?? 9 Scary Reasons Overqualified Job Seekers are Rejected

?? 9 Scary Reasons Overqualified Job Seekers are Rejected 2K If you’ve ever been told you’re overqualified, this is for you. Photo by Joshua Earle Being rejected is never fun. Being rejected for a job you wanted is not even close to being fun. But being rejected for a job you wanted because they said you’re overqualified is a special kind of aggravation. You can clearly do the job, and you’re available, and willing, and yet… and yet… yet they still don’t want you. Why?eval As it turns out, there are many reasons why. Annoyingly but also fortunately, they don’t usually have anything to do with you. Here are real reasons why employers are so quick to pull out the ‘overqualified’ rejection.eval If you're over 35, have you ever been told explicitly that you're overqualified? Yes No View Results Free bonus: The Midlife Job Search Report is a handy guide I compiled for older job seekers. Download it now. ‘It’s not you, it’s me’: 9 Reasons to Reject You 1. Employer concern about being able to pay you ‘fairly’ Before starting a recruitment process, employers usually know roughly how much they can afford to pay the new hire. Having more experience and skills than other candidates, employers recognize that you bring more value and are perceived as needing higher pay even if your salary requirements haven’t even been discussed yet in interviews. If that perceived higher salary is higher than their budget for the position, ‘you’re overqualified.’ 2. Employer concern about being able to keep you long enough You’ll leave as soon as a better opportunity comes along, because “you have so many options” with your extra skills and experience compared to other candidates. Recruitment is expensive, so employers want the most return on their investment. If employers think you’ll get recruited elsewhere sooner than later, ‘you’re overqualified.’ 3. Employer concern you’ll be unwilling to do tasks ‘beneath you’ “You might be willing to do whatever the job requires, but if you’ve held equivalent or higher positions in the past, maybe there are some tasks you just won’t touch because you see your time as too valuable…” thinks a hiring manager who often themselves is unwilling to do tasks ‘beneath them.’ If employers think there’s any aspect of the job you might not do, ‘you’re overqualified.’ 4. Employer concern you’ll be bored Suppose you really are willing to do whatever the job requires. Who’s to say that you won’t ultimately find the job too easy and unchallenging, going sour and bringing down the mood at work and your colleagues with it? If employers think you’ll get bored quickly, ‘you’re overqualified.’ If employers think you’ll get bored quickly, ‘you’re overqualified.’Click To Tweet 5. Employer concern about younger people managing older people If your potential boss is younger, especially if they’re much younger, they might be anxious about how you’d respond to their authority. It doesn’t even matter how old you are, or if you’ve even been in a similar situation before. If employers think your relationship with their younger manager might be a problem, ‘you’re overqualified.’ 6. Manager views you as a potential internal competitor Many bosses and managers are insecure in their roles, regardless of whether they merit them or not. But when along comes a candidate like you who might deserve their role even more â€" even if that’s not the job you’re currently being considered for â€" their forward-looking inferiority complex will push them to push you far, far away. A job seeker once related this: …I’ve had 2 interviews â€" 1 with a guy who told me I was overqualified (because he wasn’t comfortable when I asked why they were doing everything manually instead of creating a database and queries to process hundreds of applications per day) and the other offered me the job before the end of the day If a potential boss sees you as a future threat, ‘you’re overqualified.’ 7. Recruiter laziness There’s a lot you can say in a job interview to allay frankly all of the above concerns, but only if recruiters take the time to express them to you and give you a chance to respond. The reality is that for an overwhelmed, tired or lazy recruiter, it’s just so much easier to dismiss you out of hand than to bother. 8. Recruiter excuses for other reasons they can’t or won’t give you In Why Recruiters Lie When Rejecting You, the Recruiting Animal says: No recruiter gives substantial feedback. We can’t. If you’re missing specific skills and someone else has them we can tell you that because it is a matter of fact. But we can’t tell you that the hiring manager doesn’t like you because you look a bit frumpy or because you’re a drip. And there are a lot of reasons why (over)qualified candidates can be rejected or even discriminated against: poor cultural fit, bad interviews, etc., but if you qualify for one of those, it’s just easier to say you’re overqualified. 9. Recruiter manipulation You never had a chance, even before you came through the door. The recruiter already knows who they want to hire, but an interview quota needed to be filled. Your overqualified resume made you easy to spot as a candidate who could help fill that quota and ‘legitimately’ be rejected without raising any eyebrows from superiors. The sad truth about being overqualified The ‘overqualified’ rejection is usually avoidable. The reality is that if you get rejected this way, it’s almost always because you applied for the wrong job. Had you done your homework, you could have applied to a company that had a history of hiring people like you, and would have been much less likely to give you that ‘overqualified’ label. Had you done your homework, you would have valued your qualities more accurately and instead been able to find an employer who does the same. Getting a job doesn’t mean you need to compromise dramatically. The good news In a response to a question about startups on Quora, entrepreneur Nicholas Chavez responded: My first mentor who had many millions of dollars taught me three valuable lessons that are applicable here: In life you don’t get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate. Hire every overqualified mother%#$@% you can find. If someone asks for more than you intended to pay, simply tell them “I’d love to pay you ($200k)! Can you walk me through the model that will help me do that? Put differently- for the startup founders employers smart enough to recognize it and willing to take you seriously, ‘overqualified’ really means ‘qualified plus benefits.’ You just need to do your homework and find them. Other takes The Myth of the Overqualified Worker What Does “Overqualified” Actually Mean? How to apply for (and get) a job that you’re overqualified for Free Bonus The Midlife Job Search Report is a handy guide I compiled to help older job seekers. This free download contains: 5 Common Mistakes Older Job Seekers Make How To Defeat Any Form of Job Search Discrimination How Older Job Seekers Beat These Common Stereotypes 9 Scary Reasons Overqualified Job Seekers are Rejected 40 Tips for Older Job Seekers That Actually Get Results Click the image below to get access to The Midlife Job Search Report: JobMob Insiders can get this free bonus and other exclusive content in the JobMob Insider Bonuses area. Join now, it's free!

