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Actual experience may be lacking
I worked very hard to develop an exceptional resume, and succeeded.
Now I only have one small misgiving concerning my resume; it has to do with two little words - over qualified.
What does one do? Not only have I deemed this a problem, but many other qualified, educated individuals I know meet this same hurdle in
the professional business sector.
Personnel associates decide for you that "you will be bored" or that "we cannot pay you enough." Let me decide what is boring, or how much is
too little. Frustration runs high as I meet negative responses regarding professional business employment.
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After reviewing your resume, I came to a somewhat different conclusion than "over qualified." You are close to getting a Ph.D. and
have spent one year at a university as a teacher and one year as a grade school substitute teacher. Prior to that, you had some clerical
experience in a police department and had a public relations job with a bank.
In fact, you background suggests that you may be "over educated" but "under experienced" for business. Employers may be reacting to your
Ph.D. when they refer to you being over qualified. You may be sending mixed signals because you also list on your resume your typing speed and
switchboard experience.
But the fact that you lack higher-level business experience is the real problem, in my opinion. The Ph.D. may actually be working against you
if you are seen as someone who is too academic and theoretical and not grounded in the "real world." Some business people tend to be
suspicious of "academic types" who haven't proven they can be bottom-line oriented.
Whether this is a true perception or not, I found it to be pervasive (but unspoken) when I was trying to make the transition from education to
business. Consequently, I had to create opportunities to prove my skills in a business setting. This can be done by becoming involved in
professional organizations related to the field you choose. It can also be accomplished through consulting projects that you solicit from
small-business owners or, perhaps, through speeches you deliver to business groups. Volunteer organizations also offer a forum in which you
can use your skills while surrounded by fellow volunteers from business environments.
Another problem may be the jobs for which you are applying. Are they a natural evolution from what you are doing now? If you are applying for
entry-level positions of a technical nature, hundreds of candidates with business experience will be your competition. If you are after
entry-level jobs of a clerical nature, the company may fear that you will become bored and pose a motivational problem or else that you won't
stay. Companies that I contacted all responded with negative stories about people they had hired in the past that had been over qualified.
Even if you feel you are different, they are unlikely to give you a try.
Because companies have their pick of experienced candidates they don't want to spend money training someone from scratch. They are
also leery of hiring someone who has no proven business-related track record.
Your degrees in speech and communications could be applied to many management jobs in business settings, yet your resume does not expand
on your bottom-line results or accomplishments related to these areas. Nor does it use business jargon or have a job objective. Employers
expect you to translate your skills to their language. Because you say you have succeeded in developing an "exceptional resume," I presume you
are not customizing it for different jobs to which you apply. I believe that a generic resume sent to all job openings will yield few interviews.
In your case, one suggestion is to take an interim job in the public
sector. Perhaps an administrative post in a university or counseling center would give you the required leadership and administrative
exposure. If your non-education jobs were interesting to you, try to contact people with whom you worked.
Another suggestion is to find areas where there is a common thread between your education, experience and business. For example,
training and development may be a possible entry point for you.
Your best bet is to start networking with people in public relations or
related communications fields. Ask them to critique your resume.
At the same time, look for ways to do short-term projects to prove your skills in a business setting. Ask these contacts to steer you toward
the appropriate professional groups and trade journals. They may steer you toward the right job for you.
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What do you suppose they found? You guessed it. They revised their reasons for leaving. At the time they left, for example, 38 percent pointed to salary and benefits as the primary reason; 18 months later only 12 percent responded the same way. Four percent had originally said they were leaving for supervisory reasons, yet this percentage increased to 24 percent 18 months later.
In the article, "The Exit Interview: Effective Tool or Meaningless Gesture?" (by Pamela Garretson and Kenneth Teel, Personnel Magazine, August, 1982) 18 major organizations were sampled to determine their exit interview procedures.
The authors were surprised to find that just slightly over half make any use of the information obtained in the interviews. Perhaps the data isn't used because it isn't reliable. So why bother collecting the data if it won't be used?
The following ideas will help organizations collect useful information to help them make needed changes in their policies, supervision and culture:
1. Develop a standard interview format. Ensure that personnel representatives ask the same questions during each interview in a structured sequence.
2. Conduct the exit interview anonymously. Companies can employ outside firms to hold discussions and later submit raw data. They can also schedule discussions after employees have separated. Under these conditions, employees will not be afraid to tell the truth, since they will have no fear of retribution from their employer.
3. During the interview, convey to exiting employees that management is concerned with the actual reasons for their leaving and will use this information in a constructive, not retaliatory, manner.
4. As a part of the procedure, have the personnel representative speak with the exiting employee�s supervisor and co-workers to help determine the actual reasons for termination. The company will then have a global picture of the reasons surrounding the employee�s decision to leave.
5. Conduct studies like the one described above to analyze internal exit information.
JoanLloyd has a solid track record of excellent results. Her firm,
JoanLloyd
& Associates, specializes in leadership
development, organizational change and teambuilding. This includes executive
coaching, 360-degree feedback processes, customized leadership training,
conflict resolution between teams or individuals,
internal consulting skills training for HR professionals and retreat
facilitation. Clients report results such as: behavior
change in leaders, improved team performance and a more committed
workforce.
JoanLloyd has earned her C.S.P. (certified speaking professional) designation
from the National Speakers Association and speaks to corporate audiences, as
well as trade & professional associations across the country. Reach her at (800)
348-1944, mailto:info@joanlloyd.com, or
www.JoanLloyd.com
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