Do you have too much education (or not enough)?

Can your level of education hurt your chances at a job?

As a recruiter, I’ve seen instances where:

1. A person is considered to be under educated: I’ve dealt with several companies who won’t consider a candidate unless they have a certain level of education ie. a university or college degree. In some cases a certain level of education might be absolutely necessary (ie. if you’re an accountant, the company might require you to be certified) but in other cases it might simply be company policy that every employee needs a minimum level of education. I’ve even seen cases where hiring managers want to see candidates who have attended a specific school(s).

2. A person is considered to be over educated: I can recall several instances when a hiring manager declined to interview a candidate because they felt that the candidate was “too” educated or looking at it another way, too theoretical and not hands-on enough. Often, it’s when the person holds a PhD or multiple degrees and perhaps have more education than they do actual hands-on experience.

How can you strike a balance between the two?

To be honest, it really depends on your specific situation and the job you are pursuing.

While you don’t want to leave out your educational achievements, the truth is that how you present your scholastic achievements can effect your ability to get interviews and get jobs.

I’ve spoken with hiring managers who I’ve had to convince to interview excellent job candidates because at a first glance, the person’s resume appeared to the hiring manager to be too school-centric with not enough “real life” work experience on it.

When you’re putting your resume together, you really need to tailor it to the specific job you are applying for. Obviously if you are applying for a job in the education industry, listing all of your publications, papers and other similar items makes sense.

If you are applying for a job where your education is a “nice to have” or just a simple requirement, you need to focus on highlighting your real life work experience and use your educational achievements as something that might help to distinguish you from other candidates, not as the main selling feature.

In other words, you need to ensure you focus your resume to truthfully and accurately highlight what the employer needs based on what they are asking for.

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