The Jobless Rate for People Like You

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by als463

What do you mean? Are you being snarky, again?

LOL. I think she meant exactly what she typed.

ETA: After reading this post, I realize what you meant by "I hate it when people say you are overqualified." I thought you meant that you hate it when people say THEY are overqualified. You meant that you hate it when employers tell you that. LOL. I've had that happen a couple of times. Thank God because I really shouldn't have been working at those places.

ETA2:

Originally Posted by als463

I hate to say it this way, and this is what I told my little brother:
An Associate's degree is now the equivalent of a High School Diploma,
A Bachelor's degree is now the equivalent of an Associate's degree,
A Master's is the equivalent of a Bachelor's degree...and so on...

This isn't completely accurate, though. There are fields/industries and employers where a masters is still a masters and a doctorate is still a doctorate. The point of downplaying your education sometimes is to be marketable outside of those industries and employers. That's why I recommend people have 2 resumes.

[als463]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

LOL. I think she meant exactly what she typed.

ETA: After reading this post, I realize what you meant by "I hate it when people say you are overqualified." I thought you meant that you hate it when people say THEY are overqualified. You meant that you hate it when employers tell you that. LOL. I've had that happen a couple of times. Thank God because I really shouldn't have been working at those places.

ETA2:


This isn't completely accurate, though. There are fields/industries and employers where a masters is still a masters and a doctorate is still a doctorate. The point of downplaying your education sometimes is to be marketable outside of those industries and employers. That's why I recommend people have 2 resumes.

You bring up a really great point. Thank you for stating that. I should have said that in some fields (such as Liberal Arts, for the most part) it works that way. I have friends who are Science and Engineering majors. I feel as though in certain fields like those, my rationale does not necessarily work. In some other fields (not all-and I should have clarified) that idea of a degree not holding as much weight as it used to, still applies.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by als463

You bring up a really great point. Thank you for stating that. I should have said that in some fields (such as Liberal Arts, for the most part) it works that way. I have friends who are Science and Engineering majors. I feel as though in certain fields like those, my rationale does not necessarily work. In some other fields (not all-and I should have clarified) that idea of a degree not holding as much weight as it used to, still applies.

Yeah, this all goes back to having more than one resume` (or more than one way to articulate your qualifications) and doing a "career job search" and "joblessness job search."

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by als463

What do you mean? Are you being snarky, again? It is true that sometimes, depending upon the job you are looking at, you need to omit how much education you have. The same way people get insulted if you tell them they have too little education (or not enough skill), it is insulting to tell someone who has worked their butt off to get an education that they are "too educated" for a job in this economy.

I guess some people try to rationalize and say that the less educated person is more likely to stick around because they don't have many other places to go. The only issue with that is that some of those people who have no other place to go don't always have the work ethic many employers want. If they did, they would not have limited themselves on various levels. You don't need a college education to be hard working, but in this day and age, there really is no excuse for people in their 20's and below to not be considering college (in my eyes).

A job seeker once told me his reaction when he's told that he's too overqualified and will leave as soon as a better option comes along. He tells the employer that he may very well be more educated/experienced than other applicants, but that his qualifications only mean that the employer will have to spend less time and money training him. Apparently, he also asks employers if they would prefer to have the ideal candidate for 6 months or a mediocre candidate for 12. I don't imagine that part goes over too well. As far as I know this job seeker is still looking for a job.

And, no, I wasn't being snarky. You didn't say anything snark-worthy here.

Originally Posted by DrPhil

The point of downplaying your education sometimes is to be marketable outside of those industries and employers. That's why I recommend people have 2 resumes.

Absolutely.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

A job seeker once told me his reaction when he's told that he's too overqualified and will leave as soon as a better option comes along. He tells the employer that he may very well be more educated/experienced than other applicants, but that his qualifications only mean that the employer will have to spend less time and money training him. Apparently, he also asks employers if they would prefer to have the ideal candidate for 6 months or a mediocre candidate for 12. I don't imagine that part goes over too well. As far as I know this job seeker is still looking for a job.

Depending on the job and the overqualification, there aren't too many employers that will fall for that trick across the board. LOL. That may work more for overqualified people seeking professional and managerial positions where the skills, education and income levels are more comparable.

Employers (who know how to make profit--make more than you pay) know that having an overqualified person (especially in terms of education and previous salary) means that this person is often not trained in the ins and outs of the lower tasks. For instance, someone with an MBA doesn't automatically know how to be a floor person or cashier at TJ Maxx. That person will most likely need more training than someone with the experience and who doesn't have the education. Moreover, the person with an MBA may overthink a lot of the more mundane tasks and see herself/himself as being on the same or higher playing field as the managers and higher ups. This leads to more questioning of company policies and practices, demands for higher pay if the person stays long enough, and almost definitely high employee turnover when a more career oriented job comes along.

Thus is the nature of profit.