Overqualified for the job
In a weak economy where unemployment rates are high, overqualified candidates often apply for roles junior to their skillset.
These candidates apply for a number of reasons:
- There are fewer jobs that match the candidates skillset
- Unemployed candidates feel confident when they know they can be successful in a junior role.
- Candidates will “take what they can get.”
Economy-dependent (Supply and demand)
Many HR people say you should apply for a position commensurate with your experience. In any other economy, I would completely agree! This is not THAT economy. Unemployment has no end in sight. Folks need to put food on the table and pay their mortgages. I am trying to help folks find a job first and get picky later.
This blog is about increasing your odds of “getting hired.” This blog isn’t about “who to hire”.
Emotional HR thinking
Companies don’t want to hire overqualified candidates for a number of reasons. You don’t have to agree with everything, but here is the uncomfortable truth most HR people won’t talk about.
- The company assumes it will only receive an 80% effort from an overqualified employee. The employee will be grateful to have a job and give 100% for the first 2-4 months. After being underpaid by 10-20-30%, the effort will slip. If employees feel they are paid 80% of their value, resentment results in 80% effort.
- Acme Publishing doesn’t want to be a stepping-stone position for any employee. They don’t want to train an employee to do a job while the employee is looking for a higher-paying job. Acme is looking for a perfect match to avoid unnecessary turnover.
- Employers want to feel their hires are challenged. No one wants to see a board employee or someone who isn’t trying. No manager wants to deal with someone getting the job done with little effort. It sounds great, in principle. Try managing everyone around them who is busting their ass, trying to keep afloat.
- I can honestly say that companies don’t want to be known as cheap, or horrible employers. You may be employed by one now, but that is your perception. Companies can not last long if they habitually cheat their employees.
- Employees are also customers, recruiters, business development people, and members of the marketing department. They can go work for the competition. They can tell all their friends whether a company is a great or a lousy employer. No company wants bad press from an “insider.”
Market Rates
EG: If a Major League Baseball team played a farm team, the Major League team would not have to put in 100% effort. They don’t have to, and they won’t. They will still beat the farm team with only 90% effort. No owner, manager, or fan wants to pay for 100% effort and see 80% or 90% effort.
Easier said than done
If you are applying for a position that is junior to your skill set, present yourself as a junior candidate. A company that needs 3 years of experience will not hire 6 years of experience and pay a 6-year rate. The company will not think, “OMG, this guy is amazing; we must pay this person double.” If we wanted 6 years of experience, we would have posted that particular ad in the first place.
Your resume is a reflection of your qualifications
Your salary requirements reflect how reasonable you are. I have heard it time and time again. “They didn’t ask me for my salary requirement, so I don’t see how they think I was overqualified.” Just because you are not asked for salary requirements doesn’t mean anything. Because they are using market rates, an experienced recruiter can estimate your salary within 10% by reviewing your resume.
When I ask about salary requirements, I want candidates to articulate them so there is NO confusion. The candidate’s market rate is commensurate with the company’s. Recruiters don’t want to reach the offer stage only to find salary expectations are a world apart. This is common when a candidate comes from tech and applies to a nonprofit or government organization. The market rates are different.
If you are not hearing back from hiring companies and are applying for roles that are junior to your experience, consider updating your resume.
This post explains one signal hiring managers notice.
In the full resume guide, I connect this signal to how resumes are actually read, what it competes with, and when it helps or hurts you.
See you at the after party,
HRNasty
nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.
