Too smart or an overqualification problem

Global crises, force majeure and thousands more factors can contribute to the emergence of overqualified employees in the labor market. Somewhere they are being searched for, and somewhere they are being refused, because they are afraid of conflicts. Who are they?

Overqualified employees are employees with excessive experience or knowledge. A simple example: due to the closure of a chain of stores in the labor market, there was a surge in the number of candidates in the field of trade, but if it is easier for a seller or loader to find a job, because there are simply more vacancies, and the requirements of both the employer and the candidates are less, then, say, it will be much more difficult for the store director to find a decent job and demotion in his position can cause a significant increase in stress levels, and can also contribute to conflicts in the company, which will negatively affect the work. But it often happens the other way around.

In recent years, I have observed a trend in the market when overqualified employees do not want to take, even despite the declared willingness or interest on the part of the candidate. Why is this happening? The reasons may be objective or subjective, but is everything so unambiguous?

I will cite a number of negative opinions that I have encountered more often among colleagues:

- such an employee may undermine the authority of the immediate supervisor;

- such an employee will not be interested or bored to perform routine tasks that are inherent in qualifications below his previous level;

- such employees tend to be dismissed as soon as they find a suitable vacancy for their qualifications.

In contrast to them, I will give positive ones:

- such an employee can bring better experience to work in a shorter time;

- he knows the job for sure, and the onboarding and adaptation process is much faster, which allows the company to significantly save on training a specific employee;

- high-quality interaction with the immediate supervisor can lead to more active development of the department and the company as a whole;

- often, such employees can bring system business experience, which is extremely important for companies at the stage of formation and the beginning of business development.

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Of course, these are only opinions and the result of hiring will depend on many factors. Highly developed soft skills of both the hired employee and his immediate supervisor, their interaction, HR brand and corporate policy of the company will be extremely important.

My personal opinion is that if there is an opportunity to get a better employee, then it is always worth considering this option. After all, he was overqualified yesterday, perhaps today, but only his flexibility and ability to adapt to emerging challenges will make him a sought-after employee tomorrow.

The strongest always wins in the market, and companies are stronger when they have a strong and well-developed team.

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