What Is Imposter Syndrome and How to Overcome it

Imposter syndrome comes in many forms, and people who cope with this condition share a healthy sense of self-doubt. Many employees feel they aren’t capable of meeting their goals and don’t deserve their job. In this post, we discuss the five most common types of imposter syndrome and how to overcome them.?

Are you getting stuck during your job search? Do you have this overwhelming feeling you don’t deserve your job despite all your hard work and accomplishments? If so, you may be one of the thousands of people each day coping with symptoms of imposter syndrome. Don’t fret. Key strategies to overcome imposter syndrome exist.?

Defining Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome is a psychological feeling of self-doubt and “not being enough.” These feelings surface during the job search and after a long time in the same role.?

"It comes with the hallmark feeling that you may not be good enough for the new job that lies ahead of you or the promotion you accepted," says Jessica Hernandez , a LinkedIn top voice and executive resume writer.

Lisa Orbé-Austin, Ph.D , psychologist, executive coach, organizational consultant and speaker, notes the many results and effects of imposter syndrome:

“As a result of [imposter syndrome], you fear being exposed as a fraud for things like making mistakes or falling short, and to compensate for this, you either overwork or self-sabotage. This often leads to burnout, loss of connection to your goal or interests, and finding yourself stuck in your career.”?

Common symptoms of imposter syndrome are:

• Overly criticizing your performance and capabilities?
• A fear that you won’t live up to expectations?
• An inability to take credit for your successes
• An inability to accurately assess your competence to perform a task (such as securing a job in your field or handling your day-to-day responsibilities at the office)
• Prematurely predicting your failure at a task

Melody Wilding , an executive coach and leadership coach, and LinkedIn Learning instructor , adds, “People with imposter syndrome tend to have a persistent belief that they are unintelligent or incompetent.”

5 Types of Imposter Syndrome

There are five main types of imposter syndrome.?

1. The Perfectionist

The Perfectionist is often the most obvious to identify. Perfectionists don’t know when to let go. They can’t stop self-editing and use what they’ve written (whether that be on their resume or in a PowerPoint presentation at work) due to their irrational fear of not being comprehensive enough or “perfect.”?

This backfires because their work may be of a lower quality or be information overload.? When an employee isn’t able to let go of a project, they are unable to see the bigger picture.?

When your co-workers are recognized for their successes and promoted, you’re behind. Andrew Seaman , managing editor for jobs and career development at LinkedIn News, says , “Imposter syndrome can pop up throughout a person’s career, making them feel like a fraud, holding them back from opportunities and leading them to overwork themselves to prove their worth.”

A Perfectionist becomes stuck following up on second or third email requests for their updated list of references instead of moving ahead in the job search process. Imposter syndrome can become a dream killer for Perfectionists.?

Here are a few warning signs of the Perfectionist imposter syndrome type:?

• You’re never quite done with editing your resume or cover letter.
• Your boss continuously asks you to complete tasks you should have completed weeks ago. Yet you remain in the “research” phase.
• You want everything to be “perfect” and don’t like to take risks or go with what you have completed.
• Completing a work milestone isn’t a reality and the word “finished” doesn’t exist in your vocabulary.

Caroline Castrillon , the founder of the Corporate Escape Artist , tends to see the perfectionist type most often among her clients.?

“I work with a lot of women who are also the primary breadwinners, so they set an extremely high bar for themselves,” Castrillon said.

2. The Super Person

For the Super Person, the job search becomes a cycle of self-doubt and shame-induced application filing. For example, a Super Person might submit hundreds of applications to potential employers, including those they are unqualified for. In the Super Person’s mind, the only logical possibility of getting an interview is that success comes down to numbers, not their past career history.

Many people who cope with imposter syndrome at work think their success is because of luck, not innate abilities. The Super Person imposter type tries to overcompensate for their irrational fear of failure and self-doubt by applying themselves too much. This could include taking on too many tasks and not having the time to finish most by their deadlines.

Super Person imposter types may share the following personality traits:

• Extreme fears of inadequacy
• May be initially mistaken by managers as a workaholic or type-A personality type (only to crash and burn after several attempts to complete tasks)
• Always focused on work and can’t seem to “unwind” with colleagues or at happy hour
• Extremely focused on doing as much as they can to overcome irrational fear of weak points

3. The Natural Genius

The Natural Genius imposter type is someone who has things come without maximum effort. If you’ve just graduated high school or college and are beginning to look for a job, you may be the Natural Genius type if you earned A’s or gained the most-competitive internships with little effort.

