Becoming “The Ideal Candidate ”While Feeling Like an Imposter : Imposter Syndrome as Identity Work among Management Students

Sammanfattning

What happens when management students are expected to become “the ideal candidate ”before they fully feel like professionals themselves? This thesis explores imposter syndrome through the lens of identity work during the job application process. Based on 16 semi-structured interviews with management students and a content analysis of 60 job advertisements, the study examines how students experience and respond to expectations of employability, professional readiness, and legitimacy. Rather than appearing only as an internal feeling of self-doubt, imposter syndrome became visible in the application process where students needed to rework their identity, adjust, and present themselves as employable. Students questioned whether their competence was recognizable, felt distanced from the vague and demanding image of the ideal candidate. The feeling of imposter syndrome can be understood in this study through uncertainty, alienation, and imitation. The thesis contributes to identity work research by showing that imposter syndrome emerges through the social and evaluative process of translating, revising, and performing the self, inrelation to employee expectations.