Very often the solution to a career problem is the same whether you’re 20 or 50, whether you’re a man or a woman, and whether you earn $15,000 a year or $150,000. This month’s column explores the same issue — being overqualified — from several perspectives. The following three letters are from recent reader queries.

After years of trying to have a child, my husband and I adopted a lovely baby girl. Then, before she turned a year old, I became pregnant. I simply could not continue in my career, so I was a stay-at-home mom for five years with our girls. Now I’m trying to go back to work, and everyone tells me I’m “overqualified.” I don’t feel overqualified. I just want a job. I used to be a store manager for a drugstore chain. Now I can’t get a job as a sales clerk. What’s up with this? I don’t want to run a store. I’d just like a part-time job.

— Mother Two Times

My wife decided to pursue her doctorate at the same time I saw things winding down where I was working. I could see that it was going to be a good time to jump ship. She applied all over the country and managed to get full funding at a very prestigious institution. The place she ended up is, to put it delicately, a bit rural. The university town itself is okay, but there’s not much in the way of large employers around here. She’s doing great in the program, but I’m having an awful time landing a decent job. There are no jobs for a corporate controller around here. So I’m looking for just about any kind of accounting position. But when people find out about my background, they can’t say “no” fast enough. I’m losing my confidence. I thought it would be easy to find something here, maybe not a big job, but something.

— Big Fish Out of Water

I’m not trying to get rich or be a boss. I’m just looking for a job! I worked my way up to foreman on a construction crew, where I used to supervise 10 to 50 people a day. Then I got injured when a concrete hopper pinned me to a wall. I lived on the settlement money for a couple of years, but now it’s gone. I don’t want to work construction anymore, but now everywhere I go I’m told that I’m overqualified. Today, I was told I’m overqualified to be a security guard. How in the heck can you be overqualified to be a security guard? I don’t need much to get by, but I do want to go back to work. What do I have to say to employers to get them to give me a chance? I’m sober, polite, well dressed — and apparently unemployable.

— Good for Something

Dear Correspondents:

Employers use the term “overqualified” when they are uncomfortable with a potential employee. Let’s face it, employers are biased. They have in mind the ideal person they want to hire. They can see that person’s background, attitude, prior experience, commute distance, age, and appearance. And they absolutely believe that they are going to find that ideal candidate.

In fact, I can think of no more optimistic human being than a hiring officer. A few years ago a reader forwarded me a position announcement for a technical position that read “Five years of experience required.” The person who forwarded it to me included a note: “This technology is only 18 months old. No one on Earth has five years of experience!” That reminds me of a newspaper advertisement I once saved: “Secretary wanted. Master’s degree preferred.” Recruiter optimism knows no bounds.

So what do you do if you don’t match that recruiting officer’s vision of the ideal candidate? What if you’re older, more experienced, or just different? Let’s get back to basics. Why does anybody hire you? Because they like you and think you’ll do a good job. If they don’t like you, it doesn’t matter if you’ll do a good job, and if they don’t think you’ll do a good job, it doesn’t matter if they like you.

The fact is that people often have very good reasons for downshifting, for stepping off the treadmill of ever-increasing achievement. These types of job seekers are often told they are “overqualified”: older workers who have not advanced very far compared to their peers, people with health problems, bored retirees, stay-at-home parents looking to return to work, burned-out people who need a respite, entrepreneurs who crashed and went broke, narrowly but overly educated people who can’t find the right egghead position, people whose spouses make obscene amounts of money (and thus don’t really need much income themselves), and ex-prisoners. What the recruiter really means is “too old,” “too slow,” “too hard to manage,” “likely to take my job,” “likely to learn our business, start another company, and steal our clients,” “difficult personality, rude, condescending, and with a bad attitude,” and so on.

So, you have to use hidden job-market techniques to get in front of the employer and state your case for why the above objections do not apply to you. You’ve got to look right, avoid overdressing, and tone down any know-it-all attitude or power language. You’ve got to present yourself as humble, eager, and enthusiastic about the opportunity. Sometimes, you have to provide a rationale for why you are right for the job in spite of your extensive prior experience. Rather than bragging about your accomplishments, downplay them. Explain how the job fits your needs perfectly for where you are today. And make genuine and honest assurances that you won’t jump ship at the first better offer.

Once an employer begins to see you as easy to manage and reliable, you can fit into their vision of an ideal employee after all. A perfect example was a friend of mine, a retired college professor who wanted a part-time job that would simply get him out of the house. He applied for a job as a cemetery attendant wearing clean but worn jeans, a too-long belt, a plaid flannel shirt, work boots that were past their prime, and a cap advertising a brand of tractor. The grounds foreman asked him what he used to do, and he said, truthfully, “I worked for the university.” So they hired him, and he loved his part-time job. What was his old job? He was a psychology professor specializing in nonverbal communication. Think about it.

My best wishes for your continued success.

Resources to Help the Overqualified

For those who are overqualified, writing a resume can be quite a challenge. You don’t want your resume to be ignored, so nuance is extremely important. If you decide to seek help from professional resume-writing sources, start with the following:

Web Sites
parw.com
nrwaweb.com
certifiedresumewriters.com
yourbestimpression.com
careermanagementalliance.com (once on the home page, click on Master Resume Writer)

Note: You should also ask your colleagues for recommendations of local professional resume writers.

Books
What Color Is Your Parachute? 2008: A Practical Manual for Job-hunters and Career-changers, by Richard Nelson Bolles
Ten Speed Press

Expert Resumes for People Returning to Work, by Wendy S. Enelow and Louise M. Kursmark
Jist Works

Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work, by Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin
Warner Business Books