I Pretended to Know More Than I Actually Did at My New Job

r/

I recently started a part-time job alongside my studies, and on my first day, I really wanted to make a good impression. The problem? I might have… exaggerated my experience a little during the interview. Nothing crazy, but enough that when my boss assumed I already knew how to handle certain tasks, I just nodded along instead of admitting I had no clue.

At first, I thought I could wing it, but within an hour, I was completely lost. Instead of asking for help like a normal person, I started watching my coworkers out of the corner of my eye, trying to copy what they were doing. It kind of worked—until I messed something up, and my boss had to step in. She didn’t get mad, but she definitely realized I wasn’t as experienced as I had claimed.

Now I feel guilty because I hate lying, but I also really needed the job. I’m slowly figuring things out, but I still cringe when I think about how obvious it probably was.

Comments

  1. Enough_Mistake_7063 Avatar

    Everyone does this. If you are only taking jobs where you 100% know everything how are you going to learn/grow? I wouldn’t worry about. Just don’t be afraid to ask for help. Every job has it’s own processes/way of doing things so it’s not unusual for a new person of any experience level to be asking questions in the first days/weeks.

    When a new person starts on my team I will just give them tasks that need to be done and expect them to come to me if/when they have questions. That’s standard practice.