Over qualified!!

LemonGrove

DaveW007 wrote: »

Since being laid off by Lloyds TSB earlier this month I have applied for about 130 jobs.

I want any job, I really don't mind what I do as I see that any job is better than no job.

As Jobseekers benefit is only about £64.00 per week this is not enough to live on and doesn't even cover my mortgage.

What is really frustrating me is the amount of potential employers who tell me I am over qualified or have too much experience!!

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has come up against this.

Could this be a friendly way of telling me I'm too old I wonder? I'm only 42 and don't consider myself old.

Apart from take out a lot of my experience & qualifications from my CV what else can I do?

Don't worry about your age Dave, I am 25 years younger than you, and have been told I am overqualified too many times. I think they use it for two reasons - it's a nice way of telling you that you don't have the job as they are complimenting you, or because someone who has less skills is more likely to need the job and will therefore stick at it.

Lollypop75

counterfeit wrote: »

If I was a black jewish lesbian I would walk into a job tomorrow but because I am a married white British man I can't even get an interview.

Erm, no you wouldn't. I understand that it's difficult looking for work, and I'm finding it quite upsetting at times, myself. But I assure that any minorities who are looking for work are struggling as well.

counterfeit

Lollypop75 wrote: »

Erm, no you wouldn't. I understand that it's difficult looking for work, and I'm finding it quite upsetting at times, myself. But I assure that any minorities who are looking for work are struggling as well.

Under our politically correct laws they would have to give me interviews though to fill their stupid quotas.

If I could get that far it would at least be something. At least I would then have a chance to prove myself and allay their concerns about me leaving after 10 minutes to get a better job.

poorgrad

counterfeit wrote: »

Under our politically correct laws they would have to give me interviews though to fill their stupid quotas.

If I could get that far it would at least be something. At least I would then have a chance to prove myself and allay their concerns about me leaving after 10 minutes to get a better job.

Sorry, but where have you been getting your information from? The only person guaranteed to get an interview is someone that is classified as having a disability. If you are sending out CV's your race should not be on there. And anyway, if they interview you to fill their quota it does not mean that you will get the job.

Lollypop75

Quotas don't exist! Positive discrimination is illegal in this country. Lots of companies don't even monitor these details of their applicants.

bristol_pilot

Well my office has been like a revolving door over the past couple of years because every time I employ someone highly qualified and experienced (which is all the agencies seem to have, apart from people with no qualifications or relevant experience at all) they leave within a few months for something more challenging, a shorter commute or whatever. They usually leave before even completing their training which all adds cost and disruption to the business. So OP, I can fully understand why employers do not want someone who is too experienced for the job. It's not necessarily a euphamism for 'too old', which at 42 is probably not the case depending on what field of work you are in. My advice is always always always tailor your CV to the job.

LondonDiva

Having just shortlisted 20 people out of 270 people for one job (2 1/2 days of interviews next week), I can speak from bitter, tiring experience:

* Don't assume that because you're a 'professional', you don't have to bother with a decent supporting statement or to apply for the job. It will not be handed to you on a plate.

* If you are overqualified for the job - convince me that you're going to stay. Recruiting is expensive, time consuming and incredibly boring - staff looking over the horizon can be demoralising for all. I'm not spending all this time and energy only for you to p1ss off elsewhere next year when the economy picks up and you get a better offer. If no effort has been made to show why this job is for you, you won't get a look in.

*Supporting statements are there to sell yourself and tell me why I should hire you based on examples of how you meet the criteria. I don't want to read the cv cut and paste into the supporting statement - that one goes in the no pile.

*Don't go on for too long a 9 page supporting statement is a bad thing - I repeat a bad thing.

*Use examples - I want to hire the best person for the job & if I can pay an admin wage to get a manager, I will - but only if you demonstrate clearly with examples of just how good you are with report writing.

*SPELL CHECK, SPELL CHECK, SPELL CHECK, SPELL CHECK, SPELL CHECK, SPELL CHECK - computers have a wonderful thing that checks spelling.

*text speak or lower case is not acceptable - yes - those who claim to have managed 40 people managers, solicitors, auditors and people with masters in my NO pile, I'm talking about you. Capital letters are your friend.

*Read through the jd and then in the description of duties in your previous employment, tailor that to reflect what they're looking for.

*SPELL CHECK

Above all, get someone else to read through your application for spelling and gramatical mistakes.

bristol_pilot

LondonDiva wrote: »

Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift? Cicero

In Cicero's time this was true! :rotfl:

counterfeit

LondonDiva wrote: »

*text speak or lower case is not acceptable - yes - those who claim to have managed 40 people managers, solicitors, auditors and people with masters in my NO pile, I'm talking about you. Capital letters are your friend.


Above all, get someone else to read through your application for spelling and gramatical mistakes.

Are you being ironic with the deliberate use of lower case to start your first point?

Hmm - spell check would tell you how to spell grammatical properly.

paulwf

Overqualified = the boss who is recruiting you fears that you will do a better job than him/her and take their job!

I had an interview for a rather run down small retail business and it was clear the bosses thought they were really something, they seemed to like having crap staff so that they could feel superior to them.

Companies might not just fear you leaving for a better job they might also fear you will be bored out of your mind or might not blindly follow orders - you have to get used to turning up, switching off and never questioning what you are asked to do.