The data entry department at my organization attracts entry level employees who do not have experience in mortgage. This is almost always the case as the pay is low and the company specifically seeks candidates who lack experience in the industry because they want people who are okay with the lower pay and who will hopefully stay for a few years as they work on gaining the experience they need to move up. Because of this, the majority of the new hires in the past have been younger adults who are just starting their first full time professional job. A few new hires in this department have been older and have either been out of work for a few years or switching careers to enter the mortgage industry by starting in data entry. Based on my knowledge of both past and current employees in my organization’s data entry department, one common characteristic that they have is that they are novices to mortgage. However, not all of them are novices to data entry itself and all of them are fast typists which is the main requirement for the job. Another requirement is that they have to be friendly and capable of answering phones because data entry is required to act as the backup receptionist while also handling the duties of their data entry position.
Because being a fast typist and being friendly and confident enough to answer phones is a requirement to get hired, I want to focus on the characteristic of being a novice learner and the three subcategories of these novice learners that come into data entry. As mentioned previously, new hires to the data entry department do not have mortgage experience for several different reasons: 1) the new hire is starting their first professional job 2) they are changing careers 3) they have been out of work and are now returning to begin a career in mortgage .
It is also important to note that each learner has their own unique background and experiences that led them to work in our company’s data entry department. These unique personal and professional experiences as well as the learner’s own personality will greatly influence how they learn on the job. However, I do want to analyze some general backgrounds relating to the learner’s life situation that led them to our company’s data entry department. Even though these are only generalizations and cannot describe any one learner perfectly, these circumstances are likely to be relatable for many of the new hires in our department.
The first situation I would like to examine is that of the new hire who has just finished school and is beginning their first career. In this situation, learners are accustomed to taking notes and following instructions from their teachers or professors. Based on my own observations at work, I can see some benefit to being a trainee who just came from the school environment because this job requires a lot of note taking and organization. The employees who are comfortable with this practice do well in learning the many steps required for the job. For older trainees who are either beginning working after a break or switching careers and have been used to working, especially if they were previously working in an office environment, have their own advantages as well. These employees are more comfortable with the unknown and they may catch on quicker to the processes and connections between the different departments because they have first hand experience in other industries that also work as a system to get the job done.
To better explore my ideas relating to the novice learner’s background, I have found Vicki Todd’s article “Public Relations Supervisors and Millennial Entry-Level Practitioners Rate Entry-Level Job Skills and Professional Characteristics”. The study examines entry level employees born between 1982 and 2002 who have two years of experience or less in public relations and the relationship between their perception of their skills and characteristics and their supervisors’ opinion of their performance. Many skills and characteristics that were examined but some of the ones that stood out to me that are also needed in the data entry department were oral communication, dependability, taking on new tasks, attention to details, willingness to learn, computer skills, writing skills, quality of work, working independently, accepting responsibility and accepting criticism. The study found that the difference in rating between the entry level employees’ skills and characteristics and their supervisors’ rating of their performance were significant with the the exception of computer skills (Tood 2014). Specifically, the entry-level employees rated their oral communication and acceptance of criticism as average and rated their other qualities and skills as above average while their supervisors rated all their skills (except for computer skills) as significantly lower.
Considering the findings of this study and considering that the majority of our organization’s data entry employees were born between 1983 and 2002 (though there is likely to be an increase of new hires born after 2002 in the near future) and also have two years or less experience in mortgage, I think it is important to acknowledge that a disconnection between actual skills and perceived skills is a possibility for our new hires as well. One aspect of training that is currently missing in our organization is clearly defined performance reviews. I think having these meetings periodically between the lead and/or manager and the new hire would be helpful for the employee to get a better idea of where they are and how they are doing. The information in this study is also helpful because the trainer needs to be aware that an employee may think they are doing well in certain areas and may not realize that they need extra help. Discussing this in a friendly and professional way with the employee can help them to have motivation to improve and set smaller goals for themselves to reach. This practice of evaluation and support will also improve the work flow of the data entry department because employees are likely to become independent more quickly.
Reference
Todd, Vicki. “Public Relations Supervisors and Millennial Entry-Level Practitioners Rate Entry-Level Job Skills and Professional Characteristics.” Public Relations Review, vol. 40, no. 5, 2014, pp. 789–797., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.05.002.