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Cwgeek85
December 13, 2011HRNasty- I am hoping you can help me. I am 26 and graduating with my Masters of Arts in History and have very little job experience (mainly from working at a movie theater for five years and as a graduate assistant for a year and a half). I plan on looking for jobs in the academic field, or as an academic, career, or financial aid advisor. I do not want to teach for multiple personal reasons. I have some backup plans that I have also been looking at, but these are what one would consider to be entry-level jobs. These include management training, a district executive job with the Boy Scouts of America, liability claims trainee, as well as warehouse supervisor, and a few others. The point is that each of the jobs I have just listed have bachelor’s degree requirements, but no experience necessary. Would these be jobs I would be passed over for due to being overqualified? I am extremely fearful that I am not going to find a job anytime soon with a Master’s degree in History, regardless of the economy. I mean these are jobs that are not even close to my field and these reason why I am looking at them in the first place, aside from the fact that they are available, is that not only are they positions that are near places in which I could live near my family, but jobs that I think would be entirely satisfying and careers that would be fun to work in. Please correct me if I am wrong and don’t worry about being straight up with it, as honesty is the best policy.
HRNasty
December 14, 2011Cwgeek85,
Congratulations on
your Masters and thanks for stopping by.
Just remember, you have a “high class” problem. I would much rather be over qualified than
“under qualified”.
As to applying for
positions that you WILL use your Masters:
Remember that there
are positions out there where they are NOT looking for experience. In the same way you mention that there are
positions looking for a Bachelors with NO experience, there are positions
looking for a Masters with no experience.
They don’t grow on trees but they are out there. Continue to pursue these avenues.
You mention that you
are worried about being overqualified for entry-level jobs that are looking for
a 4-year degree with no experience. Depending
on the job, you may be considered overqualified. That being said, there are a lot of companies
that would appreciate an extra couple of years of school and maturity in their entry-level
position. If an applicant is applying
for the above position with 10 years of experience and a Masters degree that is
when things start to get “sticky”.
Try not to think of
it as being over qualified; think of it as bringing “more to the table” than
the competition. Realize of course that
these positions are budgeted to pay “entry level with no experience” salaries. The point is to get in the door and prove
yourself. When I have put an ad up in
the past for an entry level person, I would be excited to get someone with a
Masters degree if they went to Grad School as soon as they finished their 4
year degree. (It sounds like this is
your case). If the job really only
required a 4 year degree from “any college”, we would be excited to get someone
from an Ivy League school or someone with Masters. Some may feel they were over qualified, but I
felt as if the company was getting lucky.
We paid at the top of OUR salary band, but probably not what this new
hires peers were making on Wall Street.
I worked for a Fortune insurance company and there were a number of
folks with Masters degrees as Liability Claims adjusters and underwriters. The degree was requested because the training
program was 4-6 months and the company wouldn’t make their money back on a hire
till 18-24 months because of the On The Job training required. The degree and advanced degree was an
indication that the individual had good study habits and wouldn’t quit the
program. Very few people go to school
looking to be a Liability claims trainee.
These companies know this and know they are going to have to train
everyone soup to nuts. They want to
know that their training efforts are safe bets.
An advanced degree is a good indicator.
If you do feel like
there is a very “entry level position”, don’t list your Masters degree. Only list your 4 year degree. It isn’t a lie, and perfectly
acceptable. If I find out 6 months after
I hired you that you do have a Masters degree, you will respond with something like
the following: J
“Yes, I have a
masters degree, but I don’t look at it any differently than a 4 year
degree. It isn’t what makes me or
identifies me as special. We have plenty
of folks working here with 4 year degrees and 5 or 10 years of experience and
they know much more than I do. Even
someone with only 2 years of experience knows more than I do at this
company. I really enjoyed school, it was
always a goal of mine to get a Masters degree, but I don’t the degree makes who
I am.”
You could also add a
bit of self deprecating humor with something like “if I had an MBA from
Wharton, trust me you would have heard about it”. . . .
Said this way, we are
all still “equals”. No one is “over
qualified”. No one is going to say to
you “you have a Masters, what are you doing here?” You are here because you enjoy being
here.
If your Masters is
related to the job list it, if it isn’t, don’t list it. I am not saying to hide it, just saying
don’t call attention to it.
Hope this helps,
HRNasty