Actual experience may be lacking

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Dear Joan:
I worked very hard to develop an exceptional resume, and succeeded. Now I only have one small misgiving concerning my resume; it has to do with two little words - over qualified.

What does one do? Not only have I deemed this a problem, but many other qualified, educated individuals I know meet this same hurdle in the professional business sector.

Personnel associates decide for you that "you will be bored" or that "we cannot pay you enough." Let me decide what is boring, or how much is too little. Frustration runs high as I meet negative responses regarding professional business employment.

Answer:
After reviewing your resume, I came to a somewhat different conclusion than "over qualified." You are close to getting a Ph.D. and have spent one year at a university as a teacher and one year as a grade school substitute teacher. Prior to that, you had some clerical experience in a police department and had a public relations job with a bank.

In fact, you background suggests that you may be "over educated" but "under experienced" for business. Employers may be reacting to your Ph.D. when they refer to you being over qualified. You may be sending mixed signals because you also list on your resume your typing speed and switchboard experience.

But the fact that you lack higher-level business experience is the real problem, in my opinion. The Ph.D. may actually be working against you if you are seen as someone who is too academic and theoretical and not grounded in the "real world." Some business people tend to be suspicious of "academic types" who haven't proven they can be bottom-line oriented.

Whether this is a true perception or not, I found it to be pervasive (but unspoken) when I was trying to make the transition from education to business. Consequently, I had to create opportunities to prove my skills in a business setting. This can be done by becoming involved in professional organizations related to the field you choose. It can also be accomplished through consulting projects that you solicit from small-business owners or, perhaps, through speeches you deliver to business groups. Volunteer organizations also offer a forum in which you can use your skills while surrounded by fellow volunteers from business environments.

Another problem may be the jobs for which you are applying. Are they a natural evolution from what you are doing now? If you are applying for entry-level positions of a technical nature, hundreds of candidates with business experience will be your competition. If you are after entry-level jobs of a clerical nature, the company may fear that you will become bored and pose a motivational problem or else that you won't stay. Companies that I contacted all responded with negative stories about people they had hired in the past that had been over qualified. Even if you feel you are different, they are unlikely to give you a try.

Because companies have their pick of experienced candidates they don't want to spend money training someone from scratch. They are also leery of hiring someone who has no proven business-related track record.

Your degrees in speech and communications could be applied to many management jobs in business settings, yet your resume does not expand on your bottom-line results or accomplishments related to these areas. Nor does it use business jargon or have a job objective. Employers expect you to translate your skills to their language. Because you say you have succeeded in developing an "exceptional resume," I presume you are not customizing it for different jobs to which you apply. I believe that a generic resume sent to all job openings will yield few interviews.

In your case, one suggestion is to take an interim job in the public sector. Perhaps an administrative post in a university or counseling center would give you the required leadership and administrative exposure. If your non-education jobs were interesting to you, try to contact people with whom you worked.

Another suggestion is to find areas where there is a common thread between your education, experience and business. For example, training and development may be a possible entry point for you.

Your best bet is to start networking with people in public relations or related communications fields. Ask them to critique your resume.

At the same time, look for ways to do short-term projects to prove your skills in a business setting. Ask these contacts to steer you toward the appropriate professional groups and trade journals. They may steer you toward the right job for you. 

Do you need answers to tough job hunting questions? Are you looking for some added punch to help you stand out from the crowd? Joan Lloyd’s has developed job hunting tools that can help you to maximize your job search: