How Do Employers [Properly] Disposition Overqualified Applicants?

By Marife Ramos

A client once asked: “Can we disposition overqualified applicants early in the selection process as ‘Did not meet the requirements of the job due to experience’?” The client went on to point out that overqualified candidates, more often than not, will NOT be hired anyway. The client said recruiters know (not “think they know”) that hiring managers typically shy away from hiring overqualified candidates because they tend not to be a good “fit” for the job and eventually leave after a short stint to accept or look for greener pastures. Hence, the client would rather disposition these candidates early in the process and essentially, exclude them from the applicant pool.

Surely, most of us can understand this client’s point of view. From the practical stand point, why should an employer waste time, money, and effort on applicants whom they think will not be a good “fit” anyway? However, excluding these applicants from the selection process simply because they are “perceived” as overqualified can open up an employer to a possible discrimination charge(s) (age discrimination is one of the possibilities).

Here is some advice from the experts on how to properly weed out overqualified applicants who are really not committed on being serious contributors to your organization:

• Let the job seeker self select him/herself out of the process. For example, let them know early in the process the salary requirements; the duties, responsibilities and expectations of the job; the work schedules; etc.

• Develop “fit” profiles. Properly developed fit profiles are used all the time in hiring. Do not simply include questions, at the recruiter’s or hiring manager’s discretion, in a non-validated manner with a non-validated interpretation of the applicant’s responses.

o For example, recruiters or hiring managers can craft questions such as: "Knowing that the job pays so little as compared to your previous job, how can I be convinced that you will remain in this job for a reasonable amount of time?” "Give reasons why you think that this job will not bore you?” "Why should we select you for this job when others with less education and experience can do the job as well or maybe even better?" "Where do you see yourself in two to three years?" These questions, when properly validated, can help the recruiter assess the extent to which the candidate will match with job requirements.

• Reframe questions (and related disposition codes) away from the “overqualified” language to “fit” evaluation/profile questions.
Keep in mind that unless the overqualified applicants “self select themselves out” of the process, they should be considered as “applicants.” If they met the 4 prongs of the OFCCP’s “Definition of an Internet Applicant” they need to move through the selection process just like anybody else. Their records need to be kept for recordkeeping and adverse impact analysis purposes. Selection decisions for and/or against them have to be documented and kept. Besides, not all overqualified applicants will turn out to be unhappy and short-term employees. You might actually find a diamond in a rough, you never know…