Overcoming Impostor Syndrome Once You Get the Job

May 20, 2019

While excited to get the job, it’s not unusual to suffer from shock especially if your search took longer than expected. That doesn’t mean the company took what they could get when they picked you. Your resume stood out, and the hiring manager recognized the skills and talent in you that the company needs.

Do you find difficulty in receiving praise for a job well done? Do you put down your intelligence and success? Your extreme humbleness may really mean you suffer from impostor syndrome.

This syndrome is real and common among people who set unrealistic expectations for themselves and aim to overachieve. When others celebrate your success, you focus on small ways you missed the mark and divert their attention elsewhere. Here are a few tips for overcoming impostor syndrome and realizing your full potential in your new role.

Identify How You Feel

Recognize the pattern that is happening inside you. It’s the first step in any recovery program, but identifying how you feel is not about continuing the cycle of self-blame and fear. You return power and awareness to yourself by being in tune with your thoughts, feelings and body. Observe feelings of inadequacy and failure without self-judgment.

Yep, you’re suffering from impostor syndrome, but you have many options to work through the feelings and eliminate obstacles your brain put in your way. Mind over matter. You can do it!

Talk About Your Concerns

Coworkers and friends have likely experienced feeling like an impostor at some point in life. So, share your concerns and burdens. Open up to someone you trust first to remember that you’re not alone in this struggle.

Sharing is the first step to building a support network to help you stay grounded, catch you relapsing and establish strategies for coping and creating change. People say that you should fake it until you make it, but authenticity is the real key to success. That requires vulnerability.

Redefine Failure

Failure is part of life and happens in business all the time. Imagine how many times the most successful entrepreneurs failed before they got a home run. Failing creates opportunities for learning and evolution, and that means you help cultivate an environment of continuous learning when you feel unafraid to take an objective view of your mistakes. One setback, even a series of setbacks, doesn’t mean you don’t deserve the job you earned through your merit and demonstrated hard work.

Keep reminding yourself that learning equals progress. Mistakes do not reflect on your value as an individual. Ask yourself: “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” Make a plan to move forward and adjust that plan as needed. Trying, even as you fail, makes you authentic, and your boss would rather you push hard through various attempts at resolution with accountability than to let the ship sink and not speak up.

Accept Success

Do your best to accept success and the compliments that are given. People offer praise for a job well done out of sincerity. On bad days, recall those gems to reverse your brain from impostor mode. Imagine a whole horde of ninjas coming to your aid and battling those negative thoughts!

Downplaying your skills and success doesn’t help you, your coworkers or the company. Take in all the positive feedback to keep channeling your motivation and hard work. Keep a journal of your successes, and celebrate the small wins with the big ones.

Don’t Compare

Stop comparing yourself to others who work in a similar field — it diverts your attention and performance. Every person takes a different path in life. You make your own way. Find your inspiration and don’t compare or berate yourself.

Successful people refuse to give up. No one reaches a goal without any effort. Value your strengths with your “weaknesses,” and channel them into achieving your goals.

Keep Striving

You know the saying: “If you fall off the horse, get right back on.” Courage helps you move forward and take a risk.

You’ll chip away at the obstacles one bit at a time, and your efforts will pay off in the long run. Keep striving because you deserve the success you’re working so hard for.

There are no overnight fixes for impostor syndrome. Share your concerns. Build a support network. Celebrate the small wins. Everyone feels like a fraud at some point, but they’re also just trying to make it through a hard day at the office. Connect with your team and yourself to see your way through anything, and cultivate a stronger work culture and self-confidence for the effort. You got this!

Contact us to construct an individualized approach to overcoming obstacles as you climb the ladder to your dream career. Follow our talent blog for insider tips on building an optimized resume, job search strategy, and a work-life balance that highlights your best self and accomplishments.

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