Fake it till you make it. Deceit or a feat?

Fake it till you make it… As a recent University graduate or someone underqualified for a job, is faking your skills really acceptable?

This controversial phrase can be perceived by others as an ego driven mentality, lying your way to success. Though the common term can be seemingly inauthentic, there are many good and bad ways to take it and times where we should and shouldn’t apply this to our lives.

When not to use it

Job interviews

When going into a job interview, you really need to sell yourself. Clearly articulating your knowledge, experience and what you can bring to the company. Now, in a competitive field, you may not feel confident in certain aspects of the role. What do you do in this case? Lie through your teeth? Telling the employer, you fit the job requirements like you were the missing puzzle piece they have been pining for? Or do you come clean, completely honest, explaining you know nothing about over half of the points the employer has listed on the job description? Neither, the term “fake it till you make it” has some grey area when it comes to job interviews. Deception will eventually come and bite you in the back when you are expected to perform the job’s functions you claimed to be experienced in. Honesty is always appreciated but talking yourself down due to lack of experience will cause the employer to undermine your abilities and potential to grow.

It is important to display sincerity in a job interview. You may not be the most experienced but showing you are passionate about the job and are willing to learn where your gaps in knowledge are will get you a very long way. Employers are usually looking for individuals with soft skills, being able to learn on the job as times change is an essential part of growth for a business. Explaining what you do know or how other aspects of your life apply to the job skills will get you much further than saying you know nothing. I personally have had someone tell me how in a job interview for a financial analyst position, he told the employer how he was able to make money off a game called Maple story as a ten-year-old which had helped him understand various markets from a young age. He got the job. Employers would rather hear a story like that over an answer such as ‘I know nothing’.

When to use it

Being your best self

Faking it may not always be deceiving. Sometimes, faking it can bring out who you really want to be. You start new job, it’s your first day, you’re super nervous that you don’t have friends and are too afraid of approaching others in the company. Despite feeling like this it is necessary that you do fit in with the company’s culture. What should you do? Fake it! Fake the confidence that you didn’t think you had. In this case, you are only bringing out in you what you wanted to see in yourself.

Being a better you may not always come to you naturally, but faking it till you make it to that level of confidence in this case will aide you in becoming the kind of person you want. Faking confidence moderately will allow people to respect you more and as well as influence others. Having open body language will make you seem more trustworthy than if you were hunched over, slinking around the office like you had a million secrets to hide. Though you may not always feel this way, fake confidence is the first step to real confidence.

Final words

Deception is bad. Telling blatant lies regarding your skillsets will eventually lead to your own detriment. In these cases, honesty is the best policy and showing other aspects of your life can be applied to job roles which can be very beneficial. Faking it till you make it should only be used in the sense of becoming who you want to be, bringing out the best in yourself.