If you have a new job, you better not do this on your first day.

The tension and nerves: what do you wear? What time do you leave home? Do you get lunch or do you have to bring it yourself? It's all part of it, guys, in the working life. And especially when you switch jobs.

Then you obviously want nothing more than to make a good impression on the first day you show up.

Still, there is something you better leave alone when you start a new job. Because research shows that you should not talk too much at your brand new job on your first day at your still empty desk. And especially: don't come across as too know-it-all. Don't immediately say that something can be done better, that something can be simpler, or that something can go easier if it goes this way or that way. Don't say that you know how it should be done. Not even if you really know how it should be done better. No. Wisely keep your mouth shut. Zip it. Swallow everything and do your work. In silence and with a smile.

Because nothing is more of a turn-off for an employer than someone who comes to play the know-it-all. Perhaps even more important is the fact that your brand new colleagues also can't really appreciate it if you can do everything better, do better, and say better than they do. And that while you've just been in for an hour and a half. You make yourself quite unpopular with this behavior and you don't want that, because you need a good relationship with your colleagues to have a good time at work and to be able to grow in your company. And the more you grow, the more you ultimately have to say about how things can or cannot be improved and that it's time to get rid of that coffee machine from the year zero, that idea. But be patient. Never say that you know where they do have good coffee beans and where they sell coffee machines that actually make decent cups of coffee. Just mentioning something, you know, just mentioning something.

By the way, there's more. Scientists state that you definitely need to get to know your colleagues in the first hundred days of your job, but that you should wait a bit longer before making real friends at work. You just met each other, don't forget that. You don't have to join in their jokes and fun, because they have known each other longer than those few weeks that you've been hopping around the desks and the lunch table. Building that bond takes time. So take it easy, with everything. Give yourself some time and don't expect a new best friend from nine to five right away. Invest in good conversations. And if you haven't had those yet, don't be sad. They will really come naturally. Because that's the nice thing about new work: it means a new start. This way you can present and develop yourself as you want, because no one knows you further. You determine what you do and say and what you show of yourself.

And okay, after those hundred days you can definitely bring a new bag of coffee beans. Just as a subtle suggestion.

FACTS

• Someone without a job searches for an average of 7 months for a new job
• Long-term unemployment is most common among those over 45
• 41% of young people have no education and are not working either

Image: Pinterest