Do you feel like an imposter? Imposter syndrome has been described as a psychological term that refers to a person who has self-doubt about their accomplishments and a fear of being exposed as a fraud. Those suffering from imposter syndrome often attribute their success and accomplishments to being lucky or just in the right place at the right time. Research has shown that Imposter Syndrome affects 62% of those at work.
Imposter syndrome can affect any one and at all levels- often high achievers are people who are the most self-critical and who are always striving to better themselves without necessarily recognising their achievements.
With redundancies and an increasingly competitive job market, it is easy to see how thoughts of self-doubt can creep into our inner dialogue. With this in mind, below are three tips to help beat feeling like an imposter:
1. Be prepared to challenge your own thoughts
When self-doubt and a negative inner voice creeps up, have a prepared internal dialogue to remind yourself of your achievements. To take this a step further, you could write down your list of achievements and add to this list as you go and remember to reflect and refer back to your list.
2. Stop comparing yourself
It’s a normal part of human nature, but in this context it can be unhelpful to constantly compare yourself against others. After all we are all different and have different motivations and goals in life. It therefore makes very little sense to compare. Instead, focus on your own goals and motivation. Consider what success looks like to you. If you are feeling low on confidence, try focusing on tasks that you know you can achieve to a high standard. From there, build up on the tasks that are more challenging and celebrate your personal achievements.
3. Avoid the CV scatter-gun approach
There is no doubt it is a tough job market out there at the moment. Although tempting with an easy apply button only a click away, we believe that by taking the scatter-gun approach and applying for all roles on the market this can be much more disheartening and less-effective than applying for fewer roles. Instead, only apply for opportunities that you are genuinely interested in and that are aligned to your goals and career aspirations. Before applying for your next role, firstly consider whether this is a job you want. If it is, then go for it!
Finally, acknowledge that 2020 has been a challenging year for most. We believe in focusing on the positive; for instance 2020 has also been the year of kindness. From Captain Tom Moore, the nation clapping in support of our NHS to a genuine feeling of support to help each other move forward. If today hasn’t been your day, there is always tomorrow!
And there we have our 3 key tips to beating imposter syndrome. For strategic HR and recruitment support tailored to your business needs, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team.
