The Confessions

"I lied on my CV about a qualification I do not have. That was twelve years ago. I have since become genuinely excellent at the job. But the lie is still there at the foundation of my entire career and sometimes it feels like the whole thing could collapse."

"My biggest professional achievement, the one on my profile and in every interview, was seventy percent the work of a colleague who left before the project completed. I have never corrected this. The achievement is real but the credit belongs to someone else."

"I have been sending my CV out for eight months and have not told my partner. They think my career is settled and I am content. I am neither. I do not know how to explain the restlessness without worrying them."

"I told a job candidate that the company culture was excellent and the team was supportive. Neither was true. I needed to fill the role urgently. They lasted four months. I knew within weeks they were miserable. I said nothing and let them work it out themselves."

"I have told my employer I cannot work weekends for family reasons for three years. My family reasons are that I simply do not want to work weekends. There is no specific commitment. I have just never wanted to say that plainly."

"I turned down a junior colleague who asked me to mentor them. I told them I was too busy. The truth is I found them irritating. They have since gone on to outperform everyone in the department including me. I think about that refusal often."

"I claimed expenses that were not entirely legitimate for about eighteen months. Small amounts, nothing dramatic. I stopped when a colleague was investigated for something similar. The fear of being caught was greater than my conscience, which tells me something about who I was then."

"I have been faking confidence in meetings for eleven years. Every presentation, every strategy session, every time I speak with authority I am terrified inside. Nobody knows. I am considered a natural leader. I am the best actor in the building."

"I have been at my company for nine years and genuinely do not know what I contribute. I turn up, I participate, I produce work. But I could not honestly tell you what the organisation would lose if I left tomorrow. That thought keeps me awake."

"I wrote a negative anonymous review of my former employer that was not entirely fair. I was angry when I wrote it. That review is still up there and still affecting their recruitment. I have considered removing it and have not."