What Small Businesses Can Do for Working Moms - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

What Small Businesses Can Do for Working Moms - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Making the decision to become a working mother is not one that is taken lightly. Women want to find fulfillment both at home and in their careers, but balancing the two often takes effort on the part of the workers and the businesses who hire them. The effort is proving to be worth it. Having women in the ranks of management is beneficial to most companies, as women are often seen as more nurturing an engaging than their male counterparts. The skills gained in parenting are now being looked at as talents valuable in the work setting. Enticing working mothers into their employ is something companies should be focusing on. Here are some things that small businesses can do for working moms to make them an attractive option. Paid Parental Leave The time spent bonding with a new child is priceless whether you are the mother, father or adoptive parent. That’s why it is hard to believe that only 21 percent of companies in America offer paid maternity leave and only 17 percent offer paternity and adoption leave. Working mothers are feeling the pressure and financial strain to rush back to work after giving birth or bringing a new child into their family. Even the best employees can become ineffective if they are preoccupied by health and emotional concerns, so forcing mothers to return from maternity leave too early can be counterproductive. All of the companies ranked by Working Mother magazine as the top 100 companies to work for offered paid maternity leave, and most offered paid paternity and adoption leave. Offering this benefit is something that small businesses can do for working mothers. Breastfeeding Accommodations I work in a male-dominated industry and I was the first woman in my business sector to require on-site breastfeeding accommodations. At first, the conversations were uncomfortable for my male management team, but when and where were logistical questions that needed to be answered. The building that I worked in had only one room without a window, with the exception of the bathrooms, so that became the lactation room for me and all mothers after me. Timing was the next topic to tackle, because the regulatory 15-minute break would not allow enough time for setup, sufficient pumping and cleanup. The decision was made to accommodate me, and all mothers after me, with an extra 10 minutes during my morning and afternoon breaks. I was one of the lucky 40 percent of breastfeeding mothers who had adequate accommodations for breastfeeding in the workplace. Most women are not afforded the time nor space conducive to pumping. Accommodating breastfeeding is something that small businesses can do to attract working mothers. Paid Sick Leave That Extends to Family Paid sick leave for employees is still a privilege, so having paid sick leave that extends to cover the care of immediate family members is a benefit that most employees don’t think to consider.   Only 40 percent of businesses in America offer paid sick leave, and even some of those don’t offer leave to care for others. Mothers put the health and well-being of their children first, so if they don’t feel they can be honest with their employers about what they need time off for, the employer could be missing out. An employee may call in sick when they feel fine so they can stay home with their sick child. If sick pay extends to family members, an employee can be honest about the situation and perhaps even work from home.   On-Site Child Care The benefits of allowing working mothers to be near their children during the workday are vast.   Mothers can focus on work knowing that their children are safe nearby. As with any child care situation, the parents must feel that their children are getting the mental, social and physical stimulation that is required for health growth and progress, so the care must be high quality. On-site child care is a perk some of the top Fortune’s 100 Best Companies provide. To really set a small business apart as an attractive employer, offering child care would be advantageous.   Flexible Schedules The possibility of a flexible work schedule is something that is appealing to working mothers because it helps balance work life with home life. Some employees may be willing to work longer hours if it means having an extra day at home with their child. Some employees may need to stay later one day to make up for leaving early on another. Knowing that they can focus on the most important thing in that moment, be it work or their child, makes for a better employee. Hours aren’t the only thing that can make work flexible. Location can, too. Letting your employees work from home can save your business money and make them more productive. Several factors come into play that make your employees more productive at home: There are less distractions, commute time is turned into work time, and you have less time lost to illness and weather-related occurrences. It also boosts employee morale. Who doesn’t want to take a conference call in their pajamas? Hiring working mothers can be very beneficial to any business. Women bring a level of compassion that keeps employees engaged. Mothers bring a natural nurturing element that employees thrive under. Keeping a working mother happy and engaged in her work may take a little effort and require some extra perks, but it is well worth it.

