Thanks to a friend on Twitter I stumbled upon this blog post this morning. It’s addressed “Dear Recruiter” and it is a complaint about recruiters not pursuing candidates who are “overqualified” for a job.
“I recently saw your posting for a (fill in the blank) Manage position and have submitted my resume for consideration. Unfortunately, it has been over three weeks and I have not heard anything about the status of my application. I find this to be rude, unprofessional and frustrating.
Given the fact that I have considerable experience and am more than qualified for this position, I can only conclude that you deem me to be “over qualified” for the position. As a result of this perception you probably believe in one or more of the following:
1. I will just take your job until something better comes along
2. I will become bored and underperform in the role
3. I may be so good that I could take you job.
I’d like to take a minute to dispel these myths.”
Sussek goes on to say that a lot of people are unemployed right now through no fault of their own and they just want to work.
“As Recruiters you may look at my resume and say “Why would he apply for this job? He is clearly over qualified.” We, as skilled professionals are good at what we do, just want to get back to work. Salary, level and title are no longer as important as they once were to us. We would like to find opportunities where we can put our skills to work and add value to the organization. We know that we may need to take on a different role to accomplish this.
Recruiters, you should look beyond the job description and look at the value experienced workers will bring to your organization. Consider this analogy, if you needed a third string quarterback and Tom Brady was interested would you pass him by because he is “over qualified”?”
Let’s get something straight.
Recruiters work for clients and we’re engaged to fill positions for them based on the requirements for the job that they define. In order to fill the positions we must find the people that the clients want to hire for the jobs.
As I stated in What you really need to know about working with recruiters, it is not the recruiter’s job to find you a job.
That’s your job.
Our job is to find the right person to fill the job based on the client’s requirements.
If our client doesn’t want to hire you because they think you’re overqualified – or for whatever reason – why would we waste everyone’s valuable time and energy going down that path?
Sussek says, “…when a candidate who is “over qualified” applies to your posting, do not assume we are desperate and will take anything. We are selective in our job search and will only apply to jobs that interest us. We know your job entails a pay cut and is at a lower level than what we had before. Those factors do not concern us. We just want to practice our trade and want to help your organization be successful.”
No you don’t. You want a job.
And a paycheck.
And we want to KEEP our jobs.
(Good) recruiters do look beyond the job description and work in partnership with clients to fill positions. Many times we recommend that a client interview a candidate they may not otherwise even consider based on what we know about the candidate and the job opening.
Recruiters that have relationships with and are respected by their clients can and do have influence in the process. And, we want to continue to have relationships with and be respected by our clients, and we’re not willing to put that on the line unless we’re confident that the candidate would be an excellent fit for the job and the company.
If you needed a 3 bedroom house and your realtor kept showing you 10 bedroom houses wouldn’t that piss you off make you mad? Just how long would you let that realtor waste your time before finding a realtor who would help you find what you what you want?
Recruiters, like any professional, earn a living by providing what their clients want and need.
Rather than being angry and blaming recruiters, why not channel your energy in to something positive and productive, like finding a job you are a fit for?
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If it were JUST about the number of bedrooms, it would be super easy to determine whether a candidate was the right fit and there wouldn’t be a need for recruiters or people to review resumes and experiences in the first place.
I’m not in recruiting or HR, but I’ll throw my interpretation into the mix, understanding that your point about recruiters trying to fulfill a specific need is one to be heavily considered by a job-seeker.
I don’t think it’s like you’re looking for a 3BR and being shown 5BRs. I think that’s too simplistic. It’s more like you’re looking for a house with crown molding, a large backyard and a master bathroom with two sinks to avoid having to share with your significant other who does funky things with his/her toothpaste and you have a budget of $X. the real estate agent finds you a place with those amenities, plus a pool and an extra guest room. You haven’t specifically specified no pool or a maximum number of rooms, but you presume that your budget won’t accommodate those things. In fact, your agent has found you a place within your budget that has the things you’re looking for, plus some.
