Adult ds hasn't passed probation

[qwertypops]

He's 21yo, first job out of uni in a field related to his degree.

So he thought he's been doing OK. He says nobody has said anything negative to him (he started in Dec).

Then he had his face to face probation meeting on Monday and he said it was positive, they said they were happy with him but yesterday got an email summarizing the probation meeting. And in the email it was a different story, said they're not happy with him, he asks too many questions, his technical capability on some software isn't up to scratch and they don't think he's committed to the job/company. He's really upset, says it's the first he's heard about it. So he hasn't passed probation, they will review in 4 weeks. He's shitting himself that he is about to get fired. His mental health can be bad at times and he can be anxious so now he's spiraling.

I've offered to help compose an email basically saying that he's surprised by the email as he'd got the impression earlier that things were more positive. But that he's keen to improve. That if they can give him any specific pointers about the software skills/how he can improve this as he wants to improve if needed but he doesn't know what the actual issue is. Emphasize that he is committed to the company and job.

He isn't sure what to say about the questions issue because previously they've been like, oh no question is a daft question, ask all the questions you need. But in the email they said it's disruptive.

So I said to him he could maybe email his boss questions as that might be less disruptive than asking in the office? I did talk to him about not just asking how to do something fix something but to come up with a possible solution and then if he's not sure that's right to check......he says that's what he does already. That he tries to think of an idea and then run it past someone if he's not sure.

Anything else he could be saying? And yes I know he's an adult, etc but this is his first job and I am keen to help him navigate a situation he's had no experience of before.

That sounds extremely niche?

It's hard to give useful advice without knowing specifics. Maybe better to focus his and your efforts on career advice and widening his search / accepting he needs to break into a different field. There are so many graduate schemes that don't care what the degree was in.

I also agree with this. And experienced similar.

I was 2/3 yrs into my first role post uni. Youngest female in the team. New manager decided to verbally praise me in my end of year review and then give me a "needs improvement" write up. I imagine so he could fit the team to a curve and needed someone to be the fall guy. He was surprised I was less of a walk over than he expected with my email response! It mattered as it affected bonus & promotion opportunities. So I fought and won, as his comments were baseless & I had evidence of my performance.

Op, let your DS know that crap managers pass the buck. Don't let this ruin his confidence

I have been this manager.

I am telling you now its your son who is the problem. He cant hear and hasnt been listening to the feedback.
Everyone i have had to fire has been surprised / thought they had improved / saw some yellows and one green on the pip so thought they were fine.

Do not waste your time writing back.
He needs to get out there, find a new job amd most importantly learn from this.

What's his notice period, 1 week?

Reading back through all you've said, I'd take the vague "we'll review again in 4 weeks" as basically 4 weeks' grace for him to find another job before they dismiss.

I think he need to ask for an informal meeting with manager asking for guidance and address the issue
if he could go pre armed with some info on how he plans to gain more skills on the IT side of things

If the email in no way resembles the mtg then I would reply stating that none of the issues were raised in the face to face and you'd like another one to discuss their concerns.

That's entirely possible. But in a business with a headcount of 5 it's also possible that's it's just that the business owner doesn't feel he's the right fit for specific or intangible reasons and is going to show him the door regardless.

Is this a very technical role? Is it very related to his degree in that someone with the degree is expected to have a certain skill level? I’m with another poster about being the mentor. There are questions and there are stupid questions showing the person either has no ability to improve or so far below the expected level of a graduate.

Mentoring a graduate is very time consuming. A small firm is less likely to be able to abosrb the drop in productivity compared to a large team in a large company. A graduate is often a negative to a team because it would have been faster to do it ourselves than get the graduate to do it.

As for suggesting things to improve. Unless he really is a star, please don’t. If it’s a very technical field, it’s likely all he can’t suggest anything productive. Unless he is suggesting he takes up some of the crappier jobs that he can manage himself and no one else likes to do.

As for the quality of feedback. I often struggle with this because I feel and to tell someone they are useless and that he’s essentially blocking other people completely their tasks. I am not ruthless enough for it. We have a graduate program and rotations. So those that don’t like it usually just don’t stay in our department.

We also have graduates that left for other more fields.

@TemuSpecialBuy I agree with you.

I've been disappointed several times by hires that had exaggerated their level of expertise in standard applications (Word, Outlook, etc) and worked at a glacial speed because they didn't understand the basics.

How frequently is he coming up with ideas and sorting things without double checking as opposed to running it past someone? How good are his instincts with his ideas, are they the right ideas? 6 months in I would expect someone to be up to speed on most things so questions should be minimal.

Sometimes in reviews people will mention positive and negative has he only focused on the positive, has he possibly misunderstood some comments

Manager in a technical role here. You shouldn't be a one, or a mentor if you're incapable of giving feedback. You don't tell people that they're 'useless' or 'blocking tasks' FFS.

You identify specific incidents and patterns. E.g. 'lack of fundamental understanding' or 'needed instructions repeating X times'.

And there should be reviews at least midway through probation, not only at the very end.

Yes it’s very technical and very related to his degree. Think a niche type of engineering.

This would surely depend on the field? It’s a job which takes years to fully qualify in and mistakes could cost a company hundreds of thousands and potentially be a health and safety issue. Major legal case, etc.

Honestly, while the disconnect is frustrating, and it may be crap management, in this situation I would be helping him consider other options. It sounds like they are preparing to end his employment in 4 weeks time.

If that’s the case and there are so few jobs then they probably need people who are not just competent but all round excellent. Not just technically but in terms of communication, people skills, foresight, proactivity, self-awareness, general nous. I agree with the poster who said lots of people with performance issues don’t receive negative feedback how it’s intended.

Is there an agreed improvement plan so he can demonstrate improvement? Like many others, I wonder if he’s reading the room incorrectly.
does he know specifically what objectives he will be assessed against?

No nothing. Just told he asks too many questions and the software issue. But he does his projects using the software and apart from one mistake a few weeks ago which was pointed out has had no problems.

I think you need to have a chat with your son about how viable a career this is. The company for whatever reason are most likely going to get rid of him. He needs to look for another job and in a different field. If most of his cohort are doing bar work this isn’t going to work out. What else can he do with his degree? Some other type of engineering? An apprenticeship in something else? He needs a plan B

I can see that. It’s the first time they’ve taken a graduate on and in the interview when he got the job they said they didn’t expect him to know everything, that it was a training post, etc.

they don’t even pay minimum wage since the min wage went up and he hasn’t even mentioned that.

100% agree with this. It’s really poor. And it’s definitely one of the risks of working with smaller companies.

For a niche and competitive technical job? That’s completely ridiculous. I’d expect even an apprentice without a degree to be earning a relatively good salary in that sector. Maybe the company are just charlatans out to exploit young workers.

On your update sounds like they tried to take on a graduate on shite pay and it hasn't worked out for them.

He'd be better off elsewhere because with so few staff it only takes one person to decide the 'trainee' idea someone had isn't working.

And you don't know what office politics or snakepit goings on he's not aware of.

Hope he finds something else.

It does sound as if they are not geared up to training new starters. Suggest he goes back to uni careers service to look for alternative roles.

Thanks, he’s beginning to think he’ll have to change direction.

In the short term he could ask for a few SMART targets- specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time - bound.