Jeremy Johnson has a new guest blog post this week on how job seekers can address the “overqualified” objection they may get from prospective employers.
Jeremy is a recruiter in Kansas City for EHD Technologies, a recruiting, staffing and managed services company serving the IT, Engineering and Automotive industries.
You can also follow him on Twitter at jsquaredkc
Addressing the “Overqualified” Objection
Probably one of the most frustrating objections job seekers get from prospective employers is that they’re overqualified for a position. How are you supposed to overcome that? What does it even mean?!
Like all objections, the stated objection itself isn’t the real issue. You have to look beneath the surface at the root fear. So, it’s not that you may be “overqualified,” rather, it’s what being overqualified means to a hiring manager. And you can’t address that objection, much less overcome it, if you don’t first deal with the underlying fear.
When someone uses the “overqualified” objection, it always falls under one of four categories. Here they are and here’s how to address them:
You’re too old – Let’s face it. Though age isn’t supposed to play into hiring decisions, everyone knows it happens. Probably the biggest concern with this is that you won’t be in the workforce much longer and the hiring manager wonders how soon she’ll have to rehire for your position. There’s no magical answer to this, but think about framing it this way: a company may be worried about how long they’ll have you, but in this day and age, having someone more than 3-5 years is probably unlikely. There just aren’t many people that stay with companies their entire careers anymore. No employer can count on employees being with them for several years nowadays – and can’t even guarantee they won’t jump ship after a year or two if a better opportunity comes along. So, if you are later in your career, have moved around all you’ve cared to, and want to finish that career in one place, you may very-well be a less risky choice. Give the employer the imagery of which is the more stable choice. Would it be someone earlier in their career who’s looking to keep moving upward and onward, with still a lot to learn, who probably won’t be there in three years? Or, would it be you, whose main motivation is to finish your career in one place, who brings much more skill and experience to the job? This answer wouldn’t apply to everyone and, again, it’s not magic. The point of it, though, is to show the hiring manager why it’s in her selfish best interest to hire you over someone else who’s not “overqualified.”
You’re too expensive – If you’re applying for a job that pays much less than you’ve made before, the hiring manager is thinking that you’re only interested in his job as a stop-gap, and you’ll keep looking for something more in-line with what you’re used to making. And, if that’s the case for you, you’re pretty-much stuck. The only real way to overcome this fear is if your primary motivator is not money. The challenge is communicating this effectively to someone who can offer you a job. Their fear is that you’ll leave as soon as you can find something with better pay. If that’s not actually the case, tell them so! Acknowledge that you realize you made more in the past and that they’re probably afraid you’ll keep looking for better pay. Let them know that the money isn’t your motivator, that you don’t need what you made before to pay your bills, maintain standard of living, etc, and that what you want most is interesting work in a great environment. Those things are what bring you job satisfaction and if you have those, you have no need to look further. Again, not a magical answer, but the point is that you have to give the hiring manager a sense of reassurance that he’s not making a mistake by hiring someone who’s previously made more money. He’s afraid of making the wrong decision. So, how can you take away that fear and tip things more in your favor?
You’re going to get bored and leave soon – If positions you’ve had in the past were at a higher level of expertise or responsibility than the job you’re currently interested in, this is going to be a genuine concern for a hiring manager. The fear is that you’ll get frustrated, bored, or disinterested and leave for a job more at the level you’ve been at before. After all, why would you want to move “backwards” in your career? The fear can also be, much like that listed above, that you’ll treat this as a stop-gap job and continue looking. So, how do you diffuse this fear? It’s not easy but the only real way to do it is assure the hiring manager that you’ve “been there, done that” and don’t really want to go back to it, that you enjoy work more at the level of the position in question and have no intention of ever looking for jobs at the level you were once at. And, the benefit to her is that she would get someone with much more experience and expertise than she would normally, without the fear of losing that person to the “next step” in their career because you’ve already been there and aren’t motivated to go there again.
I see you as a threat to me and I don’t want the competition – This scenario goes hand in hand with the one above, in the sense it implies you’re applying for a position at a lower level of responsibility or expertise than you’ve held in the past. If in the past you’ve been at a level equal to higher than the direct manager you’d report to in this position, don’t discount this fear. That manager may see you trying to show him up, usurp or upset the balance of his authority, or be a competitive threat in the eyes of his own boss. If this is the hiring manager’s true fear, there’s no way you’ll get the job. The only way to overcome this objection is if that manager can feel reassured while selfishly seeing the benefit of having you on the team. Much like answering the objection above, you have to assure the manager that you’ve been at his level of responsibility before, don’t care to do it again, and much prefer being a contributor. With the position you’re currently interested in, you have no interest in taking over, only in being a resource and productive member of team. The advantages of having you can be two-fold. For one, you can better align with the manager’s needs, concerns and goals because you’ve been there yourself and you understand them better than anyone else on the team possibly could. You understand his position and you know what’s needed as a contributor to help that manager be successful. The second advantage is much the same as above, as well, and that is that the manager would gain not only more experience and expertise, but also wisdom, than he would normally be able to get. If he truly believes that you’re saying this out of sincerity and humility, maybe he’ll consider your case.
The “overqualified” objection is incredibly frustrating but don’t forget that the fears underlying that objection are incredibly real. Overcoming that objection is very difficult but it will remain virtually impossible if you don’t first understand the true reason someone throws out that objection in the first place and then work to diffuse that fear lying beneath the surface. And don’t forget to couple that with a compelling argument to the advantages of hiring you over someone who’s not overqualified.