I absolutely love this work colleague who works with me.
He was told he'd never amount to anything. He had to re-do his GCSE's twice. He failed University twice. Even on his third attempt he was the victim of two crimes, became seriously ill and nearly had to drop out. He was working two jobs trying to pay his tuition fees. He couldn't afford to rent in the city so he had to rent far out and commute 4 hours a day to his training placement.
He always said to me it was his dream to work at our company. When he qualified he failed the interview for a position. He failed 14 interviews over a year and when he came to us for a 15th interview I honestly don't know how he got the strength to even interview but he was completely in control and did brilliantly.
The problem now is that, now he's got the job he's so enthusiastic and very proud of his achievements that people have (in my opinion mistakenly) accused him of being arrogant and competitive. He does discuss how hard he had to fight to get the position and how happy he is to be working for our company but for those who are in lesser paid jobs, or working in a less prestigious company (the office space is shared by companies) they can feel they he's overly competitive and deliberately putting down their achievements.
To me he's a lovely young man (sound so old saying that), but it's true. If I had had every conceivable obstacle put in my way and overcome it all I would be singing from the rooftops too!
So do you think talking about how much you've achieved is a bad thing? As long as you're not self obsessed and talk about other things aswell. To me I see someone who is happy to have got where they have, but that doesn't mean he looks down on those that haven't achieved as much. It only seems to be an issue for colleagues He's an incredibly good worker, just not good at interviews. who are in lower paid job.
I suppose because I'm in the same field I see things differently.