The Over Qualified Dilemna

For months, employers have told me they do not want entry level candidates but they also do not want people with more than 15 years experience. of late, tyhe desired range has closed even more and they are looking for on average, 3-7 years experience. This is bugging me 24/7 since most of the unemployed are either those recently out of college or those who have worked anywhere from 15-30 years. The question I keep asking myself is why would a company not take advantage of such a seasoned work force at affordable prices and/or hungry recent grads?

The second part is easy. With all the cutbacks, trainers are now readily available to train the new kids on the block right now. The second part is tougher to swallow and I got some help from three trusted clients. One is the president of his business, another is a very seasoned HR Recruiter, and the third is the on site staffing manager for a search firm inside a huge company.

All three painted the same picture. Thanks to the massive downturn we have experienced, companies are becoming very creative in combining multiple tasks under one umbrella job. For example, a purchasing manager needs to also serve as an inventory analyst, a materials planner, production planner, buyer, procurement specialist, raw materials coordinator, etc. An I.T. project manager needs to be able to look at competitive analysis models, web architecture, software purchasing, product development, programming, hardware analysis, etc. An equipment designer must understanding pre-sales engineering, analysis of competition's product design, limitations of suppliers to deliver raw materials, production requirements, etc.

My experts all told me that folks in the industry more than 15 years tend to be reluctant to adapt to these situations and reject the need to cross from one platform to another. The challenge to those who need to return to the workforce is to study all the latest trends in their field of expertise and show up at interviews with a game plan of how they will break this mold!