I only recall one time when I was proven to be in a situation which I was neither able or qualified to hold and I was removed in a matter of minutes, but it was far from a coveted job. The rest of the time I bluffed my way in, then learned as I went along. The difference was that these were not my dream jobs. I could never truthfully say, "I cannot believe I am being paid to do this!", but I sometimes said it with bitter irony.
The vast majority of us sip on our gin and tonics at sundown, reflecting on a job well (or badly) done. Our innate work-ethic allows us to sleep soundly without the ever-present nagging worry that one day we might be found out as the over-paid, pushy egotists with nothing of value to offer that we really are. Someone has to sweep the streets.
I realise that most of us here spend much of our time looking back rather than forward (unless it is toward the next meal), so I will ask the question like this: What would have been your dream job, and did you ever get it?
I've never heard of imposter syndrome.
ReplyDeleteReally? It is quite the thing amongst people who feel they ought to be seen to be humble when they land the job which everyone else wanted.
DeleteI have never heard the expression before. Reading your explanation I have never experienced it either.
DeleteYou don't listen to enough BBC radio. All the rest of the stations are populated with people who think they are undervalued.
DeleteOne dream job would be to be Michael Palin's PA on his travel programmes and travel with him and his production team.
DeleteYes it would. A nightmare job would be Jeremy Clarkson's PA on his travels.
DeleteI wouldn't call it wanting to be seen as humble, more that someone doesn't think they deserve to be in the job or don't believe themselves good enough, even when they are eminently suitable
DeleteThis in a nutshell gz, In my experience (and this is generalising somewhat), women often feel imposter syndrome when they are perfectly capable and qualified, men tend to overestimate and be overconfident in their capabilities.
DeleteThis in a nutshell gz, In my experience (and this is generalising somewhat), women often feel imposter syndrome when they are perfectly capable and qualified, men tend to overestimate and be overconfident in their capabilities.
DeleteThis in a nutshell gz, In my experience (and this is generalising somewhat), women often feel imposter syndrome when they are perfectly capable and qualified, men tend to overestimate and be overconfident in their capabilities.
DeleteThank you, Riu, for substantially boosting my comments rate. I do agree with you though. It is often women who feel so inexplicably lucky to have landed a job over a male competitor, but this is changing quite fast now, I believe. I can think of quite a few examples of women in positions of power who could justifiably wonder if they really deserve it, though. Priti Patel, Dido Harding and Diane Abbott spring to mind.
DeleteRachel, why settle for being Palin’s PA, you’re smart and write well on travel; you could write and present a travelogue, if you wanted to?
Deletegz - some people only pretend to be insecure about their self esteem. Some people fake it for PR reasons.
DeleteApologies for posting thrice!
DeleteA fair few men in power who are also found wanting IMHO.
DeleteNay nay, and thrice nay. Be my guest.
DeleteA fair few men in power who are also found wanting IMHO.
DeleteI'm glad I never felt imposter syndrome is all I can say after reading this lot. Sounds frightful.
DeleteThis was a tough question. I think I may have remained with the career I chose, teaching, but to make it my dream job, I would eliminate difficult administrators, difficult parents, and the politics that come with the job. I'm curious - what would your answer be? -Jenn
ReplyDeleteIt used to be film director, but then I woke up. I think I would like to have written the Harry Potter books, but so does everyone else.
DeleteA drummer in a rock band.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who is a famous rock drummer. It's hard work.
DeleteI always wanted to rise up through the teaching profession and I got my wish. Somebody (can't remember who it was) said 'Everybody rises to the level of their incompetence'.
ReplyDeleteI get that sinking feeling when I look back on my meteoric rise through the ranks.
DeleteI never cared for my profession (office work), but also never had a 'dream-spark' idea of what I really would like to do.
ReplyDeleteBut then came a sunny day in 2009 and, not only did I know what, but WHO I wanted to be! I was visiting Chastleton House early in the morning, when out of the house came a gal in a 1950s skirt complete with heavy rubber boots and hair dyed black to take the chain of the gate. She looked like the lab chick Abby from the US series NCIS. It turned out that she (real name Nicola Dyer) was the in-residence custodian/chatelain of the manor. I loved every minute of the verrrrrrrrry long tour that she gave. She must have told us every little thing that she knew about the house. It was absolutely wonderful. I just wanted to be her! To live at this property and to know absolutely everything about it seemed like a dream to me! Of course, this was just a little bit of daydreaming.
