HEATHER IJAMES: 'Overqualified' passed up for jobs
| Friday, Oct 01 2010 10:58 AM
Last Updated Friday, Oct 01 2010 10:58 AM
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Alex Horvath / The Californian Contributing columnist Heather Ijames.
Who gets the available fry basket job at a fast-food joint? Typically, a 17-year-old. But what if a 42-year-old with management experience says he or she needs that job to save the house? Does the restaurant choose the teenager who still lives at home with mom or dad, or the adult who needs to pay the mortgage and feed his or her own teenager?
Unemployed workers with good experience and/or college degrees are being turned away from entry-level positions when those seem to be the only ones available. The job crisis has squeezed them out of their respective professions, and when they start stepping down the career ladder to keep up on their bills, they're told they are overqualified.
While I respect the autonomy of business owners to hire as they please, tough times call for different approaches. I'm not bashing gainful employment of the young, as I commend the need to start building their futures sooner rather than later. However, if the choice were between a teenager needing gas and entertainment money on the one hand, and allowing an adult to stay out of foreclosure on the other, I'd argue we all benefit if the business hires the latter. It might mean one less debt dumped on society.
Of course, there are sound reasons for business owners to steer away from the overqualified. Joanne Smith, 34, had to grapple with one of those reasons when a business turned her down for a secretarial job. Smith has a college degree and several years of management experience. But after submitting 20 to 30 applications a week for months with no response, she opted to go after the secretarial job because it at least came with a paycheck.
"They told me no because they were afraid I'd get bored," Smith said of the business that turned her away. "They were fearful that they'd put in a few weeks training me and that I'd leave once a better position opened up at my experience level."
This is a legitimate concern for employers. I concede that. With Smith's experience and education, she'll likely continue looking for that idyllic job if she takes the lesser job now. But I think that's true of everybody -- even if they don't have the degrees and experience.
Still, going after the lesser job for an overqualified individual could be the only thing that keeps them and their respective family afloat. To deny them an opportunity to work in this economy seems unsound to me.
And what about the argument that it's a waste of money to train someone who ultimately leaves for a better job? Well, who's to say the overqualified individual doesn't pick things up 10 times faster or work 10 times more efficiently? If so, it will ultimately save the business money, not waste it.
Jessica Elmore, 34, had a similar experience to Smith. She, too, has experience in management. After a marital split, the need to survive was predominant. Thinking it would be easier to acquire an entry-level position in her field rather than another management position, she applied at a retail store. The store told her she was overqualified.
Elmore said, "In my interview I was specifically asked why I wanted the job since I was overqualified. I explained my circumstances and they told me I should try for a management position somewhere else. Soon after, the job went to a nineteen year old."
The inability of displaced professionals to acquire entry-level jobs seems a bit of a lose-lose situation; it only leaves them pigeonholed in careers that simply aren't hiring right now.
I've chosen not to state the names of the businesses that turned down Smith and Elmore because this is not the time to cast stones. However, I am happy to report that there is at least one business in town -- and likely more -- that gives everyone a fighting chance as long as they're willing to work: Tony's Pizza.
I talked to Rosemary Martinez, daytime manager of the Tony's Pizza on California. At one time, Martinez was overqualified herself for a pizza parlor -- she held a medical certificate in phlebotomy. When she was unable to find a job in a lab, she came aboard at Tony's Pizza as an entry-level employee and eventually promoted to manager.
Martinez, who is in charge of hiring, said they don't discriminate based on over-qualification, "We don't judge potential employees based on past experience or history. If they want to work and they seem reliable, we'll try them out because when you need a job, you need a job. Besides, they might like it and stay like I did."
Martinez even told me she'd hire me if the lawyer gig doesn't pan out. If there's a paycheck at the end of it, I have no problem delivering pizza.
-- Heather Ijames is one of four conservative community columnists whose work appears here every Saturday. These are the opinions of Ijames, not necessarily The Californian's. You can send e-mail to her at hijames@bakersfield.com.
Next week: Inga Barks.