This often leads the Natural Genius imposter syndrome type to shoot for high (and often unrealistic) goals and come up short. This is normal. We all deal with setbacks, but the Natural Genius doesn’t look at what’s realistic.?

When they fail or come up short, they cannot regroup then try again. They instead feel shame, guilt, and bewilderment (or sometimes irrational anger or blaming external forces or people who may not have had anything to do with their temporary setbacks).

Natural Genius types take on the most complex, challenging projects that (in their minds) are simple and don’t require outside assistance or input from colleagues and don’t easily take constructive criticism.

So, what might you think if you’re a Natural Genius imposter?

• “It’s the interviewer’s fault.”?
• “I can easily handle and overcome any challenge thrown my way.”
• “My failures aren’t due to my lack of skill, education, or other internal personality factors.”?

4. The Soloist

The Soloist imposter type might put all their self-worth into their efforts, rejecting job search help or guidance that past co-workers or friends might offer. If you feel you’re this type of imposter, try to accept constructive criticism or assistance in your job search or interview prep (even if it feels gut-wrenching at the time). We all have limitations.?

At work, Soloists shun help from supervisors and colleagues, which can lead to frustration and a lack of creative insight. This also causes frustration for managers in terms of communication or assessing progress of mission-critical projects.?

Soloists often conduct their job search using these thoughts as a guide:?

• “My failure isn’t going to happen due to others.”
• “I don’t need my co-workers getting in my way.”
• “My manager is an idiot. I don’t need constructive criticism or input.”

5. The Expert

The Expert imposter syndrome type is the opposite of the Soloist. Built on knowledge, Expert imposters cannot seem to step away from a job search self-help book or browsing through hundreds of YouTube training videos. Expert imposters are never satisfied with their knowledge or understanding, which creates a severe block.

“People with imposter syndrome have unreasonably high expectations of themselves. They may put pressure on themselves to ‘be the expert’ in everything, get things right on the first try and double-check their work to an extreme,” Wilding said.

Experts often become unaware of the time elapsed since they sent an application to a recruiter or do not meet their key performance indicators at work. Experts may have surface knowledge at work that initially helps with projects, but applying that knowledge doesn’t happen because of their inability to put books down. Co-workers and managers cannot trust Expert imposters to complete most tasks because of their inability to get beyond details.??

Expert imposters may have the following personality traits:?

• Hungry for knowledge at any cost (including harming their reputation at work)
• Spending too much time tweaking their resume or work product
• Wanting to be the most well-read or knowledgeable about a subject and lacking the ability to apply the knowledge in a real-world job search

“I see all five types manifesting in different ways with my clients, and in many cases, the women I work with describe themselves with more than one type,” said Jessica Dowches-Wheeler , CEO and leadership coach of Bright Space Coaching . “With that said, all five of these types have something in common: In my work with women and imposter syndrome, I've learned that many of these feelings stem from a root feeling of unworthiness. So, imposter syndrome is really a self-worth problem. It's a feeling of "not-enoughness." Perfectionists and Superhumans think they'll never be good enough, Natural Geniuses believe they aren't smart enough, Soloists believe they aren't capable enough, and Experts believe they'll never know enough.”

How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome

Figuring out how to overcome imposter syndrome takes a bit of psychological intervention, personal effort, and a possible change in how you view yourself and interact with co-workers and managers at your place of work.?

Many psychologists believe that imposter syndrome is related to anxiety, so it may be helpful to seek counseling for an assessment and recommended treatment plan. Mindfulness is a tool you can apply at home to recognize unhelpful thoughts and negative patterns that hold you back.?

If you’re looking to learn how to overcome imposter syndrome, try these strategies:?

• Learn the facts. Are you failing, or do you need fresh eyes to get perspective?
• Could you use support from your manager to give you a new perspective?
• Share your feelings. It is useful to share how you feel or vent to a trusted colleague or job search coach.
• Celebrate your successes (even the small ones).
• Let go of perfection and the quest to attain it.
• Cultivate self-compassion and try to go on a vacation at least once a year.

And finally, if you are struggling with imposter syndrome, take this parting note from Orbé-Austin:?

“The best advice I ever received was from my partner, Dr. Richard Orbé-Austin, who told me this when I was painfully struggling with Imposter Syndrome: ‘When you work as hard for yourself as you do for others, you are going to be unstoppable.’”

(Reporting by Mariah Flores and NPD)?