For adults · Launch League blog
How coaches help with impostor syndrome in new careers
By Nick Gonzalez, founder, U.S. Air Force veteranPublished
The short answer
A coach helps with impostor feelings in a new career by replacing the vague verdict, 'I don't belong here', with specific evidence and a learning plan: what you've delivered, what you don't know yet, and who to ask. It is a common experience, not a diagnosis. If it comes with persistent anxiety or low mood, see a therapist.
The relied-on list
Answer the impostor feeling with evidence, not reassurance. Once a week, write down three specific things you did that someone else relied on. Reassurance from other people fades by Monday; a list in your own words of what people relied on you for is much harder to argue with.
Where the idea came from, accurately
The term comes from a 1978 paper by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, 'The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention', published in Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice. They described accomplished women who believed, despite their record, that they weren't really bright and had fooled everyone. The paper drew on their clinical work with over 150 women rather than a controlled study, and they called it a phenomenon, not a syndrome.
Two things have been learned since. First, it is not a diagnosis. A 2020 systematic review in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, covering 62 studies, notes it is not in the psychiatrists' diagnostic manual. Second, it is not only women: of the 33 studies in that review that compared by gender, 16 found higher rates in women and 17 found no difference. The same review found no study that had tested a treatment for it, so be wary of anyone promising a cure, including coaches.
Why a new career sets it off
If you've changed careers, you have traded being good at something for being new at something. That gap is real, not imagined. You used to know the answers; now you're asking questions people half your age already know. Feedback is slow, so for weeks you have no evidence either way, and the mind fills the silence with the worst version.
The same thing happens on a smaller scale to anyone promoted. In eight years of turning tradespeople into supervisors, the first months were always the hardest for the people who'd been best at the tools, because they had the furthest to fall from 'expert' to 'beginner'. The feeling usually said more about how much they cared than about how they were doing.
The relied-on list
Reassurance doesn't stick. A manager says you're doing well on Friday and by Monday the feeling is back. What sticks is evidence you wrote down yourself. Once a week, add three entries to a relied-on list: specific things you did that someone else relied on.
- Specific: 'Rebuilt the Thursday schedule so the crew wasn't double-booked', not 'Helped with scheduling.'
- Relied on: someone used it, approved it, or would have had a problem without it.
- Dated, in one place, so after a month you have twelve to read back.
- Include the small ones. In a new job, the small ones are the job.
What a coach actually does about it
A coach can't argue you out of a feeling, and shouldn't try. What a coach can do is separate the feeling from the facts. In practice that means three things.
First, sort what you don't know into a list. 'I'm a fraud' becomes 'I don't yet know the pricing system, the safety sign-offs and who approves overtime', which is a list you can work through. Second, build a 90-day learning plan with names on it: who you'll ask about each item, and by when. Third, set up an early, honest check with your manager, at 30 or 60 days, so the silence gets replaced by real feedback before it can do damage.
Feeling like a fraud versus actually being behind
Sometimes the feeling is right about one thing: you are behind on a specific skill. That is not a confidence problem, it is a training problem, and it is good news, because training problems have fixes. The test is whether the people you work with are raising concerns. If they aren't, the feeling is probably louder than the facts. If they are, ask for specifics and put them on the learning list. Either way, the answer is evidence, not more worrying.
When to see a therapist instead
If the impostor feeling comes with anxiety most days, low mood, trouble sleeping, or dread that doesn't lift on weekends, that is beyond coaching. A therapist or your doctor is the right place to start, and a coach should tell you so. The International Coaching Federation's Code of Ethics asks coaches to work within their competence and to suggest another professional when you would be better served.
Help right now, in the US
If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential and open around the clock. If anyone's safety is at immediate risk, call 911.
Where Launch League fits
Your 2027 Personal Strategic Plan, US$395, includes career objectives and a first 90 days broken into weekly actions, which is where the learning plan and the 30-day check belong. It is coaching, not therapy.
Questions
Quick answers
- Is impostor syndrome a mental illness?
- No. It is not a recognized psychiatric diagnosis. It is a description of a common experience. It can sit alongside anxiety or depression, which are diagnosable and treatable, so if it feels heavier than doubt, talk to a doctor.
- Should I tell my new manager I feel like an impostor?
- You don't need to use the word. Ask for what helps instead: 'Can we check in at 30 days on what's going well and what I should work on?' Most managers welcome that, and the answer is the evidence the feeling lacks.
- Does impostor syndrome go away with experience?
- For many people it fades as the relied-on list grows, then returns with the next big step. Expect it at each promotion or change. Knowing it is coming takes some of the sting out.
- Can a mentor help as much as a coach?
- A mentor in your new field can be even better for this, because they can tell you what normal looks like at month three. A coach is more useful for the plan and the follow-through. Having both is ideal.
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Sources: Clance & Imes (1978), The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women, Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice 15(3), 241-247 · EBSCO Research Starters, Impostor syndrome · Bravata et al. (2020), Prevalence, predictors, and treatment of impostor syndrome: a systematic review, J Gen Intern Med · International Coaching Federation, Code of Ethics · 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Coaching is not therapy, medical, legal or financial advice.