Have you ever been told this at the end of a long interview process? It’s confusing, right? I remember the first time I heard it, thinking, “Surely this is a good thing – it proves I have all the experience!”. This has been a topic of debate for years and years, one I’ve got into with numerous colleagues in the recruitment industry.
I’ve tried to understand the reasoning behind this decision, and my experience has led me to believe that it can be a genuine concern for the hiring manager that an overqualified employee would quickly become bored, and jump as soon as a more challenging role enters the market. I’d personally argue that if the candidate you’re faced with is satisfied with the salary on offer and feels genuinely excited by the role and what they can bring to the table you should appoint them and benefit from their experience.
I do appreciate that for both parties, it’s not an ideal situation to be faced with, so here are a few tips to give you the best chance of staying well away from the ‘overqualified rejection’:
- Before applying for the role, sense check that the role doesn’t fall short of your experience and that you wouldn’t get bored. Make sure to check the salary on offer and only apply if it is set at a level you’d be happy with. Let’s not waste hiring managers and recruiters time by applying while secretly hoping things might change, or that you could influence the hiring managers decision to change the package on offer.
- If there is a possibility of rejection on the basis of over-qualification, think ahead to how you’d counteract this. List 3 reasons why they would want to hire you (and your experience), so you are fully prepared in the interview.
- When discussing your experience, particularly if the role is less challenging than you are used to, stay grounded and relate your answers to the job spec. For example, in Procurement terms – if the role is a Buyer level position and you are an experienced Procurement Manager don’t talk about transformations you have led but instead give examples of suppliers you have negotiated with and bought services from. Hiring managers may get put off if you over sell your high-level strategic knowledge, if the role in question will be more transactional.
- Be honest. The best way to prevent a direct challenge in an interview process is for you to initiate the observation that the hiring manager might well consider you to be overqualified. Addressing this up front can disarm hiring managers and they will appreciate your honesty and self-awareness.
- Sell the benefits. Yes, you did this role 10 years ago but so what? If you really want the role then sell the fact that you are more than capable of hitting the ground running and delivering with minimal input – and you’d really enjoy doing it too. Speed to competency is a very attractive factor for some hiring managers!
Remember – don’t be afraid to challenge the hiring manager and the recruiter with a coherent and professionally delivered counter argument… they will probably respect you more for it!