Ultimately, it’s up to the job-seeker to convey that they meet the minimum qualifications, but unless a company has a specific reason for not wanting “a pool” or “a guest bedroom,” it seems silly to not consider a candidate with those specific traits or qualifications.
I completely agree.
I recently talked about this very thing: if you’re looking for a job – you need to be very specific. There are a lot of people out there just looking for a paycheck to pay the rent. I insist that this is the wrong way to look for employment.
You MUST find a job you will be passionate about. You must be able to stay in that job long-term (or at least long enough for the Employer to break even on the cost of training you, benefits, screening: 1-2 years). To do otherwise is to discredit your own skills and passions for money – and though a lot of situations, including my own at the moment, seem desperate, there is always hope for talented individuals.
Whether we branch out on our own or find a meaningful position, we just can’t settle for “a job”. We need a position in line with our careers.
It’s an unfair situation… but the economy, like most things, is a challenge that we have to face and overcome in order to bring meaning to our lives.
Good luck,
And thank you for writing this article.
-Nick Armstrong
PsychoticResumes.com
I *completely* understand where you’re coming from! I think everything you say makes it even MORE important for people who truly DO want to change tracks to network (a lot!) and to be clear/explicit in their reasons for switching or pursuing something “below their pay grade” in order to move past the stage where their resume gets tossed into the trash. You’re completely right that it’s not your job to find an individual a job so they have to do the legwork and be able to convince someone that they’ve considered being bored and how they could contribute to a company.
[If we really wanted to extend the analogy, the seller's going to have to make some concessions in the bidding process and provide more disclosure than what might be legally required in order to sell - I think that's the best way anyway
]
Kaitlin,
Love the analogy! “It’s more like you’re looking for a house with crown molding, a large backyard and a master bathroom with two sinks to avoid having to share with your significant other who does funky things with his/her toothpaste and you have a budget of $X. the real estate agent finds you a place with those amenities, plus a pool and an extra guest room.”
However, this is where we get off track:
“You haven’t specifically specified no pool or a maximum number of rooms, but you presume that your budget won’t accommodate those things. In fact, your agent has found you a place within your budget that has the things you’re looking for, plus some.
Ultimately, it’s up to the job-seeker to convey that they meet the minimum qualifications, but unless a company has a specific reason for not wanting “a pool” or “a guest bedroom,” it seems silly to not consider a candidate with those specific traits or qualifications.”
In the Dear Recruiter blog post that I referenced, he wrote:
As a result of this perception you probably believe in one or more of the following:
1. I will just take your job until something better comes along
2. I will become bored and underperform in the role
3. I may be so good that I could take you job.
I’d like to take a minute to dispel these myths.”
I’m not even going to address #3 because that is another subject entirely. However, regarding #1 and #2, these are real and relevant concerns that employers have. As a recruiter I can validate those concerns because people come to me with those complaints every single day of my life.
It is very expensive to recruit, hire, train, and assimilate a new employee. Estimates I’ve see are as high as 30 percent of position’s salary.
Why would a company knowingly hire someone who is overqualified when they can find someone who is *qualified* – and will find the job somewhat of a challenge – and maybe stick around a little while?
This is not a tight labor market. In a better economy companies do sometimes hire overqualified candidates because they don’t have a lot to choose from. However, right now, that is just not likely to happen. Companies are on high alert now more than ever because they know people are unemployed, want to work, and in some cases will say anything they think will get them the job. They might even believe what they’re saying as they’re saying it. However, we all know that as soon as things turn around – and they will – that person WILL be bored and frustrated and start looking for another job.
Going back to your analogy…in the cases I’m talking about the client has specifically said that they don’t want a pool or a guest house. So if I were a realtor I would not show them houses with pools or guest houses. Call me crazy. Maybe they don’t want the additional upkeep…I don’t know, but it really doesn’t matter because my job is to find my client the they house that they want.
I hope this makes sense, and I appreciate your comment!
Stephanie
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