How do you win at interviews if you're “over-qualified”?

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹-𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀.

Once you get into your 40’s, many job seekers are “over-qualified”. Some people have stellar careers where they climb the corporate ladder rapidly. But, we work in pyramid-shaped organizations. There is only so much room at the top. So what about the other 90% of people with 20+ years of experience that don’t make it to the top? They end up applying for jobs that they are “over-qualified” for. Even though they have 20 years of experience, they apply for roles that only ask for 8, or 10. Because the roles that ask for 15+ years of experience tend to carry a title of VP or above. So, what’s the over 40’s job seeker strategy here?

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, “𝗮𝗱𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁” 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗲. Don’t proudly boast about your 20+ years of experience, that will hurt you. Cut jobs that are more than 12-15 years in the past, use up-to-date terminology, modern phrasing, and maybe even change up your font for something more contemporary. 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲 to match your resume…

Then, when you get interviews, 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴

💡 Don’t allow the interview to follow the traditional question and answer format. Make it conversational

💡 Craft your personal positioning statement to try and set the tone and direction you want the interview to take

💡 Be bold. Earlyish in the interview, say “I’m curious, what are the two biggest challenges you have right now?”

💡 And then, based on your extensive experience, tell them exactly how you would solve those challenges. Share similar situations where you’ve seen those challenges before, what you did and what the results were. Put some clear daylight between yourself and those candidates who only have the 8 years experience asked for in the job posting