Question for anybody involved with recruitment.

donquine

amber1979 wrote: »

I recently had a rather "heated debate" about the over-qualified issue. My friend was convinced that it simply does not exist. They implied that most employers would be more than happy to take on somebody with far more qualifications than the job required. It's interesting to hear somebody else concur with me on this one!

To do my job, you need to have one good undergraduate degree. If you have three degrees, my employer will not hold this against you, but on the flip side, my employer will not count this in your favour. You'll be considered on an even playing field with people holding only one degree. This means overqualification will not be an issue, but your starting salary will not be adjusted to reflect the additional time you've spent studying.

You don't say what line of work you're in, but the above is the norm in my profession.

I rather suspect your CV is the problem here, not your level of education or your gender. It may have been professionally written, but all that means is you paid someone to do it for you. Do you have any friends who work in the industry in which you are trying to get a job? Could you ask one of them to give you an honest appraisal? As they have actually got a job in your field, they will have a better idea of what their employers (and similar companies) are actually looking for.

olly300

sexki11en wrote: »

Hmmmmmmm, I wouldn't think this is the reason tbh. I mean, lets face it, women are of childbearing age from about 13-45 these days so that would count out most of the female working age population! If it were really the reason, NO women would be working.

Lots of woman I know hit their menopause in their late 50s. So they can have children up until then.

Though I don't know anyone who has had children older than 48 but one of my SIL has mothers up to 60 years old on the maternity ward she works on. The older mothers tend to be in a new relationship, or to have loads of children.

cazziebo

No doubt there are employers who discriminate - but not many. I think most employers want someone who will do a job for them, individuals who will contribute to the business. Unfortunately, academic qualifications are not a good predictor for that.

I think to have such a low success rate then you do have to look at your CV and application. You say it was professionally put together - sorry, that's not a plus. I'd automatically discard any application that I didn't think genuinely came from the person.

As a few posters have said, your CV has to be tailored specifically for each role you apply for. As an employer, I want to know what a candidate will bring and do for my company - not a standard list of qualifcations and jobs. You have to match the qualifications with real experience which is relevant to the company. If you have spent most of your time in education, think of how you can interpret this as project work, or customer service, or event management - or whatever it is that you're applying for.

And as Oldernotwiser says - what's marital status got to do with how you do a job? It's not about discrimination, it's about relevancy.

Best of luck