Originally Posted by: CPAHopefull 
I've got to say that, at least for those of us in Atlanta, I'm a bit concerned about how training is going to go. Day 1, and we're already behind schedule. 20 years in the work force, including other government jobs, and I've literally never seen anything like what I saw last night.
On the plus side, at least NTEU had their act together. I've got a feeling we may need the union if training is anything like orientation. I've got the tax knowledge, so I'm not worried about that portion of it personally. My concern is the procedures and systems that are specific to this particular job.
I don't mean to be dismissive, and I'm glad this forum is a place where all of us IRS employees and other federal workers or applicants can share some of our concerns, but it was just one day and the first day. How behind could you be? On mandatory briefings? You have months of training, and there's flexibility built in to the scheduling. Go with the flow. I'm not in Atlanta or AM anymore and don't know what happened, but whatever happened, systems being down, new hires not showing up on lists, supplies being needed, classroom mixups, waiting around for people, badge issues, there's plenty of time. As long as you get paid in a couple weeks, it's way too early to be worrying about it lol. A month in and training is bad, that would be a different story. But I doubt training will be bad.
I've been in 5 different federal jobs, including 4 different IRS jobs, and liked most of them -- but I always tell people that Atlanta AM was the best training I ever had, high-quality with the best instructors, teaching style, class engagement, structure, and course material I ever had at any job. We had fun, it was casual, but they also got the job done, and how. Every training class since, has been all right, but I've been comparing to Accounts Management in Atlanta. So much that's confusing or glossed over quickly for other people in a later class for a different job, like how to navigate the IRS intranet and research on SERP, how to find out what different IDRS command codes do and interpret the screens, how to input manual adjustments, what all the different MFTs are, basic income tax law and forms both common and not so common, IAT tools, and phone procedures, is like second nature for me because AM equipped me with the tools I needed to find out what I needed to know and taught me well. The job itself was too stressful for me and the 21 IRM is a bit of a mess, but the training was excellent. Within just a few months, all the acronyms and anything else unfamiliar I just mentioned will probably make complete sense to you and should have been reinforced by AM in Atlanta in multiple ways, both in class and on the floor with a coach. But it's also a marathon, not a sprint.
I'm glad the union made a good impression at least. Hope you joined!
On another topic, I hope you saw from that other thread you were interested in that an external Revenue Agent announcement is also now up on USAJobs, not just internal.
Last but not least ... Welcome to the IRS! I hope you like it, get the jobs you want in it, and choose to stay with the agency for many, many years.
Edited by user Tuesday, October 30, 2018 10:21:15 PM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified