TLDR; I started a new job at a start up and my week one of onboarding has no sense of direction. No clue what my tasks are and what to do. Unsure if this is the normal for onboarding at start ups in general.
I am one week in at this new job at a start-up and I feel completely lost. Before my first day, I was told a rough schedule of day 1: I would be technically onboarded, meet the team, then go out with lunch for the team. So day 1 comes, I get my laptop, was given a desk, and was basically told to go off now. The other first day hires with me all had their managers reach out to them for a 1:1, so they went and did that. Meanwhile, my manager wasn't anywhere to be found and when I got a hold of them and asked how my day 1 would go, referring to the rough schedule I was given before starting, he said he'll get back to me later on that. I have no clue where to go from that so I just sat down and did my security training, until I got an email saying I have these videos to watch for training - all the new hires got the same email. So I did just that. But the new hires seem to their team reach out to them to meet and possibly train them, while I was alone.
For context, I am the first hire for this newly created team in my country. I am supposed to have a team lead and 1-2 more team mate(s), but they are trying to hire for them now. Four months back, they hired out the same team, but for our office in another country. Time zone and language barrier-wise, I don't technically fall under their team anyways, since they focus on their jurisdiction in their country. So basically I am completely alone.
I ended up getting to do a 1:1 with my manager, to formalize what my onboard/ramp plan is like, and he gave me one actually, but it's very obviously slapped together last minute, since the plan is made for a different role than mine. He said he'll change it though. Great, now I have a starting point! I was essentially told I to go meet with a list of people, then start my day-to-day work, then after I get some experience under my belt, I am to "come up with projects that will improve processes". Seems like a plan enough for me, even though the last portion of that plan seems so vague.
But the whole first week ended up being chaotic and unknown. I met with the people I was told to meet, but after that, I was supposed to work my day-to-day. That's where I am lost. What am I supposed to be working on, who is supposed to give me my first tasks/projects, who am I supposed to report to about my work.....this is all an unknown. You'd think it would be my manager, but my manager's role couldn't be farther than my role too; he honestly doesn't even know what my role would lead to, much less how my day-to-day would operate. On top of that, I was given a last minute "buddy" from some other team who's supposed to assist with any questions, but like everyone at the start up, they're hard to get a hold off.
During this whole week, I would come in the office, filled with dread, thinking "what's going to happen today?" It's a big unknown everyday, and I feel like I'm not doing anything useful. Moreover, I was told that although people are nice at the company, if you don't provide value, you'll get cut. I am stressed beyond belief. I have no direction and clue as to what I’m supposed to be doing, and then if I’m not pulling my weight, I’m dropped.
I understood that when joining a start up, there’d be chaos and a lack of direction, but is it supposed to be THIS bad, especially onboarding? The pros are that the culture/people are great and everyone seems to be able to have an access to a plethora of tools. I get that’s the one silver lining about start ups is that you get to learn a lot, but based off of this onboarding, I’m not too sure if it’s all too worth it. I need people to give me perspective as I don’t have any point of reference to compare this job to (my last jobs had structure).