What’s it like to have spent more than 22 years pursuing a targeted education and working for highly regarded organizations, only to find yourself leaving interview after interview having been thanked and told that you are “overqualified?” Well, for me at least, its been an eye-opening, albeit, frusting experience. The irony is that as “overqualified” as your potential employer thinks you are, you are still under or un-employed. I leave the interview with a very odd feeling. My qualifications have been acknowledged, but nevertheless, I have been rejected. Finally, after hearing this more than six times, I realized that the term “overqualified” is probably code for a variety of assumptions and biases on the part of the interviewer. These include: “you cost more than we can or want to pay,” “you may want my job or someone else’s above you,”something is wrong with you that you want this job,” “you’ll leave as soon as you get something better.” I can now guess when one of these or other assumptions are being made as soon as the interview begins, if I hear: “wow, I see that you have done so much…,” ”you are very accomplished,” or “let me start by telling you that this job only pays…” and my favorite is “so tell me, why would you want this job with all that you have done…” Hmmm, well, I need an income and this job fits my needs, career goals, multi-tasking life as a mother, psychotherapist and writer…. none of that is said out loud of course; but if I went to the trouble of applying for the position, I obviously want it for some compelling reason.
One of the most revealing interviews I had recently brought home that perhaps experience isn’t always a good thing in a job search. I was asked to give a chronological synopsis of my curriculum vitae; as I was proceeding, one of the interviewers stopped me and asked how I had accomplished all of this since graduating in 2001. There was a moment of confusion when we all realized that the interviewers were both holding the resume of someone whose name was very similar to mine but who had 15 years less experience. The main interviewer quickly located my c.v. and the interview proceeded as the job was described. I knew that my experience would be a great fit for the position, but they had clearly thought they were interviewing someone with much less experience than I had and they had been happy to do so. In the end, we all shook hands and smiled. As I was leaving I imagined that they were calling the other young woman to set up her interview….
I don’t believe that the problem is that the jobs I have applied for are so much below my skill level. Rather, it is that in my profession there are really three tracks that a professional with over 20 years pursues; the academic, the administrative or private practice. I have done all of the above and still do on a part-time basis. Yet, I am not seeking to become an administrator as that is not my interest or forte. Meanwhile, academic doors are often closed to me beyond being an adjunct as I have not published enough for many top tier university positions. Of course it’s the old Catch 22, in order to publish, I need to be connected to a university to receive grants for same, but I need to get hired first. I also greatly enjoy being in private practice, but also need the stimulation and growth that comes from exchanging cutting edge ideas with colleagues; including those with more knowledge that I have. So, I am continuing my job search until my accomplishments are welcomed. Until then, I remain, “the Most Overqualified Unemployed Person.”
Belinda Seiger, PhD, LCSW
