My Trainnee

[BenLuby]

You asked for the rookies to put in their two cents, I hope you have change. First of all, I do agree that after six months, even a novice should know the basic data that goes in. Maybe some people really are just legally stupid, I don't know.
Yes, my mentor gets into the subject deeply, and some times he leaves smoke pouring out of my ears because I have no idea what he is talking about. It's times like these when my mentor pulls back, realizing I'm overloaded, and asks me one simple question.
"Were you born that stupid or do you work at it?"
Talk about lifting your spirits!
Yes, we have to learn, but one thing that may help is, as graindart said, if the first thing they are concerned about is a pay check, you probably don't need that helper. Yes, I get paid, I do have to make a living, but first and foremost this is a career move for me. I work hard to learn all I can about it. If you mentors want to help, try this. Sit down, and write up a goal sheet. List the stages that a rookie should reach in your office in certain times. If they don't do it, can them.
Better to get rid of a future bad appraiser early in the process than later. Most people get a good idea about whether someone is ethical or not a lot faster than six months. And, since ethics are right up there with the math, you can prevent a bad appraiser from getting started. But don't give up on all the trainees just because of a few. Write up an eval, Pamela, you're in Jacksonville, ask a squid about giving you one, and modify it for appraising. Then, try to make time to review their work, and show them where they need to improve. Terrell gave a good sign, he said he loaned his trainee's books and they didn't bother to read them. Make that part of your form. Bash us rookies all you like, some of us just keep on trucking. But, next time, try to offer solutions to the problems, rather than comiserating happily about all us crappy rookies and the fact that if they ever make stupidity a misdemeanor we're all getting life. Patience will tell. And I do enjoy reading all your posts. I've learned a lot, so never think that just because you don't have a trainee directly in your sight, that you are not still training. You are training a lot of us.

 

[Bemis Pownall]

um lets see today

she puts 10 pieces of paper in the printer tray, not a ream or a hand full but 10 sheets

asked her to check the web site for orders. she goes to the email and looks at mail...almost a year now, not much has changed...

shes 42 years young, colleged degreed, does book keeping for her hubby.

really Im trying not to complain(or be sophomoric) was just hoping that at this point I could hand over some of the responsibility and take a day off. one day thats all I ask..

I FIND THIS ALL VERY ENTERTAINING AND JUST WANT TO SHARE,
REMEMBER ALL IN FUN....

she lives across the street its the perfect situation. I think..

My prior trainee was basically a clone of me and after a couple reports was on her own, except the review and we fought like cats and dogs, still do even though she is licensed, give her my over flow clients, shes finally getting busy( 1+/- aday). 2 1/2 years since registered.


My trainee before that was good but moved after 6 months.


I still remember how much trouble I got in when I was a trainee for showing up to an inspection on my mtn bike.

Once one of my mentors told me to stop fing around and get to work(we were working), (he spent all that day waiting on the gravel for his landscaping to be delivered), that one never paid and the photo shop stopped taking rolls of film for developing, dont know why he used 1 day service he never had time to review....

 

[Anonymous]

Trainee or exp. hand, some quirks are very annoying regardless of experience level. Late for appointment time and again. How many times have I told someone to run the appointment time past me asap. Only to find each trainee has set a 9 am appointment. So instead of annoying the client I tell appraiser 1 - Be there a few minutes early, I will, and as soon as i have done a walk thru, I will bail out and make the second appointment before trainee is done. Only to arrive at first appointment and wait, wait, wait on slow poke. Of course, by the time I make second appointment, other appraiser has left. So I get to do it all over.

Today, call from sub needing my signature, will be there in 45 minutes. Knows I am leaving for vacation tomorrow. 1 and a half hours later, I have to leave to make bank and pharmacy before closing.

Seriously, a trainee with 1 years experience should not be making more than typical typos and occasional slip up. It is only on the more complex properties where they might need to be assisted. Like costing out odd ball buildings, estimating external obsolescences, etc.

I really tire of having to tell someone about every other appraisal to include explicit text regarding Statement 9, insert defintions, etc. And, because I am related to an employee of one client, I have to disclose that on every report that goes to their banks [before you even think of commenting, I have a letter on file at the bank from FDIC authorizing it] You would think after 2 - 3 years you would not have to tell someone to include that statement on the Multipurpose Addendum and CHECK OFF THAT STUPID BOX. License number from wrong state, date of expiration, etc. These are no brainers yet I have to watch like a hawk to keep one from being slipped past me. "I forgot" is getting really tiresome.

