Why you still feel 'new' in a job you've done for years

"I've never done this before. I don't know how."

An old colleague said this to me last week about writing a curriculum review document. She's been an academic for twelve years.

It struck me that we don't get taught how to be academics. Academics must learn by watching others, by googling examples, and sometimes by working it out at 10pm on a Wednesday when it's due Thursday morning.

Yes, maybe you did a PhD so you know research. You have done a PGCert for teaching skills. But the daily work goes far beyond this. How to write a module guide, apply for funding, supervise a PhD student, review a journal article, manage a budget, handle a complaint, write a business case. None of this gets taught in any formal way. All this is before we get to the learning we're actually here for; the new theories, methodologies, staying current in our field. We find that learning gets pushed to evenings and weekends, or at the end of a never ending to-do list because the working day is consumed by learning how to navigate institutional systems.

Just when we get comfortable with where we are, there comes the promotion, or that new role. Course lead, ethics head, employability champion, the list goes on. Now you're learning a new set of processes and skills. That may be how to line manage, how to write a reference, it also could be planning a strategy or allocating resources. The learning never stops. It's always responsive, mostly unplanned, and importantly it is always happening alongside everything else you're already supposed to know.

We don't often stop to acknowledge the sheer volume of learning on the job that academics do. The uphill trajectory of learning required in your first lectureship, then the continual bolting on of new skills and processes as you go.

The fact that work needs doing is what propels this learning along. But the invisibility and normalisation of the learning required can mean that we're left wondering why this is taking so long, or why we feel overwhelmed with a simple task. That simple task might require logging into two new databases, finding information in a spreadsheet which is locked and incomprehensible, and speaking to three other people to find out how they did it.

The perpetual need to upskill can leave us feeling incompetent in our own jobs. We need more recognition of the learning, and some self-compassion to help us through.

Next time you're wrestling with something new, recognise you're learning. Name it when the task is assigned: "I'll need time to learn this."

Notice what that recognition permits. Maybe it permits you to take longer than you think you should. Maybe it permits you to ask for help without feeling incompetent. Maybe it permits you to stop comparing yourself to someone who's been doing this for five years.

Ask yourself: is this a skill I need or want to learn? Does it serve what I actually want from this job? This is not to help decide whether to do it (there is seldom a choice), but rather how much of yourself to give to it.

Then choose your approach:

• Ask for help

• Use a template or ask for someone else's method

• Do it adequately rather than pursuing excellence

The last point will cause some tension, I realise. Possibly not a popular suggestion. Adequate feels inherently wrong. We didn't build our careers on 'good enough'. However when you're being asked to excel at management, curriculum design, digital pedagogy, research impact, and three new administrative systems simultaneously, something has to give. Choosing where your standards matter most is best skill you can learn.

It's okay to be adequate at tasks that don't take you where you want to go. It's okay to learn something to a functional level only, to use a template, or to do what is necessary.

You're not incompetent. You're just being asked to be expert at too many things at once. So choose what matters. Let the rest be good enough.

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Hi, I am Wendy.

I work with academics to help them build sustainable careers so they can progress with autonomy, intellectual challenge and impact.

Packages start from £499.

With me you can expect to achieve:

• A comprehensive mapping of where you are now, and where you want to be.

• Clarity on what matters to you both professionally and personally.

• Practical tools to set work boundaries that actually stick in academic environments.

• Strategies to protect your wellbeing while still delivering quality work.

• Emotional support and understanding.

• Confidence to make decisions to support your future personal and professional life.

Book a chat in my diary, it is free for a 30 minute conversation to find out if working with me can help you take the next steps in your academic life. https://tidycal.com/drwendynicholls/letschat

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