I knew someone who worked there and he introduced me to his contacts who interviewed me and gave me the internship. 🤝
Do I have the imposter syndrome about that? Absolutely. Is that really justified? Hmmm, that’s debatable. 🤨
🥇 The Feeling
Here’s the thing. I was raised in an environment where merit is everything, and “recommendation” generally is looked upon negatively. Recommendation generally means “sifarish” which is a term used when someone gets a job not because of their talent and skills but because they knew someone who knew someone. So when I got this internship because I knew someone, what was my immediate reaction?
“I’m a fraud, I don’t deserve it”. 🫢
First day at the office, I meet other interns and I hear the term “imposter syndrome” so I pay attention, because by now I’ve been feeling loads and loads of it. Turns out it’s Nick, telling me how he is feeling a massive imposter syndrome because of me. 😳
👩🏫 He thinks I’m overqualified for the job. My MS and Ph.D. and my teaching at a university experience makes him feel like all he’s got are previous internships as experience.
And then I hear the same thing from another intern.
Turns out we are all thinking the others are more qualified or have better experience or are really here because they “deserve” it.
👩🔬 The Experiment
I decided to do a little experiment and asked everyone how they heard about the internship.
💌 Everyone heard from other people who worked at Ericsson and then recommended them to hiring people. I think back on the time when my parents asked me to recommend my brother for a job at a company I had started working for and how I was shaking 🥶 internally when I talked to my boss, because somehow there was a feeling of “this is not right, this is not merit” etched into my brain.
🧠 I have to change that mindset. I want to grow out of it.
🙌 The Reality
By recommending someone for a job or by being recommended you’re not undermining the importance of merit, you're actually helping both the company and the person by connecting the right candidate to the right job. That’s why there are employee referral programs and affiliate marketing things. Ericsson will literally pay you if you’re an employee and you recommend someone who would be a suitable candidate for a job and gets hired through your recommendation.
🤔 What is right mindset here? How can you recommend affiliate products to people or good candidates to companies without feeling like an imposter about it?
🐥 Baby steps? Here’s my baby step. I’m gonna recommend you some affiliate things here and try not to feel like an imposter. These are the things I would recommend even if I weren’t getting any kickbacks from your clicking the links and buying any of them.
🔗 Affiliate Links (I get Kickbacks if you buy them)
If you want to start a YouTube channel as a side hustle to make some money, this is the only course you need to take. It’s called Part-Time YouTuber Academy, and has three different pricing packages. I attended cohort-5 of the course and I will be posting a review video in detail about everything that’s inside this course on my channel but here’s the verdict → It’s worth it.
The first 200 people to use this link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare. I recommend using it to take my course and some of Ali Abdaal's courses.
I've been asked quite a lot of times about my CV template because people get impressed when they hear that this CV template got me 5 fully funded Ph.D. offers, 11 different scholarships and awards, and this very internship at Ericsson. So here it is, my CV template.
🤝 If you find my work useful, please consider supporting it through patreon so I can keep making more useful content.
☕️ And if Patreon is too much of a commitment, you can support me by supporting my addiction to coffee. The more people click this button and get me more coffees, the more caffine goes into my body and the better my blogposts and YouTube videos become.
🎯And finally, this post will be incomplete without giving you a freebie. So, if you don't want to spend any money on any of the above, don't worry, we'll still be friends and I'll keep sending free stuff your way. Here's an exclusive perk!
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MY YOUTUBE GEAR:
📸 Camera
🎤 Mic
🔦 Lights
🤳 Tripod
🚠 Mic Stand
❤My Favourite Things
🎬YouTube Video:
📕Book:
Still listening to “Gutter Child” on audible.
📝Quote:
If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.
From Steal Like An Artist - Austin Kleon
🎶Music:
I’ve listening non-stop to “Follow You” by Imagine Dragons.
🔍I’m Learning:
I see that you’ve made it to the end. If you liked this blogpost, check out the other stuff I talk about on my YouTube Channel. Don’t forget to subscribe!😉
