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There’s No Such Thing As An Overqualified Candidate

curranrecruit
Nov 4, 2015
3 min read

There is widespread evidence that many workers have higher qualifications than their job requirements (Brynin, 2002). Two recent studies conducted by the Harvard Business Review reveal that overqualified employees actually outperform their colleagues.

Furthermore, with 45% of Australians identifying as overqualified for their current jobs, employers may not be realising the full potential of this untapped human resource (Luksyte, 2013).

In this week’s post we discuss this pool of candidates that are in a league of their own.

First impressions

Here are a couple of assumptions most managers make on overqualified employees:

“We couldn’t pay enough”

Employers often think that if an applicant has more experience or education than the job requires, their salary expectation would be higher than the role pays. However, there are candidates who have applied for roles and understand the pay based on the position itself. The Harvard Business Review (2014) suggests, if you really want a candidate and feel pay is an issue, you can offer a little more than the position or offer fast-track opportunities and responsibilities to make the job offer more appealing. If you do raise their pay a little to get them in, remember you are also able to make significant savings on training expenses when you hire someone who is already qualified.

“They’ll leave as soon as something better comes around”

Some managers often can’t see why a candidate would want a lower position than what their background might qualify them for, the often assume that the candidate is only interested in the job because they feel desperate. The Harvard Business Review (2014) shares that if you hire the person, they may also want to stay because they really wanted to shift industries, move to your location, or the position offers better life balance. Also, once a position is taken it will be harder for an employee to look for another job.

What you can do

If you’ve decided to offer a position to someone you think is overqualified, there’s a couple of things you need to make sure you do:

Provide Realistic Expectations

There is a great deal of research (SHRM, CIPD, HBR) showing that when applicants are not provided with a totally honest picture of the responsibilities of a job, they are more inclined to leave. If you feel they know what the position is really about, then it’s time for you as a manager to also have realistic expectations. It’s important to consider the motivations of each candidate pursuing a position. Overqualified candidates may take a less-demanding job for a lifestyle or health choice or the simple need for a change. At the end of the day, they can yield exceptional results for your organisation so it would seem a waste if you would disqualify them for a position because they’re ‘overqualified’.

Take advantage of their additional capabilities

There is a strong relationship between employee satisfaction and how much they are able to use their valued skills and abilities. An overqualified employee means more skills and experience that your organisation can benefit from! Identify these additional skills that they bring to the table and develop plans with them for integrating them into their job. There can be many benefits in hiring someone whose area of expertise may not be represented at the company yet. Their expertise may lead to new services that can be offered to clients or help improve working practices.