Students pursuing any degree risk over-qualification, but it may not be for the reason many people think.  

Over-qualification doesn’t stem from a prospective employee’s anticipated pay or credentials, but rather corporate security, according to K. Shannon Davis, associate dean of the Poole College of Management. 

Davis, a specialist in human resource management, said she worked in staffing for major corporations before going back to graduate school. 

“I’ve got practical, real-world experience, and then I’ve got the academic training kinds of stuff, so I’ve been in the job market, and I’ve been told that I had been over-qualified,” Davis said. “I’ve been denied a position because I was considered to be over-qualified, so [over-qualification] does exist.” 

Davis explained though, that over-qualification isn’t a matter of the credentials on one’s resume, but how well—and how long—an employee will fit in a position.

“Companies tend to not want to hire somebody if they think they are just settling for this job for a short period of time because [employees] are really looking for something else, and they are going to leave after three months,” Davis said. 

Companies spend money training and settling employees, and over-qualified employees are more likely to leave for a higher position, Davis said.

“They may tend to not hire you into a position that they think you are settling for because they are going to make an investment in training you and socializing you into the organization,” Davis said. “Then you are going to keep your job search going in secret the whole time you are there, and then you are going to bail on them before they had been able to get any return on their investment.”

Davis said it is important for candidates to clearly state what they are looking for if their credentials are stronger than the position they seek. 

“They’ve got to sell the company on why they want that job,” Davis said. “They aren’t looking for something else, that they are not settling for this job—that this is really what they want, there’s a gap in their professional development, and they don’t have the industry experience.” 

The issue of over-qualification has less to do with a person’s education and more to do with their intentions. This concept can be applied elsewhere, Davis said.

“When a freshman is a candidate for the Poole College of Management and says he or she really wanted to get into engineering, but didn’t, and will try to keep getting into engineering, I’m not going to be as likely to make a huge investment in them,” Davis said.

Davis said over-qualification especially becomes a problem when unemployment is at its highest. 

“When the labor market is flooded, when the unemployment rate is really high and there are lots of people looking for work and colleges are graduating lots and lots of people, companies aren’t doing a lot of hiring,” Davis said. “If the economy is bad, then they are going to be more likely to turn away candidates because they’ve got a lot to choose from—they can be more picky.”

Davis said students should have a goal in mind and drive toward that goal to make sure everything is aligned within it. 

“So this issue of over-qualification—does it really exist?” Davis said. “Well, yeah, I guess it really does because companies use it as a reason not to hire people. It’s not because of the credentials that they are bringing in, it’s because of their motivation and the company’s evaluation of their motivation to stay in the position.”