I went on a seminar that did the opposite of what it was for and now I feel rubbish

[Careerhelp]

I did one of these little online seminars that was called Improve Your Confidence While Job Hunting or something. I ended up feeling even less confident than ever. We were told to do things like listing your achievements so everyone except me came up with things. I don't think I've achieved anything recently. Then we were all told to do some exercise and that Couch to 5K would change our lives. I have my own personal reasons for not wanting to go running.

I'm not interested in personal development advice here, I'm just annoyed that I wasted a few hours on this seminar.

Please cheer me up with tales of courses that left you none the wiser or did the opposite of what was supposed to happen.

A friend of mine once said she went on a time management course, and left early because she had better things to do with her time.

I once had to go to Ilford (that part should have been punishment enough in itself!) to attend a neuro linguistic programming course. It was a 2 part course and my then mployers in their wisdom only sent me on one part. Completely useless!

I also many years ago had to attend a days Conveyancing training at Regents Park college for legal CPD. Except at that time I had already completed my CPD for the year and was replacing a colleague who was too busy to attend. Neither of us did conveyancing, nor was any conveyancing work handled by our firm.

Pretty much every diversity & inclusion course that work has arranged hasn’t been accessible to people with certain disabilities...

For some reason they never seem to like that being pointed out!

Went on an assertiveness course in my early twenties. The trainer drove me to tears and then yelled at me for being pathetic and needing to grow up etc..

I did a days training on advocacy skills for new lawyers. I work in litigation but find court work a challenge as I'm utterly lacking in confidence and lost my natural public speaking ability as I got older, followed up by appearing in front of a load of old bastards as judges when I was an NQ. The advocacy training actually made me feel a million times worse as they basically replicated the old bastard judges and just spent the day tearing strips off you in front of your peers. I suppose it gets points for being a realistic courtroom experience.

Thank fuck I'm now qualified enough to send the juniors to court on my behalf...

The 'old bastard' judges were male and female of varying ages btw before anyone accuses me of sexism or ageism they were all just complete fuckers.

I know someone who went with her work to a workshop aimed at reducing stress. She rang me later and said a lot of it involved colouring in relaxing pictures but her pencils kept breaking and it pissed her off enough that she came out ten times more stressed!!!

I have coccyx pain too from birth of my 6 year old. It was so bad at one point I couldn’t sit for 18 months. I did have a steriod injection but the thing that worked well for me was Pilates

@fluffygreenmonsterhoody

I’ve not been in the course but I’ve seen the video of FISH! I personally found it helpful.

But I’d probably be annoyed by it if I was in a toxic environment created by management who showed me this and used it to create a blame culture if you didn’t find work fun and uplifting while they screwed you over.
“It’s not our toxic policies that are the problem, it’s that you’re not choosing the right attitude” type of thing.

Careerhelp

I know exactly what you mean! I have looked at loads of interviewing questions and when it comes to what you achieved /what you did for the company etc. I am a very small cog in a big wheel. No way could I say "I saved the company £££ by doing X,Y,Z. I changed the filing system/saved the company director from drowning etc etc.

I don't even do wonderful things in 'real life' so what the feck could I say???

Oh and TWICE went on minute note taking course. I can take down the minutes but even with an example in front of me I do not seem to be able to type them out how they would like it! Luckily I do not have to do this in my job at the moment!

I have had assertiveness training but in an earlier job (with a very aggressive American Boss), my computer was not up to much and he wanted to know why I had not ordered another one. In my post before that I certainly could not have ordered one, it had to be approved by several people before anyone got anything!

I went on team building day where everyone fell out so dramatically that one whole team resigned. It was quite entertaining actually .

Oh and I went to another one where we had to get to know a leaf .. I felt an instant connection to mine & we married two years later ..😃

My mum got forced on a team building day at the local army barracks when I was wee. She made it clear she didn’t want to do it and refused to sign the Health and safety waiver but they cajoled her into it.

I’m very sorry she broke her ankle on the monkey bars but we loved the trip to Florida that the subsequent payout afforded us!

But I’d probably be annoyed by it if I was in a toxic environment created by management who showed me this and used it to create a blame culture if you didn’t find work fun and uplifting while they screwed you over. “It’s not our toxic policies that are the problem, it’s that you’re not choosing the right attitude” type of thing

I agree with this. There's also the narrow perception of what 'joy' in your work means.

When I had a repetitive job, I just liked to switch off and daydream. I'm perfectly happy in almost any situation where I can do that.

I'm not happy with people shouting and playing games, and forcing me to join in.

I went on a PREVNT course once and the person running it suggested those that read the daily mail were a higher risk of being a terrorist and should be red flagged?

@molifly14

I went on a PREVNT course once and the person running it suggested those that read the daily mail were a higher risk of being a terrorist and should be red flagged?

I’ve been led to believe, and I personally agree, that this it is associated with right wing terrorism and specifically White Nationalism. The Daily Mail is a very xenophobic newspaper and if you check out the comments section it’s full of Hate Speech towards minorities, towards women, towards anything that isn’t White, Male and Tory. The Daily Mail does stir up hatred for minorities, no two ways about it.

