9 reasons you feel like a fraud at work

Imposter syndrome is very common and it’s the reason why you feel like a fraud at work. The corporate work environment requires a lot more than just hard skills – it requires understanding the principles behind these 9 reasons you might feel like a fraud at work.

These are 9 reasons that you might have imposter syndrome. Once you’ve identified any of these with you, understand why it is that way and how you can go about fixing it.

March 2, 2024 by Kazu Fujimoto

You don’t provide value

If you’re new, just started, and inexperienced, you just don’t provide enough value. You might be calling into meetings and then you’ll notice you hardly speak.

If you’re just starting off in your career, you’ll have very little feedback and input on things. This is normal.

Unfortunately, if this is the case, you’re going to feel like this for awhile as you soak up more knowledge and experience.

Take the time to ask as many questions as possible and provide value wherever possible. There is such a thing as asking too many questions though, understand when the right time is.

Also – don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions. Sometimes you need to ask the dumb questions to understand and this is totally fine. Don’t let anyone belittle you or put you down.

Based on not providing value relative to others, this is why you may feel like a fraud at work.

You don’t know enough (yet)

When you’re inexperienced or just starting off, you’ll feel that you don’t know anything at all.

This is very common for new graduates and entry level employees. This even happens at the senior level too, when mid-level employees get promoted.

You’re going to have to go through a rough period where you soak up as much knowledge as possible. Be present and engaged in your work, and throughout time, you will start developing the skillset and knowledge needed to contribute.

You just started working

If you just started a new job, of course you’re not going to be expected to know everything. Get rid of the false presumption that you should be able to perform your job the day upon hiring. This is not realistic.

In the first day of any new job, there will be training and orientation sessions to get you settled in. Once that’s out of the way, you will be slowly looped into projects and assignments. In this period of time, try to look at the big picture as much as possible.

If you have a big picture understanding of what you’re doing, then you won’t need to “ask anyone else for work”. Instead, you’ll know exactly what you need to do and what deliverables you need to be presenting. You’ll also know to proactively set up meetings for corporate items that will aid in your deliverables.

Everyone else around you is so smart

In some companies, they are very selective about the candidates they select. Certain companies will require those that come from a target school. You might get hired into a company that was very selective about the candidates they pick.

As a result, you might feel like you don’t quite meet the intelligence levels of anyone else. Don’t let this type of inferiority complex get to you.

It’s absolutely fine to feel a bit insecure, especially when everyone had such intimidating backgrounds – target school, high GPA, stellar extracurriculars. You all ended up making it to the same place. Now all that matters is that you really deliver.

Don’t let things such as people’s backgrounds and the college they went to get into your head.

Focus on the here and now.

Get things done at work and you will be fine.

Unfortunately those who get things done are hard to come by, so make yourself indispensable by getting your job done

You’re not passionate about your career

If you’re not passionate about your career, you may feel like the work you do is limited to what you see. For example, if you’re working on a computer, all you may think you are doing is clicking and pushing buttons on your keyboard. This is far from the truth.

You’re doing so much more than “pressing buttons”, you’re in charge of meeting deliverables.

It’s fine not to love your job. A job is a means to an end.

However, for some people, they completely get engulfed into their careers. It’s human nature to associate the things that they do with their identity and this includes the job that they work too. You will deal with many egos in the corporate working environment.

Understand that it’s 100% acceptable to not love your job.

You may be surrounded by those who love their jobs and are passionate about them, which is why you might feel like a fraud at work.

You get paid too much for the value you deliver

If you think you’re getting overpaid, then congratulations, that’s a great problem to have. We’re being serious about this.

You may have gotten a new job and a new promotion somewhere, and you might totally just be killing it with the work that you do.

If you really feel that you’re overpaid and that you’re not contributing enough, ask to take on more work.

Talk to your colleagues, managers, or directors and see if there are projects that you can kickstart. Bonus points if these projects achieve something attainable and measurable for the company – this will look amazing on your resume.

You lack confidence

You’re just not confident about yourself and this could be why you have imposter syndrome. It’s okay – everyone doubts themselves at moments.

Try to understand why you’re not confident.

It is because you lack the knowledge, are intimidated by others, or are very outcome dependent?

If you understand what it is that’s driving you to not be confident about your abilities to deliver, then you’ll know what to work on.

As I like to say – to become more confident, you need to become more competent.

You’re not good at your job

You might just not be very good at your job. This is either because your job might not be the right fit for you, you’re too unmotivated to perform well for the job, or you might just not be capable to fulfill the requirements of the role.

Figure out why you’re not good at your job, then work from there.

Are you lacking a certain skillset that your job needs? Then work on it more.

If the job isn’t the right fit, or you’re not capable to perform the job, then look into other roles. This could be why you feel like a fraud at work.

Introversion

If you’re an introvert, you’re unlucky. Introverts struggle in corporate type work environments.

Introverts struggle with small talk and also with articulating their thoughts. They spend the majority of the time talking to themselves through an internal monologue. Socializing with others doesn’t come as easy and as natural compared with extroverts.

Unfortunately, if you’re an introvert, you need to learn how to deal with this. Otherwise, you will not go very far in the corporate environment.