Hey everyone
I'm joining PwC next week as a fresher/lateral hire and I'm honestly a little lost. My entire work experience so far has been at a small startup — we're talking a 10-15 person team, no formal HR, everyone on first names, and hoodies were basically the office uniform. So corporate culture is almost entirely new to me.
Case in point — I was literally planning to wear jeans on Day 1 until someone told me that's a big no-no at a Big 4. Apparently it's formals or at minimum chinos. That reality check made me wonder — what else am I completely clueless about?
Specifically looking for inputs on:
👔 Dressing: What's acceptable for day-to-day vs. client days? Are chinos + formal shirt fine? What about shoes?
🗣️ Addressing people: Do I call seniors "Sir/Ma'am"? Use first names? What's the norm at PwC specifically?
📧 Communication: Email etiquette, Teams/Slack messaging tone, when to CC vs not — any unwritten rules?
🤝 General professionalism: Things that seem obvious but aren't — meeting behaviour, being "seen" vs actually working, hierarchy dynamics, etc.
⚠️ Things NOT to do in the first few weeks — rookie mistakes that could leave a bad impression.
Open to literally any advice — nothing is too basic. I want to start on the right foot. Thanks in advance! 🙏