Or is it just a term made up to find an easier reason to reject job applicants?
So it looks like the consensus is “overqualified” is a euphemism for
- “I’m afraid you’ll leave this job because I’m assuming you’ll have better chances elsewhere” aka “you won’t accept being my slave forever due to lack of opportunities”
- “I’m afraid you might actually understand how shitty it is here and want to improve things. can’t have that”
- “I don’t want to figure out how much to pay you when you know your worth”
- “You cost too much”
- “I have other reasons, but won’t say them”
It’s not a good comparison. You can also say that a PhD doesn’t help you at all to be a fast food worker.
For a given profession, if you’re looking to hire an entry level person at an entry level salary, and someone applies who has decades of experience in that profession, it makes a difficult situation for the organization. When it’s time for raises, how do you fairly compare that person to the actual entry level people? If the person could legitimately get double their salary, are they going to stay on your team for the lower salary? Stuff like that makes it problematic.