Organize your days around your goals

Organize your days around your goals Periodically, a college student sends an email to me asking if he or she can interview me for a term paper. I always say yes, and I always learn something about my work by answering student questions about my career. Invariably, within the list of questions, theres a stumper. This week, the stumper was, How do you spend a typical day as a journalist? I started to answer the question. But every time I started to write an answer, what I wrote sounded terrible. The truth is that I never set out to be a journalist, so I have never been particularly organized about my typical day. I was a marketing executive who happened to have landed a column. The pay for the column was paltry compared to my corporate salary, and consequently, I devoted a paltry amount of time to the column writing it during a sales meeting, on my way to an office picnic, or at my in-laws home in between shopping and dinner. Part of the reason for my cavalier attitude toward making time for the column is that initially I did not understand that having a nationally distributed column is a big deal; I was in a business where a big deal equaled a big paycheck. But after I left corporate life for a writers life, I started to understand how lucky I was. So youd think, after three years of writing full-time Id have developed good work habits as a writer, but I havent. This is surprising to me because in my corporate life I had very good work habits. As I was climbing the corporate ladder, it became clear that you can only move up as fast as you can adjust your work habits to the next rung. For example, the move into management means you have to learn to finish your own work in a way that leaves room for you to help other people with their work. You have to restructure your workday to make other people a priority. There were times when I distinctly remember changing my workday in order to accommodate a new position. For example, my boss told me that if I could offload all of my responsibilities as a marketing and software production manager, then I could take seed money from the company and start my own company. I realized that the faster I could reorganize my workload and delegate, the faster I could move on with my career. So I did that. Within weeks, and astounded even my boss with my speed. Achieving long-term goals and tactical plans all depends on work habits. You need to devote time to getting short-term projects done, to managing long-term projects, and to thinking both strategically and creatively. Each time Ive wanted to make headway in my career the fastest path has been by changing how I spend my days; if nothing else, how you organize your days is one of the few things most people can really control. Which brings me back to explaining to the college student about my work habits. It was untenable to have to confess to her how I was working. I was such a bad role model because in terms of organizing my day, I still treated my writing career like its a sideshow. I could accomplish so much more if I would get more organized. So I worked backwards. I said to myself, what kind of answer would I expect from a successful career columnist as to how she manages her days to make her career bloom? I think it would look like time slots: Writing email Working on projects with deadlines Thinking about long-term projects Publicity Networking Once I started having days like this, there was immediate change I accomplished more than usual and the work was higher quality because my days were organized around particular long and short-term goals. I ended up confessing to the student that I started with sloppy work habits. But I told her that I was reforming myself. I told her about my carefully scheduled days and strategically organized weeks. Then I sat down to write this column, which I now have a special time each week to write. And I was just a little bit more calm than usual because having a detailed work plan in hand makes me feel like I really am going to meet the goals I have for myself.

