We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t have moments of imposter syndrome at some point in our lives or careers.  But what exactly is it? 

According to the Oxford dictionary, it’s: 

the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills. 

Having fleeting moments of this is natural, but frequent feelings of imposter syndrome isn’t. 

How do we get to this point? 

It can be a mixture of things, including upbringing, cultural expectations, and your work environment to name a few.  It’s also thought to be more prevalent among those who are high performers. 

Conditioning 

Your upbringing can play a part in feeling that you aren’t good enough, deserving or have failed to meet expectations, whether it be academically, socially or through sporting endeavours.  These expectations can come about from our parents or family who themselves either met or didn’t quite meet the expectations placed upon them.  Parents can live their lives vicariously through their children.  If this isn’t recognised before becoming severe, it can be ingrained in our way of thinking. 

Workplace environment 

Often those who are high achievers can place on themselves, and have placed upon them, high expectations.  For example, hitting targets only to then be presented with even higher expectations for the following year.  If the person who has these targets placed upon them, is someone who is a high achiever, this can be damaging if they have imposter syndrome. 

Unconscious bias 

I’ve wanted to talk about unconscious bias for a while now and imposter syndrome is something that can be a by-product of this. 

When you feel you are in a minority and enter into an environment where there can be pre-conceived opinions of your ability or background, you can subconsciously feel this.  Also, if a workplace has unconscious bias occurring, this can affect your ability to be recognised and progress.  You may start to wonder if you actually belong and do your ideas actually have any merit.  From this, you may also start to feel like an imposter and start questioning your ability.

What can be done about this? 

I think the first place to start is by acknowledging the situation and how you are feeling by talking about it.  Providing examples and talking through things with your colleagues, manager or mentor, will be help you compartmentalise and understand where it comes from.   

It is also important that you push for regular feedback from your manager or team leader and if you are a high achiever, even more so.  Not having an understanding of your progress and how you are performing in your job, leads us to make assumptions about our own ability and value.  Talking about how things are from your perspective is also important. These conversations are usually had between two people so don’t forget that your opinion is important too. 

Talking through your ability and accomplishments helps you to feel less of an imposter and more someone who is contributing and offering value in life and in work.  

For employers it is always important to understand and get to know your teams and how each individual thrives in the workplace.  Looking into how others feel empowered to share their thoughts and ideas and feel understood is important.  Everyone is different with regard to what motivates them, so don’t take a one size fits all approach. Providing a genuine supportive environment helps – especially having an emphasis on wellbeing. 

Elizabeth Cox from TEDEd talks through the psychology behind imposter syndrome in the video below. She runs through the many factors that can be behind it and although there is no one size fits all, she does emphasise that talking about it is the first step in working through it. 

TEDEd - What is Imposter Syndrome and how can you combat it?

In the sector I recruit in, I meet with people who are highly skilled and often high achievers in their careers. More often than not, female engineers are the ones who downplay their achievements and ability. I would also place offshore engineers who have immigrated to NZ in this category. They can often assume their experience in their home country is viewed as less important and is stopping them from progressing toward:

• Being promoted 

• Going for new jobs 

• Seeking to be paid what they are worth 

• Sharing ideas and contributing 

Everyone has a contribution to make and it's the responsibility of everyone to understand these unique contributions and stop downplaying progress and achievements. 

About Simone Storey

Simone is an experienced Recruitment Consultant who specialises in recruiting intermediate through to management level engineers particularly in the structural, civil, mechanical and fire sectors. These particular sectors provide unique recruitment challenges, something of which she is very familiar with.

Her background also brings a results oriented and people focussed perspective, along with a solid understanding of the needs of both employer and employee. Simone has a focus on building these relationships to add value for both candidate and employer alike, for her recruitment is not merely a transaction.