Putting a value on your skills and experience

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Today I have a question for you:

Do you feel you know the true value of your skills and experience?

Are you clear on the level and worth of your capabilities and know-how?

I ask because I’ve worked with several clients recently who were vastly underestimating?the value of their skills, expertise and personal influence and gravitas.

Despite being super smart people who have successfully held a variety of positions during their careers and built up enviable skills and abilities, they were questioning their impact and value.

The upshot was that they were selling themselves short (and that’s an massive understatement!!)

• Liz was planning to seriously undercharge for her new freelance services, rather than pitch?herself at a fee level more commensurate with her phenomenal experience and results.
• Jen was judging herself to be in a junior position and berating herself for it, instead of seeing the reality, which is that she’s in a senior, global role interacting with and influencing C-level execs.
• Dan was dismissing his years of experience and level of competence and feeling like he’d have to “start again” because he’d taken a few years out to care for his aging mother.
• Ellen was telling herself her skills were “out of date” and pitching herself at roles three rungs below where she should be because she’d taken five years out to raise two children.

Like these awesome people, if you are someone who debates the value of your own skills and experience there’s one thing I want you to know:

We aren’t always the best judge of our own abilities!!

Something called the Dunning-Kruger effect illustrates this.

The effect was observed in situations where those who were most competent at a task were more likely to underestimate their performance, and those with lower competence?were more likely to overestimate it!

So those who are most competent are usually the people that doubt themselves the most! ??

If this sounds like you, and you tend to question your level or the veritable worth of your knowledge and capabilities, I’d love you to do one thing:

Seek out a trusted source of feedback.

Whether it’s a friend, a colleague or a coach, ask them to give you an independent perspective on what you do, how you do it and the value of your strengths, skills and experience.

They will help you see the real-world picture of your situation, your achievements and your competencies, so that you start to view yourself and your credentials in an accurate light, and as others already do.

And all-importantly, it might just stop you selling yourself short!!?

Oh, and in case you’re wondering: ??

• Liz is charging more than she would have for her services, and has a clear intention to grow her fee level further as she builds her business.
• Jen now has a much clearer picture of the true seniority of her role.
• Dan isn’t “starting again”, but has secured a role at the same level that he was at before caring for his mum.
• Ellen has a new-found appreciation for her skillset and is confidently applying for jobs at the right level. ?

Alison x

P.S. If Imposter Syndrome is making it hard to see and feel the value of your skills and experience, don't miss my podcast on this topic, where I explain where imposter syndrome comes from and how you can dissolve it for good (yes, really!!) https://livetrue.co.uk/podcast-019/