First pay · 5 min read
How do I get through my first week at a new job?
A plan for your first week in a new job: the paperwork, what to ask your manager, how to learn the place, the mistakes everyone makes and what nobody expects.
The short answer
Nobody expects you to be useful in your first week. They expect you to turn up on time, sort the paperwork, learn names, ask questions and write things down. Your real jobs are to find out what your manager will judge you on, to understand who does what around you, and to get one small piece of work finished so you've touched the real thing. The mistakes that matter are the quiet ones: pretending to understand, not asking where the information lives, and trying to look busy instead of learning.
Key takeaways
- Day one is admin: right to work documents, bank details, starter checklist or P45, pension forms, and the written statement of your terms.
- By the end of the week, have one email from your manager that says what the first three months should produce.
- Keep a notebook with three sections: people and what they do, how things are done here, and questions to ask.
- Finish one small task completely, however trivial. It teaches you the systems faster than any induction.
On this pageThe week, day by day
The week, day by day
| Day | Focus | One thing to do |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Paperwork, pass, laptop, induction | Confirm your tax code and pension enrolment are being set up |
| Tuesday | People: meet your team and the people you'll depend on | Start the names page in your notebook |
| Wednesday | Systems: where files, tickets, calendars and chat live | Ask someone to walk you through one real task end to end |
| Thursday | The work: take on one small task | Finish it and show someone |
| Friday | Your manager: a one-to-one about the first three months | Send the email that writes down what you heard |
The questions worth asking your manager
- What would you want to be true at the three-month review?
- Who should I go to for questions when you're busy?
- How do you prefer to get updates: a message, a weekly summary, a short meeting?
- What's the one thing new starters here usually get wrong?
- Is there anything you'd like me to read or watch in the first fortnight?
Learning the place
Every workplace has a written version of how things work and a real one. The induction gives you the first; watching gives you the second. Notice who people actually go to with problems, how decisions get made, what's said in meetings and what's said afterwards, and how long people really take for lunch. Don't act on any of it in week one. Just write it down. By week four you'll know which of your observations were right.
What not to worry about
Not knowing the acronyms: nobody did. Being slow: speed comes from knowing where things are, which takes weeks. Not having opinions in meetings yet: listening is your job. Whether people like you: they'll decide that over months based on whether you're reliable, not on week one. And whether you've chosen the right career: a first week tells you almost nothing about that, and the guide on whether your first job matters explains why.
Illustrative example: the notebook
A school leaver starts in a council's housing team and keeps three pages: people, how things are done, questions. By Thursday he's noticed that every case update goes into a shared spreadsheet nobody mentioned in the induction, and asks to be shown it. On Friday he tells his manager what he's learned and what he'd like to try next week. His manager later says it was the first time a new starter had told her something about the team she didn't know.
Questions people ask
- What should I bring on my first day?
- Your passport or other right-to-work document, your National Insurance number, bank details, your P45 if you have one, and a notebook. Check the email from HR for anything specific such as a photo for a pass. Eat before you go in case lunch arrangements are unclear.
- How do I remember everyone's names?
- Write them down as you meet them, with one fact: "Priya, finance, sits by the window, runs month-end". Draw a seating plan if you're in an office. Use names when you speak to people on day two, and ask again if you've forgotten; nobody minds in the first week and everyone minds in the fourth.
- Is it OK to ask lots of questions in my first week?
- It's expected, and the people who don't ask are the ones who worry managers. Group small questions and ask them together rather than interrupting ten times. For anything you've been told once, check your notes first, then ask. Write the answer down so you don't ask the same thing twice.
- What if I think I've made a mistake in my first week?
- Say so straight away to whoever needs to know, with what happened and what you've done about it. First-week mistakes are expected and cheap to fix. Hidden mistakes are neither. The way you handle the first one is the first real thing your manager learns about you.
Exercises are practice, not evidence of career fit or a qualification. How to read our guides and report a correction.
Sources
- Starting a new job · Acas
- Starter checklist for PAYE · HM Revenue and Customs, GOV.UK
- Probation at work · Acas
How this page is written
Sources support the factual background, not a guarantee that an exercise predicts career fit. Fictional practice material is labelled. Dates record content updates; no independent expert review is implied. More about OffLadder.