When "Overqualified" Means You're Right Where You Need to Be

I've been thinking about Grammy Awarded Singer Durand Bernarr's song "Overqualified" lately. There's a line that keeps surfacing: "Can't wait 'til it makes sense to be so much of myself. How the hell am I getting punished from doing the work?"

If you've ever been told you're "overqualified" for a role you genuinely wanted, you'll recognise what he's articulating. It's not really about your CV. It's about being told that becoming more of yourself, more skilled, more experienced, more developed has somehow made you less appealing to employers. The surprising punishment of growth.

Here's what we don't talk about enough: being labelled overqualified often has less to do with your capabilities and more to do with structural barriers that systematically devalue age, experience, and hard-earned expertise. As Hooley and Sultana observe in Career Guidance for Social Justice, we can't entirely "write our own career stories" when systemic constraints fundamentally shape whose qualifications are valued and whose are deemed "too much."

Playing Chess: Five Ways to Position Yourself at the Right Level

What I've learned from working with professionals navigating this challenge is that planning and positioning yourself effectively requires both strategic thinking and a willingness to challenge what you may have also internalised about your own worth.

1. Reframe your narrative around impact, not tenure. Instead of leading with "20 years' experience," spotlight the specific transformation you’ve created. Employers who struggle with "overqualified" candidates often hold concerns about engagement or salary expectations. What they need to see is the precise problem you solve, why it matters to you now and in this position.

   
   

2. Address the concern directly. When you sense hesitation, verbalise it. "You might be wondering whether I'll stay engaged in this role. Here's why this position aligns with where I am now..." This kind of transparency builds trust and demonstrates self-awareness, not defensiveness.

   
   

3. Your Data and Your Privacy: Curate your CV strategically. This doesn't mean hiding your experience, it means being diligent about what's relevant to the story you're telling now. That senior director title from a decade ago? Consider carefully whether it serves the narrative you're building or whether it creates unnecessary barriers. Sadly, age discrimination still occurs, so think twice before listing your qualifications and experience from thirty year ago.

   
   

4. Find advocates who can see you eye to eye. As Bernarr sings about, sometimes it's about surrounding yourself with professionals who genuinely see your professional worth, because ultimately that’s what opportunity searching is about. Actively cultivate relationships with people who understand the value that seasoned professionals bring. They exist, and they're often further along in their own thinking about what talent actually looks like.

   
   

5. Challenge what you've internalised. When you catch yourself thinking "maybe I am too experienced for this," pause. Critically examine where that thought comes from and ask yourself that is the whole truth? Your qualifications aren't the problem. Organisations, cultures and biases that systematically devalues your experience and expertise is the problem. Don't internalise their prejudice as your limitation.

You shouldn't have to wait for it to "make sense" to be fully yourself in your career. Being "overqualified" isn't about having too much, it's about not yet finding the space where your talent and complete experience is genuinely valued. You've done the work. The question isn't whether you deserve recognition, it's about finding psychologically safe environments and people who can meet you eye to eye.

That space exists. You're allowed to stop diminishing yourself while you search for it.

If this has resonated with you, particularly if you're navigating this right now, I'd genuinely value hearing from you.

Yinka

Reference: 

Hooley, T., & Sultana, R. G. (2016). Career guidance for social justice. Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling, 36, 2-11.

Ready to position yourself at the right level? Book a free introductory coaching call and let's talk about where you are and where you want to go.