Sometimes being overqualified for a position (or at least being told that you’re over qualified…you might think you’re not but the employer does!) is an issue you’ll deal with when applying for jobs.
You might think the job fits your skills and experience but the employer feels you’re too qualified and decides either not to hire you or perhaps not even interview you.
As an IT recruiter, I have faced this many times, where I either had a candidate who I had to convince was too senior for a job they wanted to apply for, or where I was told by the hiring manager for a particular position that the person I’d sent over for consideration for the job was overqualified.
Often, we’ll see candidates who are overqualified with experience where the employer simply feels that the job will bore this person and they’ll probably quit within a few months if they were hired.
In other cases, it’s the level of education that scares an employer away. I’ve seen PhD-level candidates who scare off hiring managers because the manager thinks the person is too heavily tilted on the scholastic side and is over educated for the position. As in the first example where the person has too much experience in the eyes of the employer, in this case the bottom line is usually that the employer figures the person would get bored by the job and the last thing an employer wants is a bored employee who is likely to quit and find a more suitable job.
What should you do if you’re being told that you’re overqualified for positions you’re applying to?
Some recruiter and perhaps your friends will tell you to dumb down your resume and/or lie during interviews. This isn’t a good idea because typically you’ll either end up with a less-than-suitable job that you’ll be bored in (see comments above) and/or you’ll get caught in your lie(s).
The best thing you can do is ensure you’re only applying for jobs that interest you and that you are actually qualified for. That is, jobs that you are not under qualified for nor overqualified for.
For an earlier post on being overqualified, please click here.
