Is this normal for a work place?

[edddd]

I'm on a grad scheme in a corporate environment. We are encouraged to reach out to senior people who we are interested in working with and ask them for a lunch or coffee, or even just a quick chat about their work. I think I have a fairly good reputation, I work hard. I sent a senior manager a very polite email explaining how I would love to work in their team, and could we have a coffee to discuss? Radio silence.

Another example is that I sent a message to a former manager saying thank you for all their time and how I enjoyed the work et cetera, please could he sign off on my training. I got no response after working long long hours for this manager for 5 months.

I feel very unsupported and thought managers would want to develop their junior staff.

If you say my inbox you'd understand why they do.

If they have a PA mention it to them or drop them a Teams/Google message

*saw

End of financial year? Depending on where you live, if you work in an accounting/finance firm it can be a crazy busy time.

Absolutely, be nice to the PAs/EAs. We're a mine of information and are usually approachable (and will help where we can, if you go about it the right way......)

Don't blame the graduates - it's HR's fault. Our grad schemes provide management training, tell them they're going to be future leaders,etc.
In reality when you look at senior management people have come via all sorts of routes.
Everything OP says, coffee catch-up, 'developing junior talent' is wording straight out of grad scheme presentations.

In reality everyone is busy and has their own priorities. There's no reason for someone to 'develop' some random junior person. Not replying is a bit rude for something non-essential (so not the training sign off!) , but I can see why it happens.

Ultimate your line manager is responsible for you so it's best to use them

Unfortunately it's normal. Where I work there are certain people I wouldn't even bother emailing. Teams messages can be more successful but nothing beats in person, if that's an option. Otherwise like was said above, get your line manager to support - they'll know the culture better and can advise on what works in your company.

As an aside, a 'graduate scheme' for most large companies isn't the only way to recruit grads. Entry level roles also exist.
A 'graduate scheme' is marketed as a management training programme , with rotations, training sessions and what not. The pay is higher than the entry level salary for similar YoE.
However some don't even guarantee a permanent role at the end of it (although it would be unusual in practice to not get one).

I do think people on the schemes tend to overestimate their competence. But again not their fault when HR tells them 'at the end of the scheme you should be ready for a higher grade'. That doesn't always happen.

The truth is a graduate scheme doesn't guarantee you a fast track career. It gives you a better chance - with the rotations, training sessions etc widens your network. But an entry level/experience hire can also create the same opportunities for themselves.

The biggest determinant IME is your team and line manager. I had a great boss who pushed me, gave me opportunities , invested time in training etc.

I disagree with this completely. Networking and relationship building is key to career success. Whether a coffee chat fits with the culture at the OP's company, I don't know, but having that conversation could be absolutely key to them targeting the right skills and experience to take their career in the direction they want it to go in.

Career success isn't just doled out to the people with the most experience, you have to seek out and take opportunities. Grad schemes often teach those on it to do just that - I think we could all learn something from them (I say this as someone in their late 40s).

Nothing wrong with grads setting out to do a bit of networking by asking senior leaders for coffee chats. It's a good idea. You just need to go about it with some resilience and some understanding of what those senior leaders' lives are actually like.

I suppose it can be normal in some workplaces but in mine we are encouraged to reach out like you are, we can even ask SLT to mentor us and they would and do gladly. If I asked the site head to go for lunch she would do it in a heartbeat! I have seen her do it and I have seen her reach out to new starts also! But, I am aware that our situation is not the absolute norm. The sense of belonging and community on site for us is amazing, progression and opportunity are very important and putting yourself out there in any way is noticed and encouraged. We are a private, global healthcare company. Keep going @edddd, you do you!!

@firebrand123 and the last sentence is what the grad schemes training/encouraging people should really be teaching.
Just saying 'reach out for a coffee' is unlikely to lead to the desired outcome.
My current boss for example is a senior manager and gets hundreds of emails, messages etc every day he can't reply to them all. But mid level people like me have a bit more time to spare, and can give an overview of the area + introduce them to others and my boss when we're in the office and have some spare time
In other teams there are targeted sessions organised by senior leaders, or outreach sessions etc it really depends.
Choose your targets carefully based on the culture and what you want to achieve.

Subject lines matter.

On the training sign off email, did you put the point of your email in your subject line? eg. 'Request to sign off training (brackets type of training, your name)'. If you're looking at a full inbox, you might not realise what a message is about and thus ignore it as less urgent. Make it easy for them.

If you didn't have a relevant subject line, I'd send a new email and then follow up on that one if no response. Schedule emails to go early morning when they are fresh, not last thing in the afternoon.

@Psspsspssssss yep, agreed. It's very organisation specific and the OP should definitely get to know what works where they are - who to speak to, how to frame the request, etc. My point was more responding to the comments that were made that a grad doesn't deserve to get ahead because other people are more experienced, that isn't how things work in the real world.

Oh I definitely agree! I just thought PP comment about experience was in relation to selling yourself/knowing how things work.

A grad is neither here nor there, some are excellent and have valuable skills while some 'experienced' people are plodders. With one year of experience just repeated 10 times. But there's an art to selling yourself and demonstrating how you benefit the other party.

Anyway OP hope this advice has been useful and keep at it

Yes i actually missed an important one. Its easy to do if you have high volume of emails coming in.