Are you overqualified?
Being told that you’re overqualified for a job is one excuse you might be given when you don’t get a job or when you don’t even make it to the interview stage for a job you’re interested in.
As a recruiter, I have literally had hundreds of cases where job candidates have contacted me regarding a particular job but I’ve had to tell them that were overqualified and had too much experience.
They usually persist and try to convince me the job interests them but that’s not the point. I understand that it must be frustrating to hear that you are over experienced for a job but sometimes you are. In other cases you don’t have enough experience or perhaps don’t have specific experience that the job requires.
Sometimes, the hiring manager will tell a recruiter specifically “don’t send me anyone with more than 5 years of experience” or something similar to that. It happens quite often.
Other times they might say “don’t send me anyone who doesn’t have X, Y, and Z on their resume” where X, Y and Z represent three specific skills that a candidate must have to even get an interview. These are what we call “must haves.” You must have these skills or they won’t consider you for the job.
If the job description says that the role requires 3-5 years of experience and you have 10 years, you’re barking up the wrong tree. You’re overqualified. This job is too junior for you. From the employer’s perspective, they’re most likely worried you’ll take the job, get bored, and then quit and get a job elsewhere more suited to your level of experience.
Sometimes, you apply for a job and you’re not entirely sure if you qualify for it or not. Perhaps the job description asks for 8-10 years of experience and you’re in that range but maybe the job also asks for a number of different skills, only some of which you have.
Should you apply or not?
Most of the time, the job descriptions you see have a laundry list of skills and experience listed and often you can’t tell which skills are absolute must haves and which skills are just nice to haves.
Occasionally you might see a job description that specifically tells you something to the effect of “if you don’t have skills X, Y, and Z please don’t bother applying for the job.” They usually say it more tactfully than that but you know what I mean.
Bottom line, use common sense and read the job description and assume that the person writing it knows what they’re looking for before applying for jobs. You don’t want to avoid applying for jobs you qualify for but at the same time, don’t possibly ruin your chances with a company by applying for jobs you have no business applying for.
Same goes with jobs you apply for through a recruiter. Of course, if the recruiter(s) you’re working with is any good, (s)he won’t be sending you out for jobs you’re overqualified for because they’ll know exactly what the hiring manager wants.
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