Employers feel intimidated by individuals with several academic degrees?

[Anonymous]

I have doctorate, mba, and mph degrees. Having a hard time finding a new job. Currently working as a clinical professional. It almost seem like I am over qualified for a lot of jobs. Any suggestions on how I could use my degrees? What kind of jobs should I apply for? Right now it feels like employers are staying away from me? TIA

[Anonymous]

I think the fact that you assume intimidated rather than confused is a big clue as to why you're not getting hired.

[Anonymous]

The fact that you have that many degrees and are looking to switch fields again tells be you don't know what you really want and have no real skills. Essentially you are no better than someone straight out of skills but probably will demand to be paid much higher than entry level.

[Anonymous]

OP here. My program was a dual doctorate/ mba. Went back many years later for mph. Working as a clinical professional for over 15 years at the same hospital. Just seeing what is outhe there. NeEd better work/life balance. Have a 3 yo etc.

[Anonymous]

My sister's BIL has a PHd in Physics from Harvard. She says the guy can't even cross the street without getting hit. (No, he is not handicapped). He is on a Lalaland constantly.
He would not make a good crossing guard.
You have degrees, but are you good at your job?

[Anonymous]

I'm another one with multiple advanced degrees and I encountered some issues with this when job searching. There were perhaps a couple of employers who seemed intimidated by the many degrees or my age (I was a career changer). I agree that more were just probably confused and wondering if I was flighty and not serious about a career path. I found the best approach was to craft an extremely logical, simple and coherent narrative about why the varying degrees made sense and were part of my development and overall plan. Once I did this my unusual resume became an asset rather than a liability. Good luck to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the fact that you assume intimidated rather than confused is a big clue as to why you're not getting hired.

Many of us with advanced degrees tend to retreat into the belief that we are overqualified when in fact we are unqualified for the jobs we are trying to get. i would try to put the degrees out of your mind and look really closely at the specific skills you have developed while working and your work accomplishments and try to match those up with position requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the fact that you assume intimidated rather than confused is a big clue as to why you're not getting hired.

Many of us with advanced degrees tend to retreat into the belief that we are overqualified when in fact we are unqualified for the jobs we are trying to get. i would try to put the degrees out of your mind and look really closely at the specific skills you have developed while working and your work accomplishments and try to match those up with position requirements.

+1

OP you are unqualified beyond your clinical experience. Which means you need to network and realize the company would be taking a risk on you. I know too many people with MBAs that don't understand the basics of business for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the fact that you assume intimidated rather than confused is a big clue as to why you're not getting hired.

Many of us with advanced degrees tend to retreat into the belief that we are overqualified when in fact we are unqualified for the jobs we are trying to get. i would try to put the degrees out of your mind and look really closely at the specific skills you have developed while working and your work accomplishments and try to match those up with position requirements.

+1,000

If it helps, OP, you are not alone. You need to differentiate yourself from everyone else out there, and one of the best ways to do that is to highlight your skill set and how it meshes with the position you are applying for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the fact that you assume intimidated rather than confused is a big clue as to why you're not getting hired.

Many of us with advanced degrees tend to retreat into the belief that we are overqualified when in fact we are unqualified for the jobs we are trying to get. i would try to put the degrees out of your mind and look really closely at the specific skills you have developed while working and your work accomplishments and try to match those up with position requirements.

-1 I've seen so many people WITHOUT degrees who are woefully unqualified for jobs get those jobs over candidates with degrees, degrees that are actually relevant to the job in question.

OP, are you applying to government jobs? I do think that with certain agencies, supervisors and managers are intimidated by degrees, especially if they are older, career employers who don't have degrees. I think they are hesitant to hire someone who will technically be under them who has more academic credentials than they do.

A friend of mine had a horrible experience with this sort of thing. She was already employed and was applying for a promotion, and it became very clear that her degree (relevant to the work she was doing, by the way) was the issue. She also had the relevant work experience, so in no way could it be argued that she was unqualified.

I think a lot of people who lack a BA like to downplay degrees because they are feeling increasingly paranoid that they don't have one and are in higher level positions. If they admit that the degree is a valuable thing, then they will have direct reports who are technically more qualified and advanced than they are.

[Anonymous]

I was trying to switch career paths to something that would make me more employable (ie not academia). When I had my Ph.D. on my resume, I did not get called back, as soon as I took that degree off my resume, I started getting good responses. And I get it, if I saw someone applying for my current job with a Ph.D., I would wonder if that person really planned to stick around, if that person would be too fancy to do all the really basic crap that is part of the job, if that person was only applying because they were otherwise unemployable. I would suggest sending out some tester resumes with pared down degrees and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the fact that you assume intimidated rather than confused is a big clue as to why you're not getting hired.

Many of us with advanced degrees tend to retreat into the belief that we are overqualified when in fact we are unqualified for the jobs we are trying to get. i would try to put the degrees out of your mind and look really closely at the specific skills you have developed while working and your work accomplishments and try to match those up with position requirements.

+1

OP you are unqualified beyond your clinical experience. Which means you need to network and realize the company would be taking a risk on you. I know too many people with MBAs that don't understand the basics of business for example.

You don't know this. You don't know what jobs OP is applying for. You are making assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm another one with multiple advanced degrees and I encountered some issues with this when job searching. There were perhaps a couple of employers who seemed intimidated by the many degrees or my age (I was a career changer). I agree that more were just probably confused and wondering if I was flighty and not serious about a career path. I found the best approach was to craft an extremely logical, simple and coherent narrative about why the varying degrees made sense and were part of my development and overall plan. Once I did this my unusual resume became an asset rather than a liability. Good luck to you.

Great answer, PP

[Anonymous]

Op unfortunately you'll have to do what I did remove one of 2 of the degrees from your resume and you'll start getting job offers. It worked like magic for me. I only did this to get more experience towards my target professional goal. Yes, I've spoken to hiring managers who are afraid the candidate with more degrees will take over their job especially if the manager only has a bachelors degree. Reality sucks. Play the game and you win in the end. My salary went up way higher from prior job to another when I did this. I finally got the job that was the best fit for me and all my degrees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op unfortunately you'll have to do what I did remove one of 2 of the degrees from your resume and you'll start getting job offers. It worked like magic for me. I only did this to get more experience towards my target professional goal. Yes, I've spoken to hiring managers who are afraid the candidate with more degrees will take over their job especially if the manager only has a bachelors degree. Reality sucks. Play the game and you win in the end. My salary went up way higher from prior job to another when I did this. I finally got the job that was the best fit for me and all my degrees.

Interesting... I thought you had to list all your degrees on resume/ vitae. I did not know you could pick and choose to list what you want.