“The fear of the unknown” and “not being good enough” are a couple of ways in which Imposter Syndrome plays out in the people who experience it. Here are some tips on overcoming the Imposter Syndrome from our Senior Recruiter, Milla.
"A lot of the candidates that I work with have been identifying Imposter Syndrome as an area of weakness and/or barrier to success in the workplace. I, myself, have felt this way, mostly in jobs and teams that are new to me, or when I must take on a type of work that is unfamiliar to me. It can be deflating!"
Here are a couple of tricks that I have found to be immensely helpful to me with little to no cost:
1. If I’m meant to work with a new technology, or use a different process, and even sometimes if I see an acronym that means nothing to me, I do my research, utilizing the resources I have at hand. I ask Google, I watch YouTube tutorials, I join LinkedIn Groups, and ask questions…. And when all else fails, I might pay a nominal fee to take an online course to familiarize myself with the topic at hand. And of course, I put in the work after hours as much as possible!
2. In any new job or workplace situation, I have always found it extremely worthwhile to seek out a mentor. And totally ingratiate myself by any means necessary: treating them to coffee or sweets, and even asking about someone’s weekend are great ways to break the ice and win the favor of new teammates. The mentor I choose is someone who is (1) “safe”, with whom I can share confidential thoughts and ask questions, and also a person who (2) knows more than I do, whether it is because they are in a higher position, or they’ve been working with the team for a longer period of time. I also make sure to respect my mentor’s time by compiling a list of questions and addressing all of them when my mentor is free to meet for a few minutes. (Hint: do not ask your mentor every little question that pops into your head over the course of a day, because, well….. that’s just annoying and very disrespectful of another person’s time.)
3. Remember to celebrate my successes! Once I have found answers and solutions, I am comforted that (1) others have these same questions, I’m not alone, and (2) I’ve just learned some pretty cool things that I can contribute to the direct quality of my work and the success of my team. This takes me a long way in the battle of overcoming my hang-ups that “I’m not good or smart enough”.
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