My Favorite Quotes For Work, Life, Success, the Job Search

My Favorite Quotes For Work, Life, Success, the Job Search Happy Friday!  I love quotes. So today I am putting together my favorite quotes of all time to give us a little motivation. Quotes totally inspire me, especially when I read one at the exact perfect time for what I am going through. I hope that this list will do that for you today. I hope one of these quotes will inspire you to take action and live the life you want. 50 Best Motivational Quotes For Success Class A real woman avoids drama, she knows her time is precious and she’s not wasting it on unimportant things. â€" quotediary.me A girl should be two things fabulous and classy. â€" Coco Chanel Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself. â€" Paul Bryant I wanted to be a certain kind of woman. I became that woman. Diane von Furstenberg Success Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as you mind lets you. What you believe, you can achieve.  Mary Kay Ash The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it. â€"  Debbi Fields To succeed… You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. Tony Dorsett Strength A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until its in hot water. Eleanor Roosevelt Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. â€" Conan O’Brien She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails. -Elizabeth Edwards You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it. -Author unknown Time Your time is limited. Dont waste it living someone elses life. -Steve Jobs A year from now you will wish you started today. -Karen Lamb “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didnt do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain Determination Desire is the key to motivation, but its determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal a commitment to excellence that will enable you to attain the success you seek.    Mario Andretti Some succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined to. â€" Henry Van Dyke A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work. -Colin Powell If we did all the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astound our self. -Thomas EdisonWe are what we repeatedly do. -Aristotle Start where you are. Use what you have.  Do what you can. -Arthur Ashe Creativity Creativity takes courage. Henry Matisse Career Choice Your work is going to fill a large part of your life. And the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart you’ll know when you find it. â€" Steve Jobs The only way to do great work is to love what you do â€" Steve Jobs What is the recipe for successful achievement? To my mind there are just four essential ingredients: Choose a career you love, give it the best there is in you, seize your opportunities, and be a member of the team. Benjamin F. Fairless Take your work seriously and yourself lightly. Bob Nelson You have a calling which exists only for you and which you can fulfill. Dr. Naomi Stephan Personal Development If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone. â€" John Maxwell If you do not feel yourself growing in your work and your life broadening and deepening, you have not found your place. Orison Swett Marden The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. Dr. Seuss Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. â€" Jim Rohn The best way to predict the future is to invent it. -Alan Kay Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. -Oscar Wilde Happiness “The happiest people dont have the best of everything; they make the best of everything.” Author unkown Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim. â€"Nora Ephron Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or nation. Oscar Wilde I am going to make everything around me beautiful.  That will be my life. -Elsie de Wolfe Some people look for a beautiful place, Others make a place beautiful.” Hazrati Pir Inayat Khan Patience When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. -Alexander Graham Bell I am only 1, but I am 1. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.  Edwa Relationships Communicationâ€"the human connectionâ€"is the key to personal and career success. -Paul J. Meyer The way of the world is meeting people through other people. Robert Kerrigan You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Jim Rohn Surround yourself only with people who are going to life you higher. -Oprah Winfrey Fear Do one thing every day that scares you. -Eleanor Roosevelt Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it… that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear. Dale Carnegie Job Search So many people out there have no idea what they want to do for a living, but they think that by going on job interviews they’ll magically figure it out. If you’re not sure, that message comes out loud and clear in the interview. Todd Bermont Do you have any other quotes to add? What is your favorite quote?

Find Your Wave!

Find Your Wave! Are you ready for the next big wave?There are literally hundreds of waves all around us. Seriously, it’s true! Some are dormant. Some are active. Some at peaks and some at lows.evalWithout getting too deep in the weeds of physics or philosophy, there are waves intertwined throughout our daily lives. Some waves that you can see and/or feel. Some waves may even pass right by you without any notice. From sound waves to business cycles. From the adoption curve to good vibrations. And with each wave, it has it’s own volume and height to be noticed or ignored completely.Whether in business or in our personal lives there are waves that effect us everyday. To be ready for the next big wave, we need to understand the behavior of waves and their effect on us all. Allow me to explain further.In the professional business world the most common wave is the business cycle. A business cycle fluctuates over time between highs and lows. At it’s most basic level, there is a ramp-up period, follow ed by growth, then maturation, and finally decline. The cycle thereafter repeats.Of course, there are sub-phases in between that can be argued, but generally these are main stages of a business cycle. There is no set time frame for each point’s duration or the amount of time in between each point.Each company or product will move through each phase at a different pace. And not all businesses or products are guaranteed to move from one point to the next point during the cycle either. Many businesses fail. We all know this. But what many forget, it is that there is some consistency within this cycle across businesses, organizations, products, and even within our own personal lives.There is always a wave of events. The expression “things” come in waves has deep meaning in each of our lives. Waves either happen by our own exertion or through outside forces. Either way, our ability to anticipate and react to these waves will determine the future outcomes much more than allowing the wave to effect us.evalIn our personal lives we encounter many waves. Ups and downs are apart of our everyday lives. But how we react to them is most important. So, how do we get through the tough times? How do we get through the trials and tribulations of life?I could site a book or two of proven principals in business, faith, or ethics.But I’d rather reference surfing. In surfing, one must paddle past the breakers to catch a wave. On our way towards our goals, (big waves) we are knocked down by things, people, and even ourselves. These distractions are not permanent. They too come in waves. It takes practice getting through the small waves of disappointment or discouragement to get through the real tough waves of tragedy in our daily lives.While being knocked down from small waves may discourage you in the beginning of your surf journey, they are preparing you for the large waves of possible disappointment ahead. It takes getting knocked down a few times to realize one’s self- worth. Remember, if it were that easy to accomplish, everybody would be flocking to the shore with boards hanging out of their cars on the weekend.But it’s difficult.It sometimes takes getting knocked down a few times to build up the endurance to reach our goals or big waves later in life. Because, even with being knocked down, the ability and the determination to get back on your board and paddle through the Breakers remains the best course of action in getting through any tough time.What is consistent is the wave itself. We need to be ready for each wave. Some people may duck them, while other choose to ride them. Most won’t even get in the water. Either way, prepare for your next wave. Get in the water and find your wave!

