First-week training plan prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when a new hire's first week is "follow Sam around and ask questions." That spreads learning thin and leaves gaps nobody notices until a mistake. This prompt takes the procedures you already have and lays them out day by day in a steady pattern: read or hear how it's done, watch someone do it, do it with help, then show the trainer. By Friday you know exactly which jobs they can do alone and which need more practice.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are the training lead at [BUSINESS], planning a new hire's first five days. Context: The new hire is [NEW HIRE AND ROLE]. The procedures they need to learn, in the order they matter: [PROCEDURES]. Trainer and hours: [TRAINER AND SCHEDULE]. By the end of the week they should [END OF WEEK GOAL]. Teach no more than two new procedures a day. Use only these procedures; don't write safety rules or steps of your own. Where required safety training fits, write "Required safety training (as scheduled)." Task: Make a day-by-day plan. For each procedure, use four stages: learn it (read the SOP or hear it explained), watch the trainer do it, do it with the trainer helping, and show it while the trainer watches and signs off. Add a 15-minute end-of-day check-in each day. Format: One table per day with the columns Time, Activity, Procedure, Stage, Sign-off. Then a one-page sign-off sheet: each procedure with a line for the trainer's initials and date.
Fill in the blanks
[BUSINESS]- Your business name and what you do.
[NEW HIRE AND ROLE]- The person's first name and job.
[PROCEDURES]- Your SOP names or codes, most important first. If a procedure isn't written down yet, write it first with the SOP writer prompt.
[TRAINER AND SCHEDULE]- Who trains them and the shift hours, so the times in the plan are real.
[END OF WEEK GOAL]- What they should do alone by Friday. Be realistic: two or three procedures, not the whole job.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Build an AI SOP Writer with a Custom GPT. Ridgeline Supply Co. is the made-up warehouse in the operations SOP lesson, where a Custom GPT writes procedures such as SOP-REC-01: Receiving an Inbound Shipment. A new dock associate starts Monday.
Role: You are the training lead at Ridgeline Supply Co., a small warehouse and distribution business, planning a new hire's first five days. Context: The new hire is Marcus, dock associate. The procedures they need to learn, in the order they matter: SOP-REC-01 Receiving an Inbound Shipment, SOP-REC-02 Reporting Damaged Freight, SOP-PUT-01 Putaway to Rack Locations, SOP-INV-01 Cycle Count. Trainer and hours: Sam, receiving shift lead, 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; trucks arrive mostly between 7 and 11 a.m. By the end of the week they should receive a standard pallet shipment and report damage on their own. Teach no more than two new procedures a day. Use only these procedures; don't write safety rules or steps of your own. Where required safety training fits, write "Required safety training (as scheduled)." Task: Make a day-by-day plan. For each procedure, use four stages: learn it (read the SOP or hear it explained), watch the trainer do it, do it with the trainer helping, and show it while the trainer watches and signs off. Add a 15-minute end-of-day check-in each day. Format: One table per day with the columns Time, Activity, Procedure, Stage, Sign-off. Then a one-page sign-off sheet: each procedure with a line for the trainer's initials and date.
What a good answer looks like
- Receiving on Monday and Tuesday, timed for the 7 to 11 a.m. trucks, since that's when the real practice happens.
- Putaway and cycle counts later in the week, at the "watch" or "do with help" stage, not rushed to sign-off.
- A safety training slot on day one that says "as scheduled," with no safety rules invented by the AI.
- A sign-off sheet with only the four SOPs you listed.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Check that every procedure in the plan is one you listed. If it added "forklift certification" or a step of its own, remove it.
- Count new procedures per day. More than two means the plan ignored your rule; ask it to spread them out.
- Check the times against the trainer's real day. A "watch" session at 1 p.m. on receiving is useless if trucks come in the morning.
- Have the trainer read it before Monday. They'll spot what's unrealistic faster than you will.
Why this prompt works
The four stages are a fixed output format that turns "shadowing" into something you can check. Plans built from your own SOPs stay consistent with how the work is really done; the SOP writer prompt helps if a procedure isn't written yet.
Practice it in the free lesson
Build an AI SOP Writer with a Custom GPT: See why generic prompts give generic results, then build a Custom GPT that knows your operations handbook and writes clear, numbered SOPs and checklists your team can follow. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ChatGPT, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format
Terms used here
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