behind their screens, pretending to work or are waiting for a busy colleague to recognize them and ask them to do something, while the colleagues understand that the trainee who acts that way:
- Is not interested in any of the jobs,
- Is neither willing nor ready to help anybody,
- Does not care about busy colleagues,
- Will be unhelpful if hired,
- Is not the best investment,
- Is the wrong candidate.
Instead, you need to show them that you are there and you exist.
If you are given a task, you need to confirm you need to:
- Confirm that you have finished,
- Let them know if you cannot do it,
- Inform them of your readiness and ability to do it,
- Make them knowledgeable of how available you are,
Hiding yourself behind a task leads to an absence of confirmation which results is one, or all, of the following:
- Duplication,
- Waste of money,
- Waste of time,
- Waste of energy,
- Looking careless,
- You will be micromanaged,
- You will look unprofessional.
You will make everybody wonder if you really:
- Understand what they say,
- Listen well,
- Like the job,
- Are the employee they are looking for,
- Are going to remain like this forever.
You will take everybody, including yourself, to a lower level, because not confirming where you are in a task is perturbing. Confirming on time will make you:
- Save time, energy & money,
- Share knowledge,
- Learn how to ask questions,
- Help your boss train you better,
- Make your company avoid losses,
- Build trust with everybody,
- Make customers satisfied.
It is the first thing you should be told when you start working; CONFIRM AND INFORM. It is a very important task in itself. I may go beyond this and call it a cornerstone of professional behavior.