Is it normal to have no training or supervision on a new job?
Accepting a role where the departing employee leaves immediately means being thrown into unfamiliar tasks alone on your second day with zero ongoing guidance. This lack of proper onboarding makes it nearly impossible to learn the job correctly and forces you to handle complex responsibilities without support.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1emailing the former employee questions when they are available
- 2researching and figuring things out independently
- 3Practicing a standard spiel by yourself in a model or vacant unit
- 4Telling clients upfront that you are new
- 5running work packages and proposals entirely through AI tools like Claude as instructed by the supervisor
- 6Searching through the system to see what the previous employee had done
- 7Redoing simpler tasks independently to understand the process
- 8Trying to constantly call and chase the manager for guidance
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I was hired as an accountant, but there was basically zero handover or training.”source ↗
“My direct manager, who was supposed to guide me, was often unavailable and was even absent most of the day.”source ↗
“After one month, I had received basically zero training.”source ↗
“Today, they told me I was fired after only one month.”source ↗
“The part that is making me reconsider it is the training situation. The woman I would be replacing finishes next Friday. From what I understand, after she leaves I would essentially be responsible for the bookkeeping function myself.”source ↗
“What I don’t understand is how I’m supposed to properly learn those areas if the experienced person is leaving almost immediately.”source ↗
“unpaid intern finding it more and more difficult to stay motivated and discipline to want to continue working at this due to lack of substitute organization guidance and over reliance on AI.”source ↗
“I’m not getting actual guidance from the supervisor, nothing on the fundamentals for me to hand write it myself first before asking ai to revise”source ↗
“Ask me what the org is actually capable of, what kinds of tasks we undertake in these projects, what staff/resources/networks we have to carry out a work package, or even what we wouldn’t commit to, and I genuinely could not tell you 😭 that’s how lost I am.”source ↗
“So I just started part time as a leasing agent for an apartment company yesterday. yesterday was my only training day for 5 hours. I then we left alone for most of the day and had to do a tour all on my own based off what i learned yesterday.”source ↗
“is it normal for people to run the office alone on their 2nd day?”source ↗
“Yes zero handover i was searching in the system about the excel sheets and JV done by the predecessor”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Why can't I get a job as a generalist?
- 3Should I take a very low-paying entry-level job out of desperation?
- 30How to get an entry level job with no experience
- 4How to stop getting irrelevant job offers from recruiters
- 3Is it normal to have no work to do at a new job?
- 10How to handle HR and finance without any specialist support