Israel Business Management

Overqualified - one of the dirtiest words in the English language. The word that an experienced job seeker never wants to hear.

You see a posting for a job that looks perfect for your personality, for you skill set and even for where you feel you are in your career and personal life. It is the "dream job".

The response from the company's HR department (as I will give executives the benefit of the doubt in today's blog entry) is, " We are sorry. You are overqualified for this job. we will keep your CV on file and be in contact if we have a relevant opening in the future."

First, in a court case in the US, the term "overqualified" was determined to be a "code word for too old. This would be age discrimination and companies need to be very careful where they are using the term overqualified.

Second, from a piece of white paper with black text, can you really tell that the applicant is overqualified. In the case of a former CEO applying for a janitorial services position, I can agree, but in most cases, without at least a phone conversation, this is very hard to tell.

In fact, I would define overqualified as three things (according to the HR rep's view):
1. Made too much money in the current or last job

2. Has too much education (we want a BA and this is a PhD)

3. Has too many years of relevant work experience

Word of warning to the HR rep: You could be missing out by coming up with assumptions from the above.

Let's look in more detail:

1. Made too much money in the last job - maybe the person is not looking for more money. Maybe they need to cover their expenses and would take an alternative form of compensation (equity, options, commission on sales, etc.)

2. Has too much education - The key question is do they meet the minimal requirements for this job. After that, you may be able to hire someone that can help in more than one area. You may be able to tap into a theoretical system from their schooling that you have not thought of.

3. Has too many years of relevant work experience - Do not assume. Maybe the person is looking at a change of pace, so you can get that experience for a lot less than you would think. Maybe they are now going from a single life to a married on and therefore, would like less work pressure. Maybe they have had a lot of work related travel and now would like to be at home with the kids more, so you can get all that experience for the same price as someone that does not have the relevant background.

This is just from the employer's view. In the next post, we will look at what you, the applicant, can do to help minimize the chances of this happening to you.