In the October 2008 publication of Training, Mike Neag wrote an article called "The Hiring Line" about the importance of new hire orientation programs.  He mentions several instances where new hires were given the jobs but no place to work or given responsibilities but not the proper equipment to fulfill those duties.  Why would a company hire you without providing a place for you to work or materials with which to work?  Neag implies that if proper orientation programs were in place these issues wouldn't exist or would have been addressed to the satisfaction of the new hire and the company.  He also suggests that orientation programs help prepare the new hire for success.   In my first teaching job I spent the better part of two weeks being "oriented", knowing the whole time that I wouldn't have a classroom to call my own.  What was the purpose of this orientation time?  Presumably to help new teachers get familiar with this particular system and to prepare them for the challenge ahead, in reality we spent too much time in meetings about policies and procedures.  In my second teaching job, I attended a week-long orientation.  It didn't matter that I had taught before, I still had to attend ALL of the meetings.  In my third teaching assignment I spent another week and a half being oriented to that system.  Again, it seemed like a waste of time and money.  I needed to spend my time locating textbooks, teaching materials and making lesson plans. So what's my point?  I would caution companies and school systems alike to seriously evaluate the necessity of these orientation programs for experienced new hires.  Some people would like to spend a week or more of their lives in these meetings and training session because they need it, others will hate, even resent, every minute that you are keeping them from doing the job at hand.  If you hire me to start work on the first, I want to do it without someone holding my hand.  I may have an ocassional question but trust me to be smart enough to figure most things out on my own.