Economy's toll: No bailout for the overqualified jobless

Source: Modesto Bee

MODESTO, Calif — As Mike Wilczewski pulls a heavy file of job applications from his briefcase, a piece of paper slips out. He looks at it, smiles and slips it back into his briefcase.

"Don't ever give up," reads the sheet of paper with a cartoon of a frog in a bird's mouth. The bird is trying to eat. The frog is fighting not to be eaten.

Since losing a job that paid him about $70,000 a year and included health benefits and a company car, the Oakdale, Calif., resident has felt like the bird and the frog. Over the past two years, Wilczewski has been told he is overqualified and underqualified. He doesn't know whether he's reaching too high or too low in the job market. Ultimately, he's just trying to survive.

He's not alone. Like a growing number of job seekers, he has decades of experience, a diverse background and a college degree. He has been on the job market so long, he has started reaching far below his previous pay scale. Eventually, he started hearing back from interviewers that he was overqualified.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/58723.html

office and people lost their jobs. It's an instant replay.

Holy cow.

As a holder of a Ph.D., I'm doing work now I could've done my first day out of high school. But I'm also in the process of a career-change. So do I put all my academic degrees and experience on my resume or do I pick and choose certain degrees and experience that supports my interest in the new career?

In other words, do I hide my accomplishments so I don't appear "overly qualified" to assure I get that first interview?

even if it means rewriting your resume for every interview.

for presenting yourself for more than you are-but I don't think they will fire you for down playing your education. I'd dumb down the resume. If they know you have a higher degree-they may be worried you are gunning for their job. Folks say they want you educated, but an educated person scares he shit out of them.

a person would be fired for stating they had something they did not, but not for not saying they had higher ed/exp.

My only difference would be that it is not necessarily a concern that someone is "gunning for their job" as much as a fear that as soon as the "overqualified person" is trained in their new job, they'll find a job better suited to them and leave us to fill the position again. I can completely understand it from both POVs because I have worked on behalf of jobseekers and hiring managers at different jobs. Both are valid concerns.

if you "highlight" your most relevant experience on your resume you can leave out the stuff that doesn't seem to fit the position (that aerospace engineering degree).

But even more important is a good cover letter that explains why you want the particular job you are applying for.

I think that one of the reasons I got my current administrative job at a non-profit because I explained that I was looking for a 9a-5pm position that was in line with my values. If expectations match up it's more likely to be a good fit.

smartest guy in the store. He graduated from SUNY with a degree in philosophy and cinema and can't find anything. I've read that companies were considering the philosophy degree as the new business degree to hire as people learn flexibility and critical thinking. No one in upstate NY has gotten that memo.

over recent years. "Sorry, you're overqualified." :mad:

My husband and I both have Master's degrees and can't find jobs. Everyone thinks that with a graduate degree you can have your pick of jobs. It is exactly the opposite. Employers are afraid to even interview someone with an upper lever degree anymore because they are afraid you will want too much money. It is almost a form of prejudice. We both have about five different resumes to send out and send out about 5 a week out of town, out of state and anywhere we can find. Not having much success at this point and wondering how we will survive into next month when our savings runs out.
Obama--do you need someone with a Master's degree?

based on answering questions about their circumstances? I don't remember what it is called, and for all I know it could be a state program not national, but anyway.... I assumed it was that the company got the credit if the person hired would likely have cost money via welfare, food stamps, UI, etc.

Maybe it's time to start considering tax credits for hiring people going through a career change, or people who have been on the UI rolls for a certain period of time? Then it might be worth the risk to the employer that the OQ person might move on... at least they got the benefit of a kickback from the govt.

Due to many circumstances, I need to find a job right now but damn if that's not tricky.

My advanced degree PLUS several decades of running my own small biz... toxic!! I too have multiple variations of my resume to send out depending on the job. I too send out 10 resumes plus/week.... but nothing. I've interviewed at multiple locations but ultimately most places are wary of hiring someone with my weird resume (horse trainer ... yet I have a long-ago-obtained MBA from the University of Chicago. My husband who recently completed chemo for Stage IV lymphoma wants to "run" the farm which means someone has to have a "paying" job with benefits to make our place "work". Hence, I'm on a job quest in the corporate world but with a very weird biz admin background, I'm hard to place....)

