You probably remember it.  The first day of school.  For a whole week leading up to that first day, you rustled through your closet picking out the best outfit that said yep-I’m-still-me-and-I-still-have-style-welcome-back-to-school, but that also didn’t look too much like a pick-me-pick-me-pick-me!-please kind of outfit.  There’s a fine balance of bold and subdued in the fashion world.

You go through interviews with the same closet-choosing, though there’s a different balance to find with interview outfits.  There’s money at stake there, not friendships.  You may even have to pull your lucky underwear into the mix.  (Really?  Was that just me?)

But then comes the first day of the job.  You landed it, maybe even nailed it, and now you are in, but only on the very edge of the cusp.  You’ve got a lot of learning to do, a lot of proving to do, and a lot of work to do.  (After all, that’s what you’re there for…)  So your first-day outfit must say a lot that your mouth can’t say.  Because if your mouth could say it, you would be rattling off five hundred words a minute along the lines of “TrustmeI’mreallyawesomeandyou’regoingtolovemeandI’llworksohardyouwon’tevenknowwhathityouandI’mnotintogamesI’mjustheretoworkreallyhardandIdon’tsurftheinternetoncompanytimeandIdon’tgossipandIwanttobeyourfriendandbythewayI’magreatcoworkerandIevenbringinhomemadetreatsonoccassion…”

It’s like a dog jumping on you when you walk in the door with your hands full.  It’s just annoying and rude.  (Don’t get that dog hair on my pants!)

So instead of talking, you slide those shoulder blades down your back, tilt your chin up just a hair in a confident, but not snobby kind of way, and you let your outfit speak for you.  Mix the bold and the subdued and let the smart meet the sassy.

To first days and first impressions.  May the former be just as good as the latter.