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Advice for the Over-Qualified

Posted On: Monday, July 6th, 2009 - Posted By: Online Resume Builder

Balancing Pride with Relevance

Definition of Over-Qualified:

American Heritage Dictionary, fourth edition, defines overqualified as “educated or skilled beyond what is necessary or desired for a particular job”. Here is a list of the perks and challenges associated with being overqualified for jobs for which you are applying.

Perks to take advantage of:

You are able to ramp up quickly, contributing at a high level within 30/60/90 days.
You will apply a wide range of talents to the job.
You can problem-solve and brainstorm complex issues.
You can demonstrate that your networking, resumes, cover letters, and interviewing skills put you ahead of others competing for the same jobs.

Challenges to overcome:

Jobs are focused on particular skills sets needed at a particular level.
You might be perceived as bossy, a know-it-all.
Employers assume you will have higher minimum salary requirements than they have budgeted.
You may feel the need to “dumb down” their resume.

Re-vamp Your Approach:

There are two primary obstacles in play for the over-qualified job-seeker. Pride and demonstrated scope. Pride becomes an issue when your sense of identity and level of achievement is at odds with your current situation. The choice of words you use to describe your situation has a big impact on your attitude and approach. Is it “dumbing down” your resume to target a job and demonstrate your relevant qualifications? No. That is what all resumes need to demonstrate, for jobs at any level.

Choose your descriptive entries carefully. What do you know about the company, its mission, and culture? Use suitable entries that help prospective employers know that you understand where they are at, what they need, and that you are ready, willing, and able to help them at that level. Don’t “dumb it down” but do be relevant without going over the top and forcing them to acknowledge that you will run circles around half their employees right out of the gate.

Opportunities are out there and employers are hiring.

They’re Your Qualifications!

Action words are powerful. Choose them wisely. Use the same action words in your resume that a prospective employer highlights in a job posting.
Use your advanced level of creativity and problem-solving skills to tackle the opportunity to create a highly relevant resume that fits the employers’ needs without coming across as bragging.
You want a prospective employer to hire you and pay you to apply skill sets they need in order to grow their company according to their strategic plan. They set the direction, not you.
The economy will turn around. Many people are working “survival jobs”. Be realistic and realize these are stepping stones to help you reach your larger goals.

Lisa has 14 years of résumé coaching experience.
She currently directs day-to-day operations and programming of a career center at a two-year technical college. From 2006-2008, she served as State Chair of a national organization to support women leaders in higher education. She remains on the Board. Previously, she served as HR Director of a legal services firm and specialized in worker’s compensation issues. From 1996-1998, she worked as a graduate assistant in the career services office of a large four-year college.

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Tags: advice, balancing, job search, job seeker strategies, over-qualified, tactics
Posted in Interview Tips, Your Career | No Comments »

Show You Are a “Match”

Posted On: Thursday, May 28th, 2009 - Posted By: Adam C.

Don’t Make Employers Guess – Prove It!

Know Your Audience:

You find companies in which to send your resume and cover letter. But do you know HOW these companies organize their search and selection processes? Your company research should include an investigation of HOW they receive your resume. Specifically, does a pair of human eyes review them first? Or are all resumes scanned into the company’s Applicant Tracking System first? If so, “you” are not being seen by human eyes unless your resume got the automated system’s attention first through your keywords. Mid-size to large companies who need to be able to handle a high volume of incoming applications simply cannot manage without such an automated system. If software is evaluating your resume for best fit, or match, you need to write your resume in a way that the software can best take notice of you and your talents.

Build in a “Keywords” Section on Your Resume:

A keyword section can be placed close to the top, down at the bottom, or along the side margin of your resume. Keywords are the items that a prospective employer needs to associate with you to know to what extent you are a suitable candidate for consideration. Keywords can encompass and showcase acronyms, buzzwords, software, equipment, processes, tools, job titles, context, and more.

It’s Your Career!

Keywords help to establish that your qualifications and experience are highly relevant for the position in question.

Do your homework: locate 3-4 ads or postings for a particular job title of interest (and suitable for your qualifications). Between them, come up with a list of 10-12 keywords that you can list on your resume.

Keywords are the important words you want a prospective employer to associate with you. They are also found prominently within job postings. You want your keywords to match their keywords (again, as suitable to your qualifications).

Lisa has 14 years of résumé coaching experience.
She currently directs day-to-day operations and programming of a career center at a two-year technical college. From 2006-2008, she served as State Chair of a national organization to support women leaders in higher education. She remains on the Board. Previously, she served as HR Director of a legal services firm and specialized in worker’s compensation issues. From 1996-1998, she worked as a graduate assistant in the career services office of a large four-year college.