Why finding a job can be even harder when youâre overqualified
BY JANE THIER
Over 11.3 million jobs are waiting to be filled in the U.S., but it doesnât mean there are opportunities for everyone.
For job seekers with significant experience, the current hiring market can be grim. Junior roles are in abundance, while roles that require more experience are in short supply.
âOverall, itâs still a candidatesâ market, but companies arenât flexing on their requirements as much as weâd hope they would,â Gillian Williams, founder of recruiting firm Monday Talent, tells Fortune.
A survey last year by job site FlexJobs found that nearly half (46%) of job seekers said theyâre only finding jobs that pay lower than their market rate. Over two in five seekers said there werenât enough openings of any kind at their level in their area of expertise.
Thatâs the story for Tori Allen, a PR strategist in Buffalo with over a decade of experience. She says the job market is really only hot for junior-level talent. âIâm always either under- or overqualified,â she says. In January, she left her full-time job as national head of PR at a nonprofit, with two promising prospects lined up.
âI left thinking, Okay, one of these companies will give me an offer, and this will be a short-lived, two-week situation,â she says. But after interviews, including with senior managers, and even discussions of salary and start dates, both companies ghosted her. âIt was very heartbreaking. One of those has reposted that job three separate times.â
A survey last year from hiring site Indeed found that potential employers have ghosted almost 4 in 5 (77%) of job applicants since the pandemic began. That same survey found that only 27% of employers hadnât ghosted an applicant during the pandemicâa troubling suggestion that the tactic is now a common part of the job application experience.
Indeedâs research bears out what Allen sees among her connections. Sheâs a member of a Facebook community for women in marketing and communications that she says is laden with stories from job seekers who were ghosted well after the third round of interviews. Allen has come to call the phenomenon "the Tinder Effect."
âRecruiters think, because the pool is so huge, the perfect person is out there, one swipe away,â she says.
âCompanies feel like, with remote work, theyâre already compromising,â Williams says. âThey may be feeling, if theyâre flexing enough on things like location and hours, they shouldnât have to settle for anything less than a perfect candidate.â
Left on read
After Alicia Nieva-Woodgateâs job as head of corporate communications at a software development company was eliminated in November, she instantly began applying for new roles. Five months later, sheâs still at it.
âYou really have to know people to get into a company,â Nieva-Woodgate has found. âOften, applying through regular portals is a void. You get totally ghosted. You donât even get that âthanks, but no thanksâ email.â
Of the more than 50 applications Nieva-Woodgate says sheâs submitted, sheâs gotten just three written rejections.
Some recruiters have suggested that to avoid ageism, Nieva-Woodgate tweak her rĂ©sumĂ© and LinkedIn page to display only the last 10 to 15 years of her experience. âI donât know if that would make some companies think Iâm younger and hipper, but Iâm in my 50s, and ageism really does happen, particularly in tech,â she says. âPeople do want young people.â
In a particularly unfair turn, companies often shoehorn candidates with over 20 years of experience as being too set in their ways, Williams says, or hesitant to adapt or adjust. âThatâs when companies will start to say, âOh, weâre looking for talent on the upswing of their careerâ. Theyâre trying to be politically correct, and dodge around saying they want younger people.â
Companies, especially over the past two years, have talked extensively about the importance of diversity at every level, Williams adds. But they often forget that age is a huge part of the puzzle.
âIf youâre a robust company and you need good crisis communications and good strategy, sometimes five to seven years of experience arenât enough to cover everything that might happen,â Nieva-Woodgate says. âYou need a little more seasoning.â
She could take a job thatâs below her pay grade, or take a more junior title. But rebounding from that can be a long-term problem of its own. âGoing backward in your career can be very frustrating; you get surpassed by people who are like, âOh, is there a reason you havenât moved forward?ââ she says.
The only solution to the current job-seeker/recruiter relationship and process, Nieva-Woodgate says, is a top-to-bottom change in approach.
âThere are some really amazing in-house recruiters who will walk you through the whole process. On the other hand, getting ghosted is such a bad reflection on the company," she says. "And it affects you mentally. It makes you feel like, crap, Iâm not worthy.â