Any future negatives accepting a job you are overqualified for *future job search ?

Do you think that accepting a job you are WAY overqualified for can harm your chances for your next potential job? For ex, a prospective employer seeing your current job (the one you are extremely overqualified for)...will they offer you less or not want to interview you at all if you clearly took a job that you were extremely overqualified for?

Message edited 6/24/2013 12:21:45 AM.

Re: Any future negatives accepting a job you are overqualified for *future job search ?

I think it's all in the way it is spun.

I'm a Master's level social worker.

I've known people who have been supervisors and run whole agencies who have stepped down, and done case management positions to gain experience in "medical social work" and "discharge planning" so they can apply to a hospital system and get decent benefits.

And I have also learned, that we shouldn't be so quick to judge that a position is beneath us.

Those same people have also indicated that this job was the hardest they've ever done.

I am also one of those people who left supervisory roles because I couldn't take the bureaucracy and I feel like I work better independently.......I can't take the responsibility for others not doing what they are supposed to.

I recently left my last job to do something that really in the grand scheme of things, is about 99% less difficult from what I was doing previously. I feel confident that someone with less experience and education can do my job.

However, I am STILL gaining all kinds of new skills that I never had before either.

A future employer is not going to know the ins and outs of what goes on really anyway. That's what a resume and how you present yourself during an interview is for ;).

Lastly, I think in this economy, a good employer will pick up on the fact that people need to jump around for various reasons too. It doesn't make them any less qualified.

Message edited 6/24/2013 5:44:38 AM.

Re: Any future negatives accepting a job you are overqualified for *future job search ?

I think it would depend on why the move is being made and what new skills you can take away from the position. And where that position is... is there growth potential? Is it going to lead you where you want to go in the long term, or be a useful stepping stone? Even if not, does it really just make sense for you to take that position right now.

For example, in order to get into a new field, or industry, or even a new company, one often has to take a "step back" in order to move forward. Same with people who are unemployed and looking to get a job anywhere!

A lot of people might say I am "overqualified" to be a real estate agent because I am also an attorney, and one doesn't need a law degree to sell real estate. I've definitely traded off some prestige, salary, etc. to change careers. But my real estate career utilizes a lot of my legal skills AND it has enhanced my professional skill set. Now, I have experience in marketing and building a business, and I've learned much more about mortgages and construction and other topics that I knew nothing about in my old law firm life. It was a move that made sense for me at the time for a variety of reasons. And I feel like there are many more potential doors open to me and options available now that I've diversified my experience.

I recently read "Lean In" by Sheryl Sandberg, and while I didn't agree with everything she said, I did like her point that women have to stop using the "career ladder' imagery to define career success and think of it more as a jungle gym. Sometimes you need to go down or across to reach your goals. It's not just always a linear path of moving up and up, otherwise you can just get stuck. Her point was about taking risks, and how she went to Facebook as a COO when she could have been a CEO in many other companies. But one of her mentors advised her to look not just at the immediate position but of growth potential, etc. He said "when someone offers you a seat on a rocket ship, you don't ask what seat. You just get on."

That concept really stuck with me, and the idea of thinking more "big picture" when making a move that might seem a little odd or risky in the short term.

But I think if you do take a position that you believe you are overqualified for, I think you have to make sure that you will be able to interact with co-workers and supervisors in an appropriate way, and not feel resentful or constantly be reminding others (or yourself) that you are "too good" for the job. I would think you would have to go in humbly and ready to embrace the new job and whatever it has to offer/teach you.

Re: Any future negatives accepting a job you are overqualified for *future job search ?

Thanks to the PP for mentioning the growth potential.

This is also the reason why I took my current position.

It was a foot in the door to get into the company I have been trying to get into for years.

I've only been there for a month, and I know 100% I made the right decision for my own professional growth.