'Tis the Season to be Overqualified

September 30, 2015 6:27 PM

I am about to be interviewed for a part-time seasonal, retail position. This would simply be something to supplement my main income, and very temporary. I have about 15 years of high level retail management experience that I gained prior to the full-time non-retail management position I now have. I heard that the hiring managers sometimes do not want to hire people who are vastly overqualified, so my question is this: Should I reveal how much retail experience I actually have, or should I try to downplay it?
posted by LilithSilver to Work & Money (8 answers total)

I personally would. People discriminate against the "overqualified" all the time, and it's not that likely that they'd see it as an advantage, more that they'd expect you to second-guess them and be difficult to manage.
posted by Slinga at 6:36 PM on September 30, 2015

I would reveal the experience you have but be very open about your motivation--tell them what you've told us, that you just want something to supplement your income for a short time. Maybe play up the "I really just want someone to tell ME what to do here!" angle. The concern mostly comes in when people are overqualified *and* you don't know what they want with this job.
posted by cogitron at 6:45 PM on September 30, 2015

A big part of the reason you don't want to appear over-qualified is that they'll think you're looking for something better and that you won't stay a moment past the day you get a different job. If it's a seasonal job, that's not a concern -- they might prefer to have someone who will happily go away after their busy season is over and not whine for hours in February.

It's not a slam dunk either way -- some people will worry about over-qualified people being hard to work with as Slinga noted -- but I wouldn't default to downplaying the past experience under these circumstances. It might be a better approach to appear humble and willing to learn whatever new methods are in use in this store versus your old job, while still acknowledging that you have history and experience in retail.

They've already seen your resume, I assume, if you're getting an interview, so they know you *have* the experience. They can't be that bothered by it.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:46 PM on September 30, 2015

If you're going to be a seasonal worker and you actually have experience AND they know for sure that you won't want to hang around after the holidays your experience will not hurt you at all - it will help quite a lot, in fact. And currently in a management role? Depending on how you interview (that is, if you don't sound like a know-it-all asshole) you'll come off as a person who not only can hit the ground running but help encourage/lead others who are learning your same role for the first time. They might also think you're more likely to identify misconduct or fraud/less likely to ignore it if you see it, and that's definitely something they're interested in.
posted by good lorneing at 7:59 PM on September 30, 2015

Yeah, overqualified is only a red flag for me because I'm looking for people who will stay long enough for me to recover my training effort. Harder to manage can be a thing, but I don't really think you could be harder to manage than the average entry level retail employee if you tried.

My #1 concern would be you'd think you were too good for the more menial tasks that would be required. If you reassure them about that, you should be good for a seasonal job.
posted by ctmf at 4:07 AM on October 1, 2015

I hear you. My experience is about ten years old, but I could not find a seasonal retail job until I removed most of my experience and my educational background from my CV. I went from not getting approached by hiring managers to getting half a dozen offers within a couple of days.

I basically pared back my CV to make it look as standard and dull as possibly with very little responsibility but some hands-on experience. I also emphasized that I was looking for a temporary job to tide things over between two other jobs and that I was a steady worker. But it's the dullest, least 'go me' CV I've ever ever used.
posted by kariebookish at 6:50 AM on October 1, 2015

Thanks for the advise. What happened to kariebookish mirrors what has been going on with me. Honestly, it is frustrating to have spent many years working towards becoming educated and respected in my career only to experience this weird discrimination.
posted by LilithSilver at 1:33 PM on October 1, 2015

Update: I was hired on, but based on what I have learned since then I am surprised that they chose to do so. It turns out that the company tries to hire people who want to stay on as permanent after the holidays so the management can dangle that in front of you constantly. "Hey, yeah, I know we are asking a lot of you, but if you go above and beyond we might keep you on after the holidays!"
posted by LilithSilver at 10:45 AM on December 1, 2015