I started a secondment in a completely different area than I’ve worked in before. My first day and I feel completely overwhelmed and exhausted. I barely ate as I felt physically sick.
The person training me works half the week and won’t be in until Wednesday. So today the person who has been doing the work gave me a 30 min handover. But it was completely out of context so I have no idea where to start as I haven’t had any training IYSWIM.
I asked questions about an issue that is time sensitive and asked if it could wait until I had my training, but I was given a quick verbal rundown and told I could do it now. But I hadn’t been sent some info I needed and when I did get it I was really unclear as to the context. I could parrot back the instructions but without understanding I wouldn’t know if it made sense to the recipients.
The role requires lots of interaction with other teams so I’ve been inundated with emails asking for meetings to discuss their needs. But I have no idea what those needs are.
I tried to call the handover person for more info but 2 calls went unanswered.
I feel thrown in at the deep end. All previous jobs I’ve been shown what to do over a day or two then left to work independently. I’ve never worked anywhere where the first day is spent trying to both do and understand the job. Is this normal now and I’m expecting too much?
I suffer from a neurological condition triggered by stress and I also have anxiety. I’ve managed it well in my previous role but this is throwing me completely. I just want to cry.