Interaction with Trainees

Creating an in-company trainer and trainees’ relationship is crucial for a number of reasons. First of all, it is the basis of the company’s policy of quality education, it is a showcase for the company as a well-managed and people-friendly.

In order for an internship to take place in the best possible way, it is necessary to establish certain rules of cooperation between the tutor and the trainee. In this way both parties will know what awaits them. Each trainee or group of trainees should have a tutor assigned. Managing the relationship with trainees can be challenging, but a few steps can be taken to make the work easier. First of all, you should start with the job position preparation mentioned above. It is good practice to send to the intern welcome letter in which we congratulate him/her on the first step in his/her career and thank for joining our team. This will make the intern feel more welcome. A good mentor’s attitude is also necessary here. He must be patient and answer all questions and help to understand the processes in the company. Of course, it would be ideal if the mentor was also an inspiration for the trainee. Nevertheless, his or her function should be to cross paths and point out tasks so that the intern feels good and can acquire new knowledge efficiently. It cannot happen that the intern is afraid to ask a question. In order for the intern to understand his or her tasks well, it can be helpful to refer to experiences and to present them by example. It is worth remembering that the interns themselves should also have a good time during this experience[1].

Initial training is necessary to introduce the trainees to the functioning of the company and to slowly implement them into future positions on a more extended basis (e.g., on an employment contract). But how do you create these relationships so that you can expect positive results? Of course, social and communication skills of the in-tutor can play a major role here. However, an introduction to a company can be organised in several quite effective ways. These include techniques such as, for example, Icebreaking. The aim of this is to create more freedom and openness in the relationship between the new trainee and the trainer/other employees. In addition to breaking social distance, it is, of course, also necessary to introduce the trainee to the company and to present him/her with the working methodology. Here, techniques such as storytelling work quite well and thus show them better the company’s activities. As the trainee is usually a person who has very little or no experience of the given position, all questions should be explained as clearly as possible.

The trainees should also have clear information about the criteria, what is expected of them and what results they can expect from their traineeship. Both the company and the trainee have certain obligations to fulfil. As a rule, these obligations are regulated by the traineeship contract.

A good method to promote interaction with the trainee is to ensure that the relationship with them is maintained even if he or she is ultimately not hired. The person is still a potential customer and business contact. There are several ways of keeping in touch with an intern who, for some reason, was not joined to your company. For example, it is worthwhile to inform him/her about new jobs in the company or job vacancies in which would be interested. Another method used is to keep in touch with him by sending them for instance wishes (if they agree, of course). It is also worth remembering that former trainees / employees are a source of information about the company. And the way we treat them will determine how they will express themselves about our company and what image they create of it.

Another interesting way of interacting with the trainee is preparing documentation in which the topics and training methods used are included, which will facilitate a smooth learning process for the trainee. The documentation can also clearly show what qualifications the trainee is acquiring during the training, which will then help in case of rotating to other parts of the company, because the rest of the employees will know the trainee’s skills.

However, it is impossible to assess how important a personal and individual approach to each of the new trainees is as well. Understanding their position and getting to know their personality and skills will help to plan their time in the company in the best possible way.