Communications of the ACM
The Dangers of Being nder- and Over-Qualified During a Recession
The economic downturn is forcing many IT professionals to re-assess their job prospects, especially now that many companies are bowing under the pressure to downsize their workforce. In some cases, companies are cutting thousands of IT professionals at one time, regardless of skill level, tenure or seniority. As a result, over-qualified and under-qualified IT professionals face perhaps the most difficult prospects of re-entering the workforce. Companies want experienced workers, but often are not willing to take a risk that highly-qualified candidates will stick around once the economy improves. With that in mind, Web Strategist Jeremiah Owyang offers some practical advice of what these job candidates can be doing in order to succeed in a tough economy.
Many highly-talented IT professionals will be applying to positions that they've never thought of before. Some will even consider jobs in new industries that are only tangentially related to IT. On the surface, it would appear that these over-qualified professionals would be able to walk into any position and after the first interview land the job. The problem, however, is that employers will still want to hire the best fit for the job — not necessarily the most experienced or capable. From their perspective, someone with too much experience or too much education for the position may demand a higher salary or more perks. Employers feel that these overqualified candidates are likely to leave once the economy picks up.
From Web Strategy by Jeremiah
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