I will look up Nicola Dyer. She sounds like my kind of person. I will look up Chastleton House too.
DeleteWell it's my kind of house anyway.
DeleteIt was the combination of 1950s skirt and rubber boots which pricked up my ears, but then I am just a sad old man.
DeleteDefinitely an intriguing combination! I had to look for her on the internet prior to posting my comment, and I think I may have on Twitter where she describes herself as a‘professional building hugger’.
DeleteI am not going to decide until I do grow up.
ReplyDeleteSpoiler alert - you're going to be an angel.
DeleteMy dream job would be a dominatrix!
ReplyDeleteYou have set a nice low bar by the sound of it. I have spent more time trying not to be a dominatrix than I have in avoiding other sorts of job.
DeleteWhen I was a kid I wanted to be a greengrocer
ReplyDeleteI’m guessing it was the the apron
Not a costermonger?
DeleteAn archaeologist. I´ve dabbled as an amateur but would have loved to be the real thing.
ReplyDeleteI would like to have been a pre-war amateur archeologist whose real job was a vicar in a rural location with a fine house and not many parishioners. Not much to ask.
DeleteOn many levels, I achieved my dream job/goals and loved it. How did I achieve it? By out performing others, taking on tough jobs, succeeding and knowing when to leave to pursue a new opportunity. Demanding equal pay or leaving for equal or greater pay/options elsewhere. I knew my worth and accepted no less. I left the industry when I felt: Been there and done that.
ReplyDeleteI was asking what that job was.
DeletePublishing Exec
DeleteAh.
DeleteI wanted to be a pop star like Cilla, or Sandie, or Lulu. But I was too shy.
ReplyDeleteShy pop stars have a bad time from the beginning.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteArt or technical?
DeleteArt I think, was once refused a place at Walthamstow College of art much to my chagrin but strangely enough when onto work in technical drawing.
DeleteThey refused Hitler a place at art school and he went on to get the job he always dreamed of.
DeleteTook a long time to decide, but I would have been a good draughtsman, as in drawing and not in taking the shire horses out in the Brewery in Devizes... though I would have dearly loved to take the reins.
ReplyDeleteComments jumping around all over the place.
ReplyDeleteYes. I can't keep up.
DeleteI had it for a time: I wrote a column for many years. I was fired when I began to criticize our president. Some swords are worth dying on, I think.
ReplyDeleteRepublican or Democrat?
DeleteEither way, it sounds as though you were pushed onto your sword.
DeleteI could not abide Donald tRUMP. I told my editor that I could not be silent. He told me to write my conscience.
DeleteI did.
Oh, that recent. There weren't many journalists here who were not slagging off Trump for a few years, but you know how us pinko lefties behave when we are allowed to.
DeleteI live in a very red county, Tom. My thinking is in the minority. It can be very discouraging.
DeleteThat's what it's like here in blog land.
DeleteMy dream job lasted for nearly ten years. On rainy days I would be in the office and when the sunshined I would be out playing around in boats drawing a fat salary and enjoying every minute! Why it ended ? Ah' that was entirely down to Margaret Thatcher who refused to play the game.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the job description?
DeleteConsultant Naval Architect, small ships.
DeleteAh, of course. Were you ever in the old Empire Hotel? Did you drink in the Vendange?
DeleteWhen I was small, I used to say that I wanted to be a marine biologist. I don't think I even really knew what all that would entail, but I lived by the ocean and spent a lot of time on the beach.
ReplyDeleteMy husband after 25 years in his profession, still sometimes suffers from imposter syndrome. I suppose that for some folk that feeling never quite goes away.
A barmaid at my pub said she wanted to be a marine biologist. She went to study marine biology in Cornwall and ended up with her own TV series called 'Oceans' I think. Toomi Mahto. She now lives in Australia I think. We have had a few people in that pub who went off and lived out their dream. I would love the opportunity to suffer imposter syndrome, but it's too late now.
DeletePA of PC.
ReplyDeleteHRH?
ReplyDelete