'We're the nurses': Metaphor in the discourse of workplace socialisation

New employees face a challenging task when integrating into a new work context as they are exposed to unfamiliar interactional norms and workplace practices. This study explores the role of metaphor during the acquisition of such norms and practices through an analysis of interaction between a skilled Chinese migrant intern and his assigned mentor in the accounting team of a New Zealand government department. The study identifies metaphorical language used during the workplace socialisation period as forming multiple emergent metaphor structures which play a key role in forming a cohesive picture of 'the way we do things round here'.