Anyone had experience of mentoring?

[DeathByMascara]

Basically I have been asked to train/mentor a new woman in work and she’s not really understanding it. She has a qualification in the subject but no prior experience. She has been taking notes, referring to them and still not managing to do simple tasks. If I’m not in the office she will wait until I get back to do anything. I’ve mentioned my concerns to our boss, and have been dismissed, basically. I’m at a bit of a loss what to do now! It’s been 5 weeks! Can anyone give me an idea what to do next? I’m trying so hard not to let on how frustrated I’m getting!

Hi. I would suggest getting her to run through everything she finds confusing and get her to write her own notes that are incredibly detailed in the form of an action sentence that leads onto the next...sort of a flow chart i suppose. When she asks what to do turn it round to her and ask what she thinks is the next step. If she doesn't know and there isn't an instruction in her notes then she adds it in. Maybe just get her to faff about on the computer to gain some confidence especially with Excel etc?

Depending on the task I would ask her to try herself first and in X time you will go over it together. You can disguise it as being busy for the next 15 mins instead of "I'll let you struggle for 15 mins..."
Is there anything she has got the hang of yet?

How old is she? Is it her first job? Could you give her a list of the jobs you expect her to complete in the morning and tell her to come back at midday with them completed as per her notes. If she has made errors that would be fine as long as she is working independently. If she comes back with nothing done ask her to explain herself and note it down somewhere that no work completed due to blah blah. Then give her the mornings work back plus afternoons and suggest she get a move on. Do you have objectives set there or anything like that? Quantity of work to be completed per day/ week/ month.