I totally agree @ProudAuntie76

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/sun-and-daily-mail-fuelling-prejudice-racist-violence-hate-crime-speech-uk-ecri-report-a7351856.html%3famp

I worked as a temp for a very large company for a year, then got hired permanently. I was forced to go on a 2 day induction at a training centre that was a 90 minute drive away. I tried to wiggle out of it several times, but no, everyone must attend and apparently the free food is good, so OK.

The first task was being put into pairs and we had to introduce our partners. I get paired up with the rudest, surliest man I've ever met. When it came time to introduce me to the group he was like 'what's your name again?' So that was mortifying. Then the other two days were listening to endless corporate claptrap about core values and our key customers and what not. None of it relevant to my role.

I went into the course excited about working for the company and came out of it wondering whether it was too late to escape!

So sorry that the course actually knocked your confidence OP. I’m sure you weren’t the only one. I wish course leaders would use a bit more sensitivity when planning course content and delivery and remember that there will be delegates in a range of situations.

Years ago I attended a ‘Defensive Driving’ course. A colleague who was a good friend came too, it was the two of us with a male instructor. We took turns in spending a few hours each driving, while the instructor sat in the passenger seat.

He was a friendly enough guy, and did share a few useful tips. But when my friend had her turn driving, she was going up a slip road on to a motorway and the instructor started getting fired up, saying that drivers must be more assertive when using slip roads, and need to force vehicles already on the motorway to shift over. He loudly demanded that my colleague start indicating and drifting out into the motorway, even though she pointed out that there wasn’t really a safe gap due to an HGV being in the way. He repeatedly shouted that she should go for it now so she did and the HGV beeped his horn loudly.

I sat in the back cringing and feeling shocked. When I asked why it wasn’t best to identify a safe gap rather than just start moving out at the start of the slip road joining the motorway regardless of traffic flow, he just said that driving is all about being assertive.

My colleague and I were both a bit shook up when we finally got out of the car.

The worst that comes to mind was when I was learning to be a teacher. One day we did well being / pshe which was all the rage at the time. I was feeling rubbish that day and the Simulation of a classroom exercise had me in tears after and feeling even more rubbish.

This was compounded by my thinking that if I was feeling this, how could this amateur psychology be good for the primary children we were teaching. After one day of training, we were supposed to do this once a week, with potentially damaging effects, on those children who were already vulnerable and that this was supposed to help.

Never liked PsHE after that.

Some of these are awful! My dad once got sent on a how to use your wall planner course. He had neither wall nor planner in his open plan office.

I have seen the fish film on a jobseekers course and thought it was a good for the right audience.

A student business studies teacher developed a calibre course that I signed up for. Left me stone cold. Didnt even finish it which for me is really saying something. Felt sorry for the next year group - they had to do it for 2 days as their vi form induction.

Oh and the leadership training that I was sent on so that I would appreciate how hard it was to be the manager - by my manager .

Many many CPD courses for my medical specialty.

Have been doing it a long time so I've pretty much heard all the famous speakers. Their talks don't change much each year. But we have to do so many hours CPD per year so along you go.

They all have lovely jobs in ivory towers where they have 3 days a week for research, see v few patients and moan that the rest of us aren't doing any research. Meanwhile the rest of us are running around like blue-arsed flies doing the bloody work.

My favourite was spending £300 to learn about someone who had set up a fancy clinic, as apparently we all should, who then told us that none of the interventions helped. She even had a video with production values and everything. It had Coldplay's Fix You as the theme tune.

I thought the friend I was with was going to spontaneously combust by the end of the day

I'm not even going to mention the Resilience Training so when you get burn out, it's your fault for not being resilient enough.

An XP went to prison for fraud - as part of the fraud he had somehow falsified documents to obtain 2 mortgages.
Whilst in prison he was put on a Photoshop course

Prevent is quite funny.

I did mine online at home. I had to write down some example of British values. Looked up at the news and Priti Patel was on.

Apparently being sending them back where they came from was not a British value

@MadamBatty

A reiki course...I went along to keep my mate company. The trainer described at times how we should be feeling. The class nodded along. I spoke up & said I felt nothing. It was because I was spiritually blocked...trainer has a course to help me with that. At lunch the rest of the group said they felt nothing too.

Ha I had someone do reiki on me once as part of a teaching course. It was a way of them demonstrating their teaching skills and we were all to give feedback, be encouraging etc

She had told us to imagine being drawn to the ground by golden thread and putting up a protective cage around yourself etc then she would come and put her hands on or over us to release the healing power or something. I was quite enjoying it until question time.

At the time one of my dc was struggling with stress and anxiety so I asked what I could do for him as I liked the focus of thoughts.

She really snapped at me saying "you can't do it yourself you have to be qualified!"

Now I don't know what reiki involves really, but I dont think I'd do some one damage by getting them to concentrate their thoughts. I also dont think you suddenly get some kind of magic healing power through your hands as a result of doing a course on reiki, but plenty if the class were saying they could feel the power flowing through them.

Surely it's a way of relaxing only? She acted like she had some kind of superhero powers.

In fact that whole teaching course made me feel like utter shite and I swear it was down to the lecturer with her own agenda, she had no ability to follow her own teaching and see that perhaps not all students and teachers conform to her way of thinking. She couldn't comprehend teaching in a wider sphere than just training nurses which she is what she had done. I should have stuck to a generic pgce rather than assume the healthcare specific one was more appropriate.