Overqualified? What You Need to Do to Get Hired

by Career and Professional Advice

• Published September 7, 2016
• Updated September 7, 2016

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by Grace Totoro, Career Transitions Coach

Grace, I have the experience for the job, but I wasn’t selected.” “They told me I’m overqualified?” As a Career Transitions Coach, I have heard these comments made to me by many of my clients who have performed in the same role for many years with excellent performance evaluations and skills, however, no job. Some have licenses, degrees, certifications and so on. But what does all this mean in today’s market?

From my research, experience doesn’t have the same impact it once had. I formed my definition of experience. It is the amount of time (not necessarily in years) someone has been successfully doing the same thing over and over again, continuously generating a positive impact on the company who employs them. In more definitive terms it solves the problems in the now. It’s your ability to use what you have well enough that someone hires and holds onto you while you fix their problems.

In this constantly evolving world, where change is inevitable, company problems change and at times it takes more than experience to resolve them. Remember this: “It is not the number of years you have been doing something well, it is the results that you generate most recently that matter most.” For more information on how to better market you today, Please watch my short video by clicking here.

As you may know, roles change and the requirements to perform in that role also change. Think about the regulatory structure, the tax structure, and the impact of technology. The platform for performing in your position may have changed as well as the tools utilized. Therefore to say I’ve been an Accountant for 20 years is not enough. Prove that you are what I need but first, you must understand who I am today. You may understand basic accounting principles, however telling me that you have 2+ years’ experience may not suffice to get you hired.

As a Jobseeker you must continuously review your credentials and here are a few questions you may want to ask yourself to prepare you better for this task.

Question 1. What are my hard skills? Think of it like this; you can learn hard skills from books and training. For example, an electrician, engineer, accountant, physicist, programmer, or a doctor, must learn the rules of these fields, which do not change over time. The tools they use may change, but the rules do not. Like mathematics, 1+1 will always equal 2. You may have used a slide ruler to compute challenging equations in the past, however now you must understand how to integrate technology into your mix. The mathematician must know the “rules” of the mathematics to perform certain jobs. However, technology has also made mathematicians more efficient. In this scenario, the mathematician who still uses the slide ruler and relies on 40 years of experience risks not getting the job. However, if the mathematician, uses current technology and has five years’ experience, generates the results more quickly and more accurately, who do you think will get the job?

Question Two: What are my soft skills? These skills are not emphasized in school and are harder to quantify unless combined with hard skills. Most soft skills like communications, relationship building, leadership, persuasion, listening, and networking, do not have a core set of rules and can vary from one profession to another.

Question Three : What role(s) can I qualify for now, with my hard and soft skills. Can I demonstrate how I use these skills and what the impact will be today for my target audience.?

Question Four: Is there enough opportunity for me in the role I am searching? In other words, has the job you were performing changed to a point where your 12+ years of experience no longer makes you qualified? If yes, what else can I do and how will that solve the problems my target audience is facing?

The world of yesterday is no longer the world of today, and the world of today will not be the world of tomorrow or forever. Therefore, you must keep current, not just with your skills, but in how you will use them to make a company’s pain go away.

With a change in mind, the methodology you have been using to find a new job has changed as well. If you have been a job chaser and the results have not been what you thought they should be, then you need to learn the new skills of becoming a job magnet to improve your results significantly, as long as you are willing to step out of your comfort zone. The decision is yours. However, it will require that you look at your “experience” differently.

For more on how to do this, Please watch my short video by clicking here.

The Video Will Reveal

• The Biggest Mistakes Job Seekers Make When Looking for a Job
• A Three Phase Critical System that successful job seekers use to get companies to hire them while Unsuccessful Job Seekers Do Not Apply
• The Proven System That Captures The Attention Of Your Target Companies And Generates Interviews That Turn into Offers and Jobs

Thank you for your time.

Grace Totoro received her BBA from Adelphi University and her Master’s Degree from New York Institute of Technology. She is a Visionary, Career Transitions Coach, and Thought Leader, who has been having fun for over two decades, helping others in refining their Career Objectives, and Job Search Strategies while living a life filled with purpose. She is the President and Lead Coach for TransitionsByGrace, LLC and she can be reached at View phone number on workus.org, or by email:View email address on workus.org. website:

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