An important first-day-on-the-job form: direct deposit

Among the mountain of forms you fill out on Day 1 of a new job (which are mostly related to taxes), is a form about HOW you want to get paid. As in, can your pay just automagically appear in your bank account please? When you fill out the direct deposit form, you’re basically giving your employer the info they need to auto-drop your pay into your account (aka “directly deposit”). They’re trying to save you the trouble of schlepping a paper check to the bank teller to deposit.

Don’t worry, they don’t ask for a ton of details. Usually just 1) name of your bank, like Bank of America, 2) the “routing number” which is like an electronic address of your bank, and 3) your actual account number. If your bank gave you any checks, you can find the info here: