Dealing with new job / minimal handover

[sarahjnm]

Starting soon as admin/ invoice person at small company - previous lady handed over to me, but it was chaotic, I asked as many questions as I could but she wasn't great at explaining. she's retiring and wants to go soon, but around for questions, for a while! Boss has no computer literacy and previous lady knows everything. Any tips on how to deal with this - feel like I've got this business in my hands and don't know what I'm going to be doing!

Start by making some lists:

• A long list of all the things that need to be done and when they have to be done by.

• A list of everything the company does (in whatever level of detail suits your role)

• A list of who's who and broadly what they cover.

• A list of where the files are / how they are structured.

You don't have to complete all the lists exhaustively, or sequentially- just the process of making lists helps.

That should help you make sense of what is going on, help you prioritise and see how things fit together.
Should also enable you to ask more targeted questions and prompt the person who is leaving to expand on things you feel are missing.

Also - will you have access to her emails when she's gone?

Oh my goodness this is PERFECT! Yes will have her emails. It's an info company one so all that work there get them and I take out what's relevant to me. No specific inbox for me.
Thank you!

To add on pp , take her through the whole year to understand th3 whole cycle including monthly, quarterly and annual tasks.

Brilliant! That's a fantastic idea!