Should you apply for a job for which you are overqualified?

Should you ever take a job for which you are overqualified? I get candidates asking me that question often. Here are some very good and personal reasons why you should take a job for which you are overqualified. 1. Quality of Life: The first being if this job is going to significantly increase your quality of life. An example: I placed a candidate who cut his travel time from 2 hours per day to 20 minutes – now that’s a very good reason. 2. Stress: What if you want to lower the stress in your life? Now, you have to be careful how you present that as you may be presenting it as though you can’t handle stress. Make sure you explain what you mean by this. 3. Mastery: What about if you’re going from sales manager to a rep position because you want to be the master of your domain? You don’t want to depend on 6 or 7 other people for your success; you’ve been a rep before and have been successful. You can also point out to the hiring manager that, by previously being in their shoes, you know what they want and will be an easy to manage sales rep. 4. Wealth: I’ve also heard this before, “I’m wealthy enough. I’m not working for the money.” You also need to be careful in this aspect; you don’t want to come across as arrogant. However, it does actually exist; you are looking for something other than money in your position. 5. Simplification: How about, “I want to simplify my life. I don’t want an executive position. I don’t want that number of responsibilities.” This is also another reason. The flipside of that is, as a candidate who is overqualified, you have to be aware of things that the hiring manger is going to say. 1. Risk: They might find that you are too risky, that as soon as something more senior comes around, you will drop them and move on. 2. Expense: They may think you are too expensive. 3. Motivation: They also may think, if you’re not motivated by money, what you could possibly be motivated by; especially in sales. This is an incorrect assumption. There are many sales reps who are motivated by many things, other than money. 4. Employment: They may also think you taking the job just to have a job, either if you are unemployed or just want to get out of your current situation. So, be prepared to answer these objections if you are going for a job for which you are overqualified. I am Dawn Williams. I can be reached on LinkedIn and Twitter. Happy Selling!