How to Change Your Resume for a Job That You Are Overqualified For

Your resume is your golden ticket to land a job interview -- and hopefully the job itself. You’ve worked hard over the years, built your experience and suddenly -- BOOM -- everything changes. It may be time for you to change your thinking accordingly. Rather than focus on your over-qualification, shift your perspective. The term “dumb down” is often over-used to describe creating a resume to avoid the overqualified label. Instead, customize -- or re-focus -- your resume for a particular job or position level.

Instructions

1. Choose three job postings for which you want to apply. Print or save them to your computer. Review them and look for commonalities in qualifications and requirements. For instance, if you are a marketing manager with 10 years of experience but looking for a marketing assistant position, you may only need one to three years of experience; the fact that you directed a new product launch may be less relevant than your research and computer skills, such as proficiency in page layout applications.

2. Draft a new resume from scratch, and use the job postings you saved as a guide. Keep your soon-to-be-former -- or alternate -- resume on hand for specifics, but starting fresh may help you let go of some of the telltale "overqualified" signs, such as post-graduate education.

3. Focus on your skills. No matter how experienced you are, you need to show how your skills specifically match the job requirements. You may think you’re a “bargain” as a former marketing manager applying for a marketing assistant position, but you need to show you know how to be a marketing assistant -- not direct one. The computer skills you removed from your resume some years ago? It’s time to put them back in. Again, use current job postings as a guide, list the sought-after skills you have and let go of the rest.

4. Add your accomplishments after your skills. Include accomplishments and measurables relevant to the positions for which you’re applying. In broad terms, this means including “saved ABC employer $4,000 by switching our shipping and courier services” rather than “directed in-house shipping and receiving department.”

5. Include your work history in general terms. Hiring managers want your work history, including employer names, locations and date ranges, but they don’t require titles on a resume. If you worked for a company for seven years -- which, in itself is impressive and attractive to the hiring manager -- and moved up in the ranks, you may be tempted to show each progression in title and responsibility. Don’t. Instead, list “ABC Corp., Boston, MA; customer service, technical support and marketing departments; 2004 to 2011.” Your targeted skills and accomplishments are already listed under their respective sections, so there is no need to expand on each position you’ve ever held with each employer you’ve ever had.

6. Modify your education section: remove dates and post-graduate degrees -- they aren’t necessary. What is necessary is illustrating your general educational background, training and certification(s) relative to the job requirements. Listing your Ph.D. in psychology 15 years ago means less than your two-day workshop in technical writing six months ago if you're applying for an entry-level technical communications positions.

7. Stay relevant. If you recently had an assistant who created all of your Microsoft Office documents for you and your own last direct user experience was 10 years ago, take an online class; upon completion, add it to your skills.

Tips & Warnings

• Use current technology to illustrate your savvy and relevance. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile yet, create one. Include your profile link on your resume, as well as your email address -- use a professional email address, such as [e-mail] and not something cutesy; if possible, buy your own domain and use that email address such as [e-mail], upload your resume, blog and portfolio.

References

• reCareered.com; What To Do If You're "Overqualified"?; Phil Rosenberg; May 2011
• Pongo Resume: Over 50? How to Make Your Resume Work for You
• Snagajob: Does Your Resume Make You Look Old? Size Easy Fixes to Help Your Job Search
• Monster.com; Resume Tips When You're Overqualified; John Rossheim
• "The Wall Street Journal"; Advice: Overqualified? Simplifying Your Resume to Land the Job; Alina Dizik; January 2010

Resources

• Quintessential Careers; What Resume Format Is Best for You?; Randall S. Hansen, et al.