Tips for your first day in a new graduate job...

Do you wear the same suit each day? If so, how long do you go with the same suit? (Before everyone thinks you're a tramp who doesn't wash)

Do you wear a waistcoat then? Do people comment or not? Or isn't that what you meant by 3-piece suits?

Oh man, I only have one suit. I've never had to wear a suit before (other than interviews & prom).

The jacket is dark grey, and I only have trousers in the same colour or black. Maybe i'll need to go shopping

And I only have a black tie and a white tie. White tie + white shirt doesn't go! :P

I would recommend a second suit but it doesn't have to be expensive, especially as a new joiner. You can get ties and shirts fairly cheap nowadays. Do you not get an advance or a loan for this sort of thing?

Oh man, I only have one suit. I've never had to wear a suit before (other than interviews & prom).

The jacket is dark grey, and I only have trousers in the same colour or black. Maybe i'll need to go shopping

And I only have a black tie and a white tie. White tie + white shirt doesn't go! :P

You'll be at work 5 days a week, every week. Would you wear the same jeans and t-shirt every day at uni? Of course you need more than 1 suit! It's worth getting decent ones, as cheap ones feel horrible and won't last.

When I had to wear trousers & a blazer at school I used to wear the trousers for a week and change shirt each day, unless I made the trousers dirty somehow.

How much would you say a decent one is?

You're not at school any more, you're a paid, client facing, professional!

Personally I'd say circa £200 for a decent suit, but others might say more/less.

Hmm that's true lol. I'll have a look round. Why do suits have to be so expensive? $

Try shopping at designer shopping outlets, you can pick up suits that retailed for over £400 for around £150. The closest one to London is Ashford (heard it isn't great). The one I've been to most is Cheshire Oaks and it is wonderful. There's 5 or so shops specific for suits and really smart dress and it's definitely worth it for a day out or something just to buy a couple of suits.

On placement I swapped most days pretty much, especially when at a client

That's the problem, don't want to be 'marked' early as 'eccentric' or similar. Could be better to blend into the crowd etc?

Haven't got much to comment here, but one thing to remember is - everyone feels this nervous on the first day, it's natural. A week in, you'll hopefully be relaxed and starting to feel right at home

Haha, that's bit too soon/optimistic, don't you reckon? I wish it turns out that way though! I think my apprehension just comes from the fact that I don't really know what to expect from them, what exactly is expected of me in my first few days (if that makes sense).

So I've been at my new job for about a week and a half now, and I'd just like to share what I've been up to in that time. Perhaps you guys would like to share and compare first day/week/month/etc at the job experiences, too, which would be nice.

Let me start off with saying that I work for a procurement organisation, so I don't know how the work or style of work differs from those of you working in practice. My title is an assistant accountant, and basically I get to hover between financial and management accounts, which I like, as I get exposure to the various areas of accountancy.

The majority of my first day was a standard induction process - forms to fill in, logging on to the computer and getting activated, being introduced around the office (everyone seems nice and welcoming), and a quick tour round the whole building.

I was then quickly briefed into something called Intrastat, which I will mainly be involved with. It's nothing much, and what it essentially entails is collecting the relevant information from invoices we receive from our suppliers and recording them on to a spreadsheet, which would then go on to be reported to Customs.

Over the next few days, I've been gradually introduced to other regular tasks such as the bank reconciliations, updating the trading report and updating the accruals/prepayments spreadsheets.

I've heard a lot of people say how some of these things are a bit menial, and the "real work" comes once I am given more responsibilities, but I genuinely enjoyed getting immersed into these tasks, and it felt like a nice leap from applying what you've learnt at university into the real world. Here, you are working with a huge set of data, so, whilst the core process remains the same, working with a lot of data on a spreadsheet may sometimes mean that you'll have to break down your steps a bit further. Or you may find that you could reach your goal a slightly different way, too.

There have been a couple of brief occassions of downtime - people on my department having meetings or other engagements, etc - which is understandable. For any newbies who may be faced with something similar, I would suggest just using that spare time reading through any documents regarding work that you may have, which may help you understand the company/the work itself more. You could also use this as a chance of making notes on what you've learnt so far.

As a piece of advice, I can't help but reiterate the importance of asking questions. Although you might think that you're a bit of an annoyance to your supervisor/colleagues when you ask a lot of questions, but if they are very understanding, they would just be more than happy to pass on their knowledge to you. In the grand scheme of things, it is to everyone's benefit the more that you adjust and become more comfortable with your new job, and helping you out with answers to your questions is one of the things that'll get you there.

Overall, my first week or so at work has gone well, and I hope to learn more in the coming weeks.

Anyway, that was my own experience. I don't know if it is similar to anyone, although it would surely be nice to hear about them as well.

As a piece of advice, I can't help but reiterate the importance of asking questions. Although you might think that you're a bit of an annoyance to your supervisor/colleagues when you ask a lot of questions, but if they are very understanding, they would just be more than happy to pass on their knowledge to you. In the grand scheme of things, it is to everyone's benefit the more that you adjust and become more comfortable with your new job, and helping you out with answers to your questions is one of the things that'll get you there.

I started two weeks ago so I can give my experience. I work in a small practice with two offices and 3 partners.

Yeah. It's so difficult when you know your assigned mentor has work to do and deadlines to meet. It's especially hard when you know they are on a tight deadline. What I suggest is to have a few people who you can ask for advice. This way you can spread your questions out between them and you don't feel like you're annoying one person. People are nice. They will help you (as they were in your shoes not so long ago). Just don't sit there worrying about asking questions because they will assume you are doing fine.

One more good point if you worry about asking questions is to have someone who sits at another desk who you can ask questions to. This means to ask them a question you have to get up and walk to them, so you can force yourself to get up and you'll have to go and speak to them. (Sounds odd I know but it helps)

And for anyone starting soon, for the first few days you will be out of your depth and wondering if this is the right path for you. Stick at it because it feels good when you start to understand what you're doing, even if it is just analysing a set of bank statements!

Thanks for sharing! It's always interesting to read about the experiences of people in a similar boat. Do you work in a particular area?

This week's truly been a test of sticking to my own advice - month end! Prior this week, I felt being liberal with the questions, but this week, just knowing that they're bogged down with their own tasks in trying to get the monthly accounts/reports done, I found it difficult ask as much questions as I would've wished.

The bit in bold is very true. The amount of spreadsheets and variety of ways with which you can gather the information you needs alone made me feel like I was at a dizzying height, and I constantly wonder whether it would just one day all make sense to me, when everything would just click into place.

That said, I have found bits and pieces clicking together. For instance, as sad as it sounds, I find it fascinating just clicking around areas in the spreadsheet, looking at the formulas and seeing how it relates to different tabs in that file or indeed, other spreadsheets. Just by this, I feel like I've learnt more.

I think I'm a lot more confident at the bank recs now. Going forward, I think I still have to practice my accruals and prepayments, as it still sometimes confuses me.