How Shane Barker Landed the Coolest Job Ever, With Social Media and No Resume - CareerEnlightenment.com

They Find ShaneShane  stood out amongst the best based solely on his social media presence. His online existence showed his willingness to take on challenges, have a positive outlook, and sincerely care about his network.Let Me Say Those AgainWillingness to take on a challenge = motivationPositive outlook = fit and personalityCares about his network = professionalism and visibilityHis social profiles were active and contained original content that tied into his professional goals.So Modera hired him as their social media marketing person.Currently, hes doing so well for the company that the other two co-founders,  Marat Ibragimov  and  Sanjar Babadjanov, came to San Francisco to pursue Series A funding.Shane, within a few months at a company he didnt even know existed, became co-founder (and owes me a beer for following him on Twitter!). Im sure hes a 49ers fan still, but its their loss I tell you!How This Affects YouWhen you put yourself out there you never know what might come your way. So, take a look at your profiles and assess it from an outside perspective. Its not just about being findable, where so many people get fixated its also about showing up to the table and communicating with your network.What are you presenting to future employers with your online presence? Are you prepared for an unexpected call from Uzbekistan (figuratively of course!)?

Should You Hire a Resume Writing Service?

Should You Hire a Resume Writing Service?Writing a resume is very important if you want to land that perfect job. What if your job history was all over the place and you had no one steady to give you a job. In such a case, it is essential that you go about looking for a job in the right way and should look for the resume writing service before you put in the hard work.Writing a resume is a very critical part of the employment search. You should not make a mistake in choosing the company or person to give you resume. The resume should be created in such a way that it will catch the attention of the employer.If you are a stay at home mother, it is very important that you write a resume for yourself. Resume writing service will help you to get yourself a job. The resume should be specific as there is a high probability that the same resume could land you in the wrong position. It should be very brief and simple.But when you are looking for a job in your own profession, it becomes quite difficult to get yourself hired. The resume writing service will help you to get yourself hired as your resume has a good chance of landing you the job in the right position. The resume writing service has various resume writing services available and the price of the services vary from one service provider to another. So it becomes necessary that you hire a company that offers an affordable service.A good resume writer should have a well rounded knowledge of the field and should also be an active member of the industry. The resume writing service should be in fact a member of the Executive Recruitment Society, it can be done online or by calling the companies in person. The company should have a good working environment. The resume writers should be well versed with different technologies so that they can be able to develop a good resume in a short time.The resumes of the unemployed workers will get them closer to getting the job they want. The applicants should take care to fill t he entire section of the resume. The resume should be unique. If you are the first applicant to do a resume for the company, you should be aware of the interview process that a candidate will have to go through before getting the interview.The resume writing service will provide its client with full support when it comes to getting the job he or she wants. A good resume writing service will give the client the best possible chances of getting the job he or she wants. This is because most of the services provide different resume writing services so that the client can select the service that fits his or her needs.If you want to save some money on your resume, hiring a resume writing service is one of the best ways to do it. It is a matter of reputation and self-respect for an employee. It is always advisable to get yourself employed on the basis of experience.