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”
Yeah. I’ve seen great designers get noticeably frustrated when they can’t optimize the project to the level they could in school because there is a budget and maintenance factors that keep it from happening.
You also start getting into issues where that staff can vastly outperform other staff and it creates tension in compensation.