Is being overqualified another way to say sorry we don't want you working here?

Question

A friend of mine calls me yesterday and tells me she applied for this great job. She said when she initially talked to the manager she had informed her that all she needed was the the basic experience to get the job. Well yesterday she met with the manager for the second time. While the interveiw went excellent and she said shortly after the interview she spent an additional 30 minutes (by manager request) just talking to her. The manager tells her that she has well above everything that is required for the job, all creditials ,background checks and physical endurance test came out excellent and in order. However she said when she got home the lady (manager) called her and told her that she was overqualified for the position. I asked her was it anything else she may have overlooked or said something she shouldn't have after the interview was over. She told me that after the interview the manager just spent the 30 minutes talking about her life and what she does in her spare time

Answer 1

while some people do try to match the job with the best person..that is not always the case.
perhaps they really did feel that she was over qualified for the position. meaning that a promotion could be right around the corner...leaving that position yet again unfilled.
or maybe they thought she would get bored in an "easy" job and look elsewhere for work, again leavin the position unfilled.
they tend to want someone that can LEARN as they go..then move up. it would be like if you tried to go back to high school all over again instead of going on to college. you need something more challenging with better opportunities.
HOWEVER...there are some ppl that will use that term just because after "visiting" with someone they decide the don't like their personality. this is discrimination..but it flies when you use the "over qualified" excuse
i NEVER talk about my personal life in detail to anyone interviewing me. and if they ask personal questions i just smile and Say, id rather keep my personal life and my work separated.

business

Answer 2

What a great question! The statement has several meanings, ie. you are qualified but we don't want to pay you what you are worth, you're qualified but maybe the wrong look or attitude for the company mix (click). How about you really are over qualified and you scare the crap out of the interviewer and they feel threatened by your superior experience and education! You may shine too bright . The two worst comments in a interview let down are "You're over qualified" and "You're under experienced".
Those terms can be switched back and forth an vise- versa all day and they always say the same thing....Thanks but no thanks.

She wouldn't want to work for a company that would thank her in that way for choosing them to possibly work for. There is no point in discussing your personal life to a total stranger as that leaves the door open to discrimination, especially immediately following a interview. Good luck to her on the next one.

Answer 3

sometimes managers are honest, and they know you can make much more money or do much better for yourself if you are not working there. Just like you can be too stupid to be a doctor, you can also be too smart to flip burgers. The reason why the manager spent the half hour talking about your friend's personal life is because he/she wanted to know more about your friends ambition in life, in general. Part of what a manager looks for in a candidate is expected employment length at a company. if you are overqualified for a job, then it is a very real possibility that a better, higher paying job will roll around in no time. this means that your friends time in the company would be short lived, just like the person who screws up or never shows up. Its not a bad thing, because it means that your friend has a much greater potential than whatever company they were applying for had to offer

Hope this helps

Answer 4

I've heard people use it to mean they are concerned about the person being able to take the interviewer's job. It could mean the person really would be bored in the position because they have more skills, education or experience than it requires. Or, it could simply mean that they don't want the person there for whatever reason.

They would not have kept her around talking if they weren't really considering her for the job. So, the only fair conclusion is something happened in the discussion or something happened when the interviewer discussed the interview with someone else in the office. It's really hard to know for absolute certainty unless your friend knows someone on the inside.

Answer 5

A couple of things about being defined as "overqualified".

A. The employer will assume you want more pay than they know they will be able to pay with less qualifications but can still do the job.

B. The employer will be afraid that you will get bored with the position and leave after a short amount of time.

C. The employer may not want a "free thinker" and just want someone who will do as they are told.

Unfortunately these are all valid reasons for an employer not to want to hire your friend. All your friend can do is talk to the interviewer some more and discuss the importance of the job, what your friend see's the job offers her, which is why she wants it, etc...

Answer 6

This is such a great question, and you've got some great answers from all kinds of perspectives.

I don't know what your friend's situation was, but from how you explain it, I think I can relate to being in that position. People change their minds all the time when hiring....for whatever reasons. One can only speculate.

I agree with some of the other answers about talking to the interviewer about private matters. I think applicants need to be tight-lipped about personal matters. If the interviewer is asking personal questions, not only is it unprofessional but illegal.

However, one question could be posed: "Are there any concerns you might have?" I think this is a good question to ask if the applicant suspects doubt from the interviewer.

On over-qualification: My definition of over-qualification has to do with employee turnover. Just from my experience working with businesses and hiring (and the owners were ethical), companies do not want to hire someone who is overqualified because the likelihood of the employee finding a better job is highly probable. This means that the company has to re-hire, re-train. All of this is costly and unproductive to the company.
Tell your friend good luck & thanks for the great question.

Answer 7

Companies look for people who would fit the position the best. They don't want people using the job as a stepping ladder to jump to the next. Maybe they had another person who could also do the job but less qualified overall and felt more comfortable with that person. It could be that the manager felt your friend was too ambitious and would be a threat to her own position. The correct thing to do is to move on.

Answer 8

To me it sounds like the manager liked her and is more or less doing her a favor. If she is overqualified for a job, it would be a waste of her time to sit there in that position that will not challenge her skills. She will more than likely get bored or tired of this postion quickly. I think that she is saving herself and your friend some time. She should look at it in a positive way and move on to find something better suited.

Answer 9

Been there, got the t-shirt. An interview I had with a prospective employer was going along just grandly when he suddenly told me that if he hired me, he would lose his job to me because of my qualifications. I assured him that I was not interested in replacing him and that I wanted to enhance his productivity, but no dice. I learned a valuable lesson about job interviews...namely, make sure you don't intimidate the interviewer by making him/her anxious about his/her own capabilities. I learned also about the regrettable practice of toning down my resume so my qualifications match the position I sought, not overwhelm. With the touchy job market being what it is today, its an understandable irony that the interviewer's ego sometimes gets in the way of hiring good prospects.
Tell your friend to insure her resume and interview don't overmatch the position she wants and to keep the faith. There are good positions out there. Welcome to the frustrating world of job hunting. Good luck.

Answer 10

Sounds like they had someone else in mind already from the higher ups. Meaning, the job was already taken by the boss' nephew type of thing. Or, they got someone in at a lower starting salery.

Good luck