What makes a traineeship successful?

In the past six months, I have been a trainee at Strakzat. During this traineeship, I realised that it takes some effort of the trainee and the company to make a traineeship successful. That means: it is rewarding for the company and the trainee. In this article, I want to share some insights that I gained. But first, I will take a closer look at what a traineeship is.

A process of learning skills

The Cambridge dictionary defines a traineeship as ‘a period when someone is trained in the skills needed for a particular job’. So a traineeship, as the word already suggests, is about training. But what does training mean? Training is described as: ‘the process of learning the skills you need to do a particular job or activity’. So it is all about learning, and it is a process. The Cambridge dictionary defines a process as ‘a series of actions that you take in order to achieve a result’. Now we are getting somewhere. To make a traineeship successful, it is first necessary to understand the results of a traineeship. Secondly, a company must facilitate the trainee to carry out actions that lead to the results. Next, I will give my insight into defining the results of a traineeship. And after that, my understanding about facilitating the actions will follow.

Define the results of a traineeship

My first insight is that a well-thought-out plan can create more clarity about what the trainee should learn. This plan should consist of skills needed for the job, also known as learning goals. These learning goals should be put together thoroughly. It has to be 100% clear for both the trainee and the company what the traineeship is about and what needs to be done.

In my case, we defined the learning goals together. I could let the company know where my interests were, and they could translate that to specific learning goals. But a trainee doesn’t always know what there is to learn. By making a plan together, the company can add learning goals that make sense. Finally, we came up with around 25 learning goals. This was way too much, so we used MoSCoW to prioritise them.

Making a clear well-thought-out plan will give the traineeship structure. Furthermore, it is a good instrument for evaluating progress and results. That brings me to my second insight: have regular evaluation meetings. It isn’t easy to judge if your skills are improving and if you reach the requested level as a trainee. Regular evaluation meetings will allow the company and the trainee to discuss the progression and possible improvements. The trainee needs to evaluate himself but can also give feedback to the company. As a newcomer, a trainee can have a refreshing view of a firm and its procedures. Besides regular evaluation meetings, it is nice if the trainee has access to other firm employees. It broadens the mindset to talk about other activities of people in the firm or about relevant developments and trends.

Facilitate the action

Learning as a trainee is all about doing. It is about hands-on learning on the job. Therefore my third insight is that a trainee should have a clear role in the company and be a company member. You don’t want to be ‘the’ trainee as a trainee. You want to be and feel to be part of the company. You want to be accepted for what you are and what you know (or don’t know). And, of course, have the opportunity to make mistakes. It is not constructive if a company excludes the trainee from important meetings or presentations. Being present at that kind of meetings or presentations is very stimulating for a trainee. Besides that, as the definition of a traineeship says: you need to be trained in the skills you need for the particular job. How can a trainee learn all the skills if he gets excluded from some of them? That’s one of the things that worked out well at Strakzat. I was allowed to meet clients and have contact with them! I didn’t feel like I was just the ‘trainee’. I was a starting developer working at Strakzat. That triggered me to do my utmost best.

My fourth and last insight about a traineeship is that a trainee should develop strategies to solve problems. That is, in fact, a learning goal. A trainee will have lots of questions, especially in the beginning. It needs to be apparent where the trainee needs to go and how they should bring these questions. It can be overwhelming or scary to ask someone random in the company. It helps if the trainee knows who their point of contact is. Each trainee probably has some mentor, but the questions a trainee has, can’t always be answered by the mentor. In my case, I learned that it is not only essential to define the problem I have, but also to describe what you have tried, and maybe already give some options. This is more efficient and helps the trainee to think for him- or herself.

Conclusion

So what makes a traineeship successful? Make a well-thought-out plan with clearly stated learning goals, have regular evaluation meetings, give a trainee a clear role in the company, provide the trainee with the feeling to be a member of the company, and finally add a learning goal that a trainee should develop strategies to solve problems. That facilitates a successful learning process.