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If you’ve ever been told you’re overqualified, this is for you.
Have you been told that you’re overqualified?
I’m thinking of creating a paid, online job search success course specifically for older job seekers. This would be a high value course aimed at helping you find a better job, faster. There would be videos to follow, effective resources and direct access to me for your questions and answers.
However, this would be a big project that I would only commit to if there are enough people interested. If you are interested in such a course, join my early interest mailing list now
Being rejected is never fun.
Being rejected for a job you wanted is not even close to being fun.
But being rejected for a job you wanted because they said you’re overqualified is a special kind of aggravation. You can clearly do the job, and you’re available, and willing, and yet… and yet… yet they still don’t want you.
Why?
As it turns out, there are many reasons why. Annoyingly but also fortunately, they don’t usually have anything to do with you.
Here are real reasons why employers are so quick to pull out the ‘overqualified’ rejection.
‘It’s not you, it’s me': 9 Reasons to Reject You
- Employer concern about being able to pay you ‘fairly’
Before starting a recruitment process, employers usually know roughly how much they can afford to pay the new hire. Having more experience and skills than other candidates, employers recognize that you bring more value and are perceived as needing higher pay even if your salary requirements haven’t even been discussed yet in interviews.
If that perceived higher salary is higher than their budget for the position, ‘you’re overqualified.’
- Employer concern about being able to keep you long enough
You’ll leave as soon as a better opportunity comes along, because “you have so many options” with your extra skills and experience compared to other candidates. Recruitment is expensive, so employers want the most return on their investment.
If employers think you’ll get recruited elsewhere sooner than later, ‘you’re overqualified.’
- Employer concern you’ll be unwilling to do tasks ‘beneath you’
“You might be willing to do whatever the job requires, but if you’ve held equivalent or higher positions in the past, maybe there are some tasks you just won’t touch because you see your time as too valuable…” thinks a hiring manager who often themselves is unwilling to do tasks ‘beneath them.’
If employers think there’s any aspect of the job you might not do, ‘you’re overqualified.’
- Employer concern you’ll be bored
Recruiters need to be cautious. Overqualified will get demoralized while under qualified will be inefficient. Work to find the best match.
— SKT (@SKTwrites) April 8, 2015
Suppose you really are willing to do whatever the job requires. Who’s to say that you won’t ultimately find the job too easy and unchallenging, going sour and bringing down the mood at work and your colleagues with it?
If employers think you’ll get bored quickly, ‘you’re overqualified.’
- Employer concern about younger people managing older people
If your potential boss is younger, especially if they’re much younger, they might be anxious about how you’d respond to their authority. It doesn’t even matter how old you are, or if you’ve even been in a similar situation before.
If employers think your relationship with their younger manager might be a problem, ‘you’re overqualified.’
- Manager views you as a potential internal competitor
Many bosses and managers are insecure in their roles, regardless of whether they merit them or not. But when along comes a candidate like you who might deserve their role even more – even if that’s not the job you’re currently being considered for – their forward looking inferiority complex will push them to push you far, far away.
A job seeker once related this:
… I’ve had 2 interviews – 1 with a guy who told me I was overqualified (because he wasn’t comfortable when I
- Hire every overqualified mother%#$&@% you can find.
- If someone asks for more than you intended to pay, simply tell them “I’d love to pay you ($200k)! Can you walk me through the model that will help me do that?
Put differently for the startup founders employers smart enough to recognize it and willing to take you seriously, ‘overqualified’ really means ‘qualified plus benefits.’
You just need to do your homework and find them.
Have you been told that you’re overqualified?
I’m thinking of creating a paid, online job search success course specifically for older job seekers. This would be a high value course aimed at helping you find a better job, faster. There would be videos to follow, effective resources and direct access to me for your questions and answers.
However, this would be a big project that I would only commit to if there are enough people interested. If you are interested in such a course, join my early interest mailing list now
