Are companies reluctant to hire over qualified people?

Over qualified persons are never required for a certain jobs with prescribed qualification until and unless the person capabilities are required to be utilsed other way. More over beside over qualification concept, a senior much of the time will hesitate to have a junior with more knowledge and capabilities. 

Showing this tendency is recent from about a year or so after recession hit few countries because the number of over qualified people also increased due to lay off's in recession.

Showing this tendency is recent from about a year or so after recession hit few countries because the number of over qualified people also increased due to lay off's in recession.

i rate it 4..... still somthing is lacking

Definitely yes. While hiring over qualified person is fraught with its dangers, primarily of retention of the person, hiring under qualified persons may well be detrimental to the growth of the company.

On the flip side, we may say that we can train the less qualified. But then would the person now trained stay?

My take - hire the over qualified and give addition resposnsibility, especially that of grooming subordinates to fill at least one level up.

i fully support you in this argument, my personal experience is if a company appoint a over qualified person for a job , this situation is  harmful for both employee as well as employer, 

I am late this time.

I agree with you Darshana. Companies hesitate in hiring over qualified candidates because they are not sure if candidate will stick with them until they have right position for the candidate there are lot of candidates who are strict with the positions they want but if they are not getting a job & are seeking desperately change because of various reasons they might join with expectation of getting a position what they deserve & if they don't get it in 3 months max they will quit I had real experience with a over qualified candidate he joined a Sr. Software Engg because he was looking for a job because he was bored with his current job actually he was looking for PM position but client could not offer him PM position so he left!!!! This happened with me in USA market however in Indian market companies do not even call the person for interview if they come across a over qualified candidate.

Darshana

I agree with your view point that companies are reluctant to hire over qualified people.The issue comes up when the qualified guys come out from a tier 1 school and start working in an environment where all others are not possessing the same level of qualification.But to be honest, even if, the person is highly qualified, he has to start his career from  the scratch and gain experience hence patience is the key here. They get promoted faster than other guys.. The big MNC's hire them for long term and prefer guys with so called higher degrees at top management positions.The issue is in the initial stages when the person comes with the degrees and has to work in the grounded real corporate world and with time the gap between the dream and real corporate world gets over...

I would also like to say yes. There might be many reasons but  one reason can be saving of money because they can hire more  employees instead of hiring only single more qualified employee.Total payment to all less qualified employees <= Payment to one more qualified employee.Also work done can be more .

it is absoulitly right that company expect more and more from anyone in this time and it is common human thinking that all people think about more and more.

yes, it seems corporate social responsibility does not seem to include a sympathetic view on the more qualified applicants who could bring more to the table with a bit of training and a chance to revive themselves giving them the opportunity to take care of their families.

it is said some companies atleast in the states hire the experienced or retired candidates to bank upon their experience but this is in a scenario where applicants are not probably available enough.

regarding job stability even the younger or middleaged lot fly away for better pastures or due to cultural maladjustment hence these postures are more academic in view.

a small company group company invited me and offered the job instantly when they found all the other 50 applicants were not relevant for them after a year's screening/interviews - the last person to be called perhaps from the lot of applicants and surprisingly finding me quite relevant for their requirements and culture - having wasted a year's time however.

some upcoming family managed companies do invite all shades of applicants making their best pick subsequently wisely keeping their options open, rather than eliminating the higher qualified/aged candidates as a preliminary step.

in one such company we invited a senior candidate and were able to hire him for relevant experience and potentials in the marketing role needing lot of understanding and maturity for a complex high value textile machine. had i kept the application away on the age ground he would have never been invited lying in the dead application files - a small case study for example!

regards!!!

Yup, very much i would say that sometimes being over qualified also becomes a serious threat to grow in the existing industry which requires more less qualified people around. Even i have faced that and i would say sometimes its not easy to even take up those responsibility which one feels is not his cup of tea. But its time which i would give full credit to. It totally depends on one's current situation he/she is in. Most of them would like to go with what ever comes on their way and compromise with their standards and many dont mind waiting all the way until they get their kind of job. 

To greater extent even organizations don't like taking more qualified personnels as the chances of they quiting the job is more once they get the opportunity of their kind. And this would effect the HR's to greater if the candidate quits very soon of joining the organization. And therefore, feel even the companies dont have much to do with over qualified people.  .. Thank you, Manish N

Cheers!!

Just I also satisfied with darshana sawant arjument.

Thanks everyone for participating.......
 
Hi Nitin,

What you have stated is right in some cases, but the reasons could differ.

What we need to understand is every requirement has its own unique parameters. There are different reasons for people not getting selected. It could be due to age, cost, experience, pay & talent in the market.       

It is somewhat related to the case which you have mentioned. While considering your points.......

A programmer is required (2-5 exp) where less & high experience candidates (undoubtedly they are qualified and sometimes more qualified) have applied. Organizations consider the less exp candidate and it could be due to 'n' different reasons like market situation, existing talent pool within org, quality required in project, time frame and many things. In this case, high exp guy is over qualified.

Once again, thnx everyone....

It is unfortunately true in most cases. Onus is on Top management on not only how to procure best suited human resources but also to make optimum use of these resources. If managed appropriately the (over) qualified people can surely prove as real assets.  At times, the Management's approach is parochial and while making recruitment decisions they fail to access advantages of having the really qualified people on board. Getting intimidated by real talent is unfortunate. Employers should encorage multi talented people and they can surely see the positive results in times to come.

I have myself this problem.
I am rated too old because of experience you only can acquire with the time of working.
Rarely I get the feedback. But some said we fear you will leave soon again when you find better job.
Compromises in job or salary are contra productive, I recognized.

Darshana : I am not the right person to comment on this because HR managers like you would be in a better position to add something.  But after reading your comments just out of curiosity I got compelled to ask/clarify something.

1. What and how exactly you would define "Over Qualified" because for example if applications are solicited for requirement of a programmer, you definitely would not entertain a manager level profile.   And I would specifically require you to shed some light on your used term "Qualified Manager".

2. Secondly, I fail to understand that if for some work u need to have some amount of mandatory exp required ( say min 5 yrs ) and a person with 7 yrs exp comes in, then will he be considered as over qualified or your would only want a person with 5 yrs of exp.

Kindly share your views to help me understand.

I am with you Darshana

Yes it is very true, as an employer myself I will not like to employ an over qualified person - one for the simple reason that he / she will get frustrated and will start looking for a change quickly and the company will loose in all ways. Whenever a company hires a new employee it spend not only money on him / her but time and other resources in training the new employee and when one can foresee the instability what is the point of investing in such a prospect???