I'm seriously thinking of re-training for a career in some kind of health oriented career. Our savings could see us through and frankly, I think with the coming depressed economic times and my age - this may be a better long term solution than trying to land some kind of Asst. Mgrs position at Dunkin Donuts.

Good luck on your quest. I can't believe it's come to this. When I look at the economic data, then factor in anecdotes from my own job hunt, I can only say we are in deep shit.

I make custom designed dolls and do children's "make a stuffed animal" parties. I quit work five years ago to stay home with our son and figured I could always go back to work when I needed to do so. Boy was that wrong! But my husband worked continually until two years ago when the Federal grant he worked under was eliminated. (Thank you President Bush for that!) Try being 55 years old and find a job. He has a double whammy of having tons of experience and the Master's so it is getting harder and harder for him to even get an interview. We would both take anything at at this point but other than wiping everything off our resumes, I don't know what to do.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great, wonderful, if women can afford to stay home with their children. But so many women think that an advanced degree can wait 'til later, a great career can wait 'til later. They's usually in for a rude awakening.

No, of course we couldn't afford it but my son in mildly autistic and has learning delays and the small school he was in did not have the staff or the brains or the desire, to learn how to deal with his issues, so I decided to stay home and home school him. He is now a responsible 18 year old who is doing a volunteer internship with a local vet clinic and has stayed out of trouble as opposed to most of the other kids on the block who have either been arrested, fathered a child, are pregnant or have a child and so forth. I was getting calls several times a week from the school about my son and was trying to work at the same time. It became too stressful and I knew I could do a better job at educating my son that the school because I love him and did the research to try and understand his disabilities, something the school system was not interested in doing. So for me, it was not really a choice. I was working in social services and I couldn't see trying to save everyone else's kid when mine was going down the tubes fast. I created a business to be able to bring in some extra money so it wasn't like a sat around and fed babies all day long. I almost had a GREAT job as a Chamber of Commerce director because of my experience in running my own business, but was beat out by a retired man who had Medicare since the position did not offer health insurance. I imagine they realize they made a mistake by now as the chamber website never gets updated as this man has no concept of technology. So I am just waiting around until he either gets completely overwhelmed or dies, which ever comes first!
Mom's have great skills, whether they run a business or not, it's just that this economy stinks and has for a long time. That is the problem, too many people out of work and too much competition for jobs so employers want who they can get the cheapest. As I said, my husband has great credentials, great experience and a Master's but most employers are afraid he will cost too much so they won't give him a second look. This is also the age group that employers are cutting because they are the ones making the better salaries.

by the family; so being able to "afford" to do so is an issue for many. Wasn't passing judgement on you or anyone else.

It IS tough for a lot of moms to get back into the workforce, even when the economy's good. And it seems to be one of the things all the advice books don't seem to mention. No SAHM I've ever met regretted her decision; however, re-starting a career always seems to have its bumps.

To be fair, it's probably the same for a man who stays home with the children.

when I quit work we scaled way back to make ends meet. We dropped our cable, our phone, shopped the thrift stores when we needed clothing and many of our clothing needs dropped because I didn't need dress clothing anymore and our son didn't need "those" tennis shoes since he wasn't at public school anymore. Eating out and ordering pizza (because I was too tired to come home and cook after work) went by the way side and instead we made our own pizza and enjoyed great family time with teachable moments because I had the time to do that all of a sudden. You would be amazed at how much you don't need that you can cut out of your budget. It may be downsizing to a smaller house if you can't afford the one you are in but I guarantee your children won't grow up and complain they didn't live in a fancy enough house or have the latest tennis shoes. What they will remember is a parent that didn't seem to have enough time for them.

Frankly, the part-time position I just got this last month was ONLY because my significant other was able to pull a few strings for me with her boss's boss, who was the hiring manager for the position I was applying for. I've never, ever used any connection other than naming a person I used to work for, as a way of saying I was experienced for the position in the same industry.

