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Job Interviews & Careers vocabulary · Applications & Hiring

Overqualified

Meaning in job interviews & careers, with examples

/ˌoʊvərˈkwɑːlɪfaɪd/adjectiveCommon term

In job interviews & careers, overqualified means: Having more education, skills or experience than a job needs, so that the employer may think you will be bored, too expensive or likely to leave.

In Turkish: pozisyon için fazla nitelikli, aşırı nitelikli

How it is used

Often appears in rejection feedback: 'You are overqualified for this role.' Interviewers may ask 'Don't you think you're overqualified for this job?' The opposite is underqualified.

Example sentences

  1. They said I was overqualified for the assistant job.

  2. Some employers worry that overqualified candidates will leave quickly.

Common collocations

  • overqualified for the job
  • seen as overqualified
  • overqualified candidate
  • qualificationAn official certificate or degree you get after finishing a course or passing an exam; also a skill or quality that makes you suitable for a job.
  • entry-levelDescribes a job for people at the start of their career that needs little or no previous experience.
  • rejectionA decision by an employer not to offer you a job or not to move you to the next stage, or the message telling you this.
  • candidateA person who is being considered for a job, especially someone who has applied and is going through the selection process.

More terms: Applications & Hiring

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