Dumbing down your resume?

I was watching an interesting news clip on CNNMoney.com about how as unemployment is on the rise a lot of people are having to apply for jobs for which they are "overqualified" and as a result they need to "dumb" down their resume to give themselves a chance at getting interviewed.

Whilst I can understand the logic to an extent I think there are two perspectives to consider here. 1) is from the unemployed candidate and 2) the Employers.

Let's start with the Employer First;

What are the concerns Employers have with hiring "over qualified" people?

My experience has taught me that the majority of employers whilst they love the idea of what is often referred to as an employee DNA upgrade they often don't take advantage of the market for several reasons.

a) Will this person really want to do the job, or just do it for now because the employment market is bad? If you step into the shoes of the Employer this really isn't an unreasonable perspective. Everyone wants to hire people who will enjoy their job and take pride in it, not just do it because their is nothing better to do. My advice to an employer in this situation is to make the job bigger if you can, leverage off the persons skills to improve the role and what it can deliver. However I do agree that in a lot of cases it sounds good and should be logical to hire the best you can but it can come with problems in managing people's expectations on job satisfaction. In this situation the Employer really needs to spend time assessing the personality and attitude of the candidate. Focus on candidates who have a history of taking pride in the task or job, usually this profile is fixated on doing what ever they do well irrespective of the task.

b) I can't pay them what their old job paid and as soon as the market improves they will go somewhere that pays them better? You need to be realistic and you can't blame people for wanting to earn more money but you might be surprised to find out just how loyal people can be. The vast majority of the human race feels obliged to people who help them when they need help. Its not uncommon to see employees say "the company gave me an opportunity when it was tough and I owe them". This is works to a point. If you have a highly over qualified employee and they can find better work and better pay then people will leave. However use this market to use these higher qualified staff to download their experience to your other employees. Give your less qualified employees a chance to learn and grow by being surrounded by better qualified people. Upgrade your DNA through IP/experience transfer from the more experienced person, think of it as a cheap training opportunity for your staff.

Now from the perspective of the Candidate or Unemployed:

a) Dumbing down your CV: Now dumbing down your resume might actually help in some respects and your audience definitely has to be taken into account. If you have an audience with the CEO then that's not a good idea. If it is going through an HR/Recruiter then you might need to tailor your CV for the situation. Now don't lie, just frame your CV for your audience. Let me give you an example; Let's say you are applying for a job as an HR Manager and you have previously been an HR Director. You have to forward your CV to HR for review. Now be fair, if you were the HR Director would you been keen to bring on a 'peer' or maybe even someone more qualified than you? What happens if the CEO finds out that the person applying is better at the HR Director job than the current Director? You have a very common issue which is most time people struggle to recommend people who are equal to them or more qualified for a job below them. Its human nature and just something we need to accept. As a candidate you need to ask your recruiter to clarify whom there relationship is with? Ideally your CV needs to go to the person above the person who will be your direct manager to have a shot if you are applying to a role where you are over qualified.

b) Highlight how you can transfer knowledge and experience: Your over qualified and you need to help the potential employer understand why it will not be a risk for them to hire you. By highlighting your ability to share your knowledge and experience, train up younger or less experienced staff will go a long way to easing concerns employers have about you jumping ship at the first chance.

c) Show some loyalty; OK so someone gives you a job. Sure they don't expect you to stay forever but at least do the decent thing and stay for a committed period. Maybe when you take the job do it as a fixed to term contract so you have an nice way out. The employer knows your going to go when the markets better (unless they make it worth your while to stay) but remember in their mind they are taking a risk by hiring you, don't make them regret it. Unfortunately in Asia I've found this to be a huge issue so please all you over qualified employees looking for work show some integrity and if you have to leave earlier than expected because a better opportunity came along give plenty of notice and be mature about your exit.