What to Do When You Don't Get a Job Because You Are Overqualified?
During tighter job markets, professionals with years of experiences, promotions, business successes and accomplishments may find themselves scrolling through the online want ads feeling overqualified for the sea of entry-level positions available. If you don't get a job because you're overqualified, take valuable knowledge from the first go-round to make adjustments that will prepare you for the next desired position.
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Concerns
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Recover from being passed over during the hiring process by evaluating some of the concerns that potential employers may have had because you were overqualified for the job. Identifying individual concerns will help you develop narratives, examples and explanations of how those concerns don't apply to your situation. Employers may be concerned that since you're overqualified for a job, you'll ditch out on the company as soon as something better comes along. Prospective bosses may also worry that you'll be bored or unmotivated by the lesser challenges involved with a job requiring fewer qualifications. Other concerns may be that you'll be unwilling to take a pay cut or, if you're an older worker, that you'll resent taking direction from younger managers.
Tweaks
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Retool your resume to eliminate dated or overly impressive information about your work history. Omit all but the last 10 to 15 years of your work history; listing job positions dating back to college when you're a veteran professional isn't efficient use of resume space anyway. Unless you graduated from college within the past five years, remove your graduation date from the resume. If previous job titles carried much more responsibility than the job you'd like to next apply for, omit the specific job title in favor of the department name. For example, rather than listing the title, "Senior Administrative Director, Human Resources," just list "Human Resources."
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Interview Responses
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Prepare interview responses that address employer concerns listed above. For example, if an interviewer notes concerns that you may be overqualified for a position, ask him more specifically where the concern lies. If the concern relates to you being bored on the job, illustrate your enthusiasm with examples about what elements of the job you find particularly intriguing. Employers concerned with the feasibility of you taking a pay cut may be relieved to hear that while you understand that the job involves lower salary, you're looking forward to taking advantage of the company's policy of helping cover professional development training costs or family-friendly work scheduling. If an employer expresses concern that you'll leave once something better comes along, note that older workers have a lower turnover rate than younger workers looking to climb career ladders.
Attitude
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No one wants to hire a grumpy worker exuding victimization vibes, so don't develop a negative attitude. Acting like you're overqualified for a job is one way to demonstrate to employers that you really are overqualified and should be passed over in favor of another candidate. Approach each job interview with optimism and a contagious positive spirit to effectively convince potential employers that you're the right person for the job.
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References
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