About all anybody can do these days is to exploit "connections". And it is (and will be) extremely tough for anybody without any of those whatsoever.

Mostly the kind of people i take notice of are those really smart people who fit right in with the everyday Joes. They often surprise people when they step up and show what they can do. They are a humble type and even sometimes see their brains as a hindrance to their own happiness. That Obama guy seems to be one of those types

I don't see anything wrong with omitting some info if it helps land a job. :shrug:

yeah, you can leave some "stuff" off your resume, leaving off years of education/experience makes it look like you spent those years high or drunk or maybe in prison tho

besides, the minute they see you're over 40 (female) or over 50 (male) they don't want you anyway if it's a good job offering health benefits, their health insurer doesn't want you even if they do want your experience

my hubby's boss actually had pressure put on him to find a way to FIRE an employee with cancer, which is illegal and immoral and anyway the guy had been doing a great job for years so...but a lot of small business owners can't resist that pressure i'm sure -- and a LARGE corp has no reason to resist the pressure as they can be confident that no one person can be pinpointed and sued for age discrimination

make up any resume you want, leave off all the qualifications you want, but it takes a LOT of botox to make a 50 pass for a 30 plus they're gonna find out who you are/date of birth any way once they get your social security number!

so illegal you lose your license to do business?

I think the word itself should be removed from our collective vocabulary. It's all about fear. Really now, how can anyone truly be "over-qualified"? To my point of view, that means a person that is more desireable than the one that is just qualified. Think of how much of a benefit it would be to your company to have an "over-qualified" employee than someone that only knows just enough about the position?

Unfortunately, office-politics rules instead of intelligence

The real reason that poor guy can't get a job is that he's being discriminated against because of his age. He's 52; that gives it away. If he were 52 turned around (for the uninitiated, 25), his college degree would land him a job in no time, at a much lower salary. Older workers tend to get paid more because of experience gained over the years, and employers don't want to come out and tell older job seekers they're too old, so they tell them they're "overqualified" instead. In other words, "overqualified", translated in plain English, is "We don't want to hire old farts who we have to pay more. We want young folks we can get away with paying far less than what they're worth." Like blacks and women 40 years ago, 40+ workers are the last hired and the first fired.

I think workers over 40 ought to band together and form a coalition to raise awareness about covert age discrimination in hiring practices. Decipher the code language, make a ruckus, expose the displacement of middle-aged workers as the raw discrimination it is.

It's called the "Silver Ceiling".

blacks and women are getting discriminated against too-even more than they (we) were 10 years ago (thanks to eight years of repugs and 20 years of talk radio).

I know far more out of work people over 40 than under 40. The ironic thing is that when I was in the position to hire new employees I tended to have more confidence in the more experienced workers. They knew what kind of pay was being offered, so that wasn't an issue. I wonder if the cost of benefits is a bigger factor for large corporations? If that were the case, then there's ANOTHER reason for universal health care!

...cannot afford defined benefit pension plans any longer. In education, tne reason it always seems unions are blocking any reform is that the reforms being proposed under Bush are not really transformational...they're the same old tired complaints: Get rid of tenure, cut benefits (they all want this because pensions and health care is getting expensive), and try to give the teachers more paperwork to do to prove they are trying to change, vouchers (because they want to privatize public education which would eventually get rid of it).

I think pensions are going away. I DO think they are being stolen as we speak...and teachers and older employees are being pushed out the door by age (isn't that discrimination?). Many employers have stopped offering pensions plans to new employees. In education, maybe that has something to do with pushing older teachers out the door...they can hire two new teachers for the price of one (and no pension plan other than a 401K).

Ridiculous to think they can't.

If they can't, it would also mean *we* as a society can't afford to feed & house our elders.

Do you really think that's true?

There is housing, there is food, there is electricity & water.

But for some reason, there's not enough *money* to give pensions to retirees?

Pfft.

...describing what is actually happening.