Ter

 

[Dean House]

We have a policy of making anyone interested in being a trainee to work for 6 months in our office first. Even if they have taken the classes and have trainee license in hand, no field work until they understrand how the office and clients functions. Actually, i try to discourage them from applying for their license until after the 6 months so they can be sure they still want to do it.
6 months is not a long time, but its long enough for your to judge if they have common sense, a little drive, dedication, intelligence, all those good qualities you are probably looking for. And this way, they will take a little experience with them in the field, and they wont waste quite as much of your time with questions you find, well, stupid.

 

[slacker]

I have noticed one common denominator in many of the posts from the current mentors in regards to trainees. Most posts contain comments to the effect of “getting lucky” by finding a good trainee. In other words some are good and some are bad.

I work for a staffing firm in my full time gig and the first step in our process is the interview. Perhaps by refining your interviewing skills you can weed out your potential problems before they happen.

Define the “Core Competencies” for what you feel are the essential skills. For instance, when looking for a trainee you might want to be sure they have good communication, analytical, and decision-making skills. Identify the “Competencies” than ask your questions accordingly.

Every question you ask should have a situation, tasks involved, and result in the applicant’s response. A typical question for “decision making skills” might be something like this: “Describe a situation in which you had to decide whether to accept or reject a recommendation, what did you decide and why, and what happened as a result?”

I have a great tool for interviewing in the form of an Excel spreadsheet if anyone is interested. It has predefined questions for just about any situation you can think of.

Drop me a PM and I can give you the file.

 

[xmrdfghap]

Slacker, back when I was running an Overhead Door Company, we had a policy of not hiring anyone who could not spell the name of the position he was applying for. In a service related business where the installer/serviceman had to write out all the items used on the job as well as a description of what he did, it was necessary for the bookkeeper to be able to read what he wrote.

It is amazing to me that it seems everyone wants to reinvent the wheel. Your suggestion on asking proper questions is elementary....yet how many of us take advantage of local resources?

Just for fun, if I were to hire you to develop an interview proceedure and interrogation, interview candidates, do background checks (yes, I would like to know what the criminal record REALLY is and I would like to know what his credit situation is.......going through a clients home where there are valuables laying about is of concern to me), and make final recommendations, what would it cost me?

 

[slacker]

Just for fun, if I were to hire you to develop an interview proceedure and interrogation, interview candidates, do background checks (yes, I would like to know what the criminal record REALLY is and I would like to know what his credit situation is.......going through a clients home where there are valuables laying about is of concern to me), and make final recommendations, what would it cost me?

You can get a credit report for $8.00 and other criminal backround goodies for about $25.00. I'll send you the interviewing procedure for free. Since I'm such a nice guy.

I like the "interrogation" term too, no to far off.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Slacker and Greg,

You are right and I wasn't careful enough or thorough enough initially. Learned through experience... again.

 

[msking]

I have hired, trained, mentored, fired and retained many employees over the years, both as a small business owner and as a manager for a medium-sized company.

In my opinion, two things definitely don't improve or change over time: common sense and, for lack of a better description, "sense of entitlement".

Someone who loads 10 sheets of paper into the printer or copier isn't thinking about the bigger picture, and never will. You might be able to teach her to load a ream at a time, but this is just one example of an ability to see beyond the immediate task at hand.

As for sense of entitlement, it manifests as laziness - "I don't know what to do now, and can't do anything until you show me step-by-step" - and as unwilllingness or inability to pitch in and help the home team.

I think you do everyone a favor by motivating these people to move on to a position that will better fit their qualifications (probably, something closely supervised and repetitive) - they will feel better in a job where they can be successful, and you will save yourself a lot of hairpulling. There are many jobs where people are most successful if they are trained to do simple tasks the same way over and over - but appraising does not appear to be one of them!

 

[Verne Hebert]

Hey, appraising real estate requires a very unique collection of skills.

I had a really enlightening experience in San Francisco in 1986-no I am talking about an appraisal experience. Security Pacific had me in contract as a consultant for the year. And as some of us remember, that year was a completely unmanageable year with a complete deluge of refinances-and this was just on the front end of computerization.

Anyways, they gave me 15 people to train; from really all walks of life. I had a bartender, mechanic, beautician, a nun, a couple musicians, and I don't remember what else.

Some couldn't do research, some couldn't tape a building, some couldn't read a map, and the stuff goes on.

In the end 4 remained. 2 liked it, and and two became appraisers. I still keep in touch with them today. One is in Minneapolis, and one is in the Foothills near Sacramento, Calif. Both are excellent appraisers.