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Could you answer a 20 year old baby ?
It feels really comforting, and that's a big deal for me, to find someone who knows what they're doing and dealing with that can help a job novice like me, so thank you.
I am a 20 year old 3rd year student at the Faculty of Commerce's English Section; and I decided to start training this year and so I applied to a certain well-known bank and sat for a brief interview, my first, and was accepted.
Yesterday was my first day and after spending about 3 hours there I decided I was never going to set foot inside that bank again. I was assigned to a certain department and they sat me down and kept me there for 3 whole hours doing nothing, and because I am an extremely shy person I neither complained nor talked to anyone but 3 hours was too much even for me so I asked the person who was "supposed" to be my trainer (this was the 1st conversation that took more than 3 minutes with her, the 1st one took one second, she asked me what my name was) if I could leave early because I am doing nothing so she said that it's going to be the same everyday and so I took my attendance sheet from them and left for another department and still I left early !
The thing is the moment I went home I started crying like someone ate my heart, I was so disappointed and hurt because of being neglected, it was like my supervisor didn't want me there at all.
Anyway a relative of mine knew someone at the bank and that someone promised to talk to the woman because she is not reflecting the image they want of the bank and I was supposed to go today to be assigned at another department under the care of the someone who was called "wasta ya3ni" although I did not want that in the first place.
So I did not go today but my aunt started telling me not to be a quitter and that sooner or later I will have to face the world and all people my age go through that but they aren't as weak as I am so I will be going tomorrow.
The thing is what Ii did was so childish of me … I know, so any advice for people like me, who can not face the world and interact with people ?
M. M. (Cairo)
Replying:
Dear Ms. M.
You should not be considered a child or a baby… people vary in how they react to situations… resistance levels vary… obviously those with an active social life and involvement in activities (sports, social societies, university trips / camps, college magazine etc…) end up better equipped to deal with situations like yours. Actually the whole purpose of your interest in summer job training is to get you better prepared and familiar with the real world.
As for the summer training incident you described, unfortunately – as we wrote here in more than one instance – Egyptian organizations (companies, banks etc…) are usually not prepared to accommodate interns (those coming for summer training). Therefore they just not accept them, or in many cases would do so, for the sake of appearing socially responsible, but rarely go out of their way to well plan such internships and ensure those summer trainees are benefiting let alone kept busy. There are exceptions of course. The parties to be blamed – with the little information we got from you – should be whoever is responsible for the summer internships program within the bank (someone must be in charge… could be the Human Resources Director) and your immediate supervisor, or as you call her "trainer". Both must formulate some sort of plan before accepting you or others… otherwise it is unethical, unprofessional and unacceptable. While not every function or department in a bank can accommodate short term interns or trainees, there are obviously tasks these could perform… reconciling accounts, reviewing files, assisting clients with some simple transactions, double checking calculations etc… Part of the training could be to read instructions from bank management (or the Central Bank) and seeing how these are applied by staff.
There is little we can advise here, however, give it a few days… don't be shy to walk in the morning and state that you hope you can help someone today or learn something new… it must not be working with your supervisor only, but offer others your help… in a way you could say to those in the department or branch "I am available for sometime, and will be delighted to help you on any tasks you have". If after a few days nothing happen, just stop going, and send a letter to your supervisor, the department/branch manager and even the Managing Director, thanking them for the opportunity you thought should have been beneficial, however, since nothing was assigned to you, and nobody seemed to care, you thought it better to stop going and better use your time. Do not be shy to write these exact words…. It may embarrass them, or let them think more the next time they decide to accept another intern / summer trainee.
Again, the one(s) that should be embarrassed are those in charge of you at the bank… since they have failed so far to deliver.
We hope the above was of some use to you.
Good Luck
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