Attorneys who
have been out of work for a year or more feel highly motivated to begin
lowering their standards so that they can increase their chances of finding
work. But the reality of low aim
in a job search is much more complex.
Many attorneys are quite surprised to find that their lower standards
don’t necessarily produce a bounty of job opportunities. Here’s why:
1.
Employers
steer clear of overqualified job seekers because they fear that they will
eventually abandon ship once a better opportunity comes their way. It is costly
in both time and money to hire new employees, that’s why firms don’t want to
waste that expense on someone who is not going to stay for long. They would
often prefer to go with a lesser qualified albeit more appropriate job
candidate and save themselves the stress of recruiting twice for the same
position.
2.
Even
if a job seeker could somehow prove that they were truly interested in the job
which is “beneath” their skill level, they would still be faced with the
employer’s fear that the job candidate would not be able to mesh well with
those who are his/her equals in title only. Sometimes when a candidate takes a position for which they
are overqualified for, they try to do things their way or bump heads with
authority and peers.
3.
And
finally, many employers fear that an overqualified new hire will spend most of
their time and effort trying to get in the position for which they are more
qualified instead of focusing on the job they have now.