...in every field. Mine is education...and it is BLATANTLY age discrimination. But it appears to be sanctioned by state, fed, etc. I don't know how to fight that.

I'm in my 20s and have a college degree that's useless in the job market. I was told in order for it to be relavent, it has to be from the "right" (translation Ivy League) school.

I also had a job interview where the interviewer was so focused on extra cirricular activities in college. I told her that I worked my way through school and was working at least 30 hours a week if not more. She responded with "oh you're one of those pepole." I suppose she would have rather hired someone who partied their way through an A list school than someone who worked their way through a state school.

I would have walked out on them. I likely would have said something to the effect of "I'm sorry, but I think I'm applying for the wrong company. Have a nice (horrible) day." I don't know if it would have been proper to ask for the supervisor, but maybe it would have. That's just a stupid comment to make to a potential employee; there's no excuse to say such a thing.

If your salary is just a bit above the poverty mark, you will loose all help and benefits.
Meaning that the extra money you make, you have to give back to the rich, in rent, mortgage interest and health expenses.
It almost makes you feel that you wasted your life studying hard, when you could just be a bum and get benefits.

will help all who don't have a job right now. I suspect that many will have to go into job area's they never would have thought of. Advanced degrees may or may not apply.

The Repugs have made things such a mess, giving employers the right to do whatever they want. Any cases concerning age, gender, race discrimination have pretty much been thrown out with the Right Wing Supreme Court, Roberts and Scalia only care about big business.

Right now, it calls for infrastructure improvements. If you have experience working on highways or bridges, you have a shot at a job, but if you're a laid off financial services worker, it's not going to help you, unless you can get a job at the restaurant where the infrastructure worker goes for coffee or lunch.

who were white collar ended up learning another trade - construction. We have many creative people in this country and they will find a place for themselves in the rebuilding of America. I do have faith in the American people and people have to feed their families and themselves.

The truth is tha we listened to the Repuglican mantra of more white collar jobs and no manufacturing, when it should have been the other way around.

If a country cannot provide it's own goods and not be dependent on imported goods that is a threat to National Security and that is the way we should look at it. I suspect the Repuglicans wanted the weakening of America and just by reading the 3M dudes statement it kind of confirms it.

but don't we already have a lot of out-of-work construction workers who would get the infrastructure jobs first? If the housing market is crashing, then a lot of people in the construction trades would be the most easily retrainable for bridge and highway work.

You've hit on something, we do need to produce more of our own goods here. I worked in title insurance for well over twenty years, and when the market started to crash in mid-2005, I was dumped in the street by a company that had just hired me five weeks earlier. I tried to get white collar work for months, and was lucky to be accepted to work in a computer chip factory. Right now, my old buddies in the factory tell me that production is way down, orders for product have dried up.

Getting the economy going will require stimulus to many, many industries, not just the building trades. Having the middle class tax cuts that PE Obama has called for will stimulate spending by everyday people on things we all produce.

who were white collar ended up learning another trade - construction. We have many creative people in this country and they will find a place for themselves in the rebuilding of America. I do have faith in the American people and people have to feed their families and themselves.

The truth is tha we listened to the Repuglican mantra of more white collar jobs and no manufacturing, when it should have been the other way around.

If a country cannot provide it's own goods and not be dependent on imported goods that is a threat to National Security and that is the way we should look at it. I suspect the Repuglicans wanted the weakening of America and just by reading the 3M dudes statement it kind of confirms it.

Their a bunch of young bimbos who think they are filling out their party clique and or looking for potential husbands when they are hiring. I have to go to war for every single person I want to hire who isn't a woman under 30, a bachelor under 40 or a gay guy they want to keep as a pet.

When HR says somebody "isn't a good fit" or is "over-qualified" that usually just means she didn't want to go clubbing with them or fuck them. This is made worse by the fact that their search for BFF's and husbands has created an administrative team that is more or less useless.

But ooooh boy are they protective of their turf, when they caught me placing anonymous job ads and using gmail to receive resumes they accused me of running a scheme to hire my unqualified friends.

and driving it into the ground.