In today’s job market, many HR professionals find themselves vying for jobs that are at a lower level than the jobs they may have previously held. The challenge: addressing prospective employers’ likely concern about them being “overqualified.” Being prepared to address these concerns and field questions from recruiters and interviewers can help HR job seekers put these fears to rest.
The question is not whether you’re overqualified for a position, but how you can best respond to any concern from interviewers, says Richard Kirby, author of Fast Track Your Job Search (Executive Impact, 2009). “The real objection is that the interviewer believes the job seeker is ‘settling’ for a lesser job as a stop-gap strategy and that they are likely to keep looking for a better job and bolt for the door as soon as they find one,” he says.
Employers can be suspicious of applicants with too many qualifications, agrees Mitch Kocen, assistant marketing manager of BAJobs.com, an online job board, who says it’s an issue he advises job seekers on often. “When companies say ‘overqualified,’ they mean ‘flight risk,’ ” says Kocen. “A job seeker who is applying for a job well below their experience level and pay grade is more often than not there out of desperation. When the economy improves and a job more suited to their career level opens up, this new employee is likely to leave, wasting the money spent acquiring and training the new hire. Employers are looking for people who are going to be long term.”
Nancy Anderson is with Blackbird Learning Associates LLC in Bound Brook, N.J., and the author of Job Search for Moms (lulu.com, 2010). “Since it is illegal to infer that someone is too old for a position, many hiring managers wonder out loud if the candidate may be overqualified for a particular position,” Anderson says. “Why would you want this job when you are clearly three levels above it?” Anderson suggests the following responses to such questions:
- Ask for clarification. “What do you mean?” “How do you define overqualified?” The interviewer’s answer will hopefully provide some guidance for your response.
- Be prepared. What is it about this job that you like or can compensate for a lower salary? Is it closer to your home? Does it offer a telecommuting option? Do you admire the corporation’s mission or responsibility? Can you work an eight-hour rather than 10-hour day?
- Match your skills and accomplishments to the position. Focus on how your past accomplishments can align with the department/organizational goals.
To minimize these concerns, says Lori B. Rassas, author of Employment Law: A Guide to Hiring, Managing and Firing for Employers and Employees (Wolters Kluwer, 2010), candidates who find themselves in this position should focus on their long-term commitment to the company as well as how they believe they can grow with the position. “For example if performance management is going to be a job responsibility the candidate can reference the existing practice, and how it can be modified—and how the candidate can implement the modifications—by following incremental steps over an extended period of time,” says Rassas.
Lin Grensing-Pophal, SPHR, is a Wisconsin-based business journalist with HR consulting experience in employee communication, training and management issues.