Starting a new job
Applying, accepting and getting set up. 7 templates, all free to fill in and print.
Between the offer and your first week there is a short list of paperwork, and most of it is easier if you do it in order. The application documents come first — a resume that a stranger can read in under a minute, and a reference you have actually asked for rather than assumed. Once the offer arrives, accept it in writing so both sides have a record of what was agreed. Then the joining paperwork: bank details for payroll, an emergency contact, and whatever your employer's own onboarding asks for. None of it is difficult; it is just easy to leave a piece out and spend the first month chasing it.
Starting a job is three separate paperwork jobs that people treat as one. First you are selling: a CV and a cover letter aimed at one specific vacancy. Then you are negotiating and confirming: an offer acceptance letter that repeats the terms back in writing. Then you are being onboarded, with bank details, emergency contacts and identity forms that a payroll team needs before the first run. The common mistake is rushing the middle stage. People accept by replying yes to an email, never see the terms restated anywhere, and discover months later that the start date, the salary, the notice period or the bonus they remember was never written down by anybody.
Applying for one job, not fifty
A CV that gets read is a CV edited for the advertisement in front of it. Take the job description, list the requirements it names in the order it names them, and answer each one in the first half of the page with something you actually did. Numbers help where you have them honestly: team size, budget, the volume you handled. A cover letter is not a summary of the CV. It answers two questions the CV cannot: why this employer, and why the gaps or moves on the page look the way they do. One page, addressed to a named person where you can find one, and no paragraph that would survive being pasted into an application for a different company.
After the interview, before the offer
A thank-you note after an interview is worth writing because so few people send one, and because it gives you a second, calmer attempt at anything you answered badly. Send it within a day, name one specific thing from the conversation so it cannot be mistaken for a template, and correct the one answer you would like back. Around the same time, line up your referees. A reference request letter asks a former manager formally, tells them which role you are applying for and what the employer is likely to ask, and gives them a deadline. Asking early matters more than asking well: referees go on holiday, change jobs and lose emails, and a delayed reference holds up a start date more often than a bad one loses the job.
Accepting in writing, with the terms
An offer acceptance letter exists to create one document that both sides agree on. Restate the job title, the start date, the salary or rate and how often it is paid, the working pattern, the probation period and its length, the notice period on both sides, and anything agreed verbally that you negotiated: a signing payment, a review date, remote days, a delayed start because of a holiday already booked. If something you were told is missing from the written offer, this is the moment to ask for it in writing, not after you have resigned elsewhere. Save the offer letter, the contract and your acceptance in the same place, because the contract is the document you will need if a dispute ever arises.
The onboarding forms nobody reads
Before a first payroll run an employer usually needs bank details on a direct deposit authorisation form, emergency contact details, and whatever tax and right-to-work identity paperwork your country requires. Those forms differ by jurisdiction, so use the ones your employer sends rather than a generic set. Check the account number and the sort code or routing number digit by digit; a mistyped digit is the most common reason a first salary does not arrive. Fill the emergency contact form properly rather than naming a parent you have not called in years: the person on it should be reachable in working hours. Ask where your payslips, leave balance and policies live, and how to reach them, on day one. It is a much stranger question to ask in month six.
The order to do it in
- Tailor the CV to the advertisement, then write a cover letter that answers why this employer specifically.
- Send a short thank-you note within a day of the interview, correcting anything you answered badly.
- Ask two referees before you need them, telling each which role and what will be asked.
- Get the full offer in writing, then accept in writing restating salary, start date and notice.
- On day one, complete bank, tax and emergency contact forms, and check the account digits twice.
Common questions
Should I accept a job offer by email or by letter?
Either works, as long as the acceptance restates the terms. An email is normally fine and easier to find later. What matters is that the message names the job title, start date, salary and anything agreed in conversation, so nobody is relying on memory. Attach or quote the offer you are accepting. Then save the offer, the contract and your reply together, because that trio is the record.
Can I ask for a written offer before I resign?
Yes, and it is normal. A written offer, a signed contract or a countersigned acceptance is what makes the job real. Resigning on a verbal offer means giving up a job in exchange for something you cannot evidence. Employers expect the request. If an employer refuses to put an offer in writing, treat that as information about how the rest of the job is likely to run.
What documents does a new employer usually need?
Typically bank details for payroll, an emergency contact, identity and right-to-work evidence, and tax registration paperwork. The exact forms and identity documents accepted are set by your country and sometimes your state, so follow the list your employer sends rather than a generic checklist. Send them early: payroll cut-off dates are real, and a form submitted the day before payday usually misses the run.