The tight job market can be especially hard on job seekers with 15 or more years of work experience. As they look through posted jobs, they often find entry-level openings that require less education or experience than they have accumulated. Sheryl Decker, director of Career Services at Brown Mackie College – South Bend, offers steps that can help overqualified job seekers find employment.

“An overqualified job candidate is someone who has too much education or experience, or can be too highly-paid for the position sought,” Decker says. “When employers review a resume, they first tend to weigh the level of education and a candidate’s past experience against the job opportunity. If the candidate possesses qualifications that are higher than the position requires, a manager may set the resume aside.”

An overqualified applicant can raise a red flag for a number of reasons. Employers generally attach a negative connotation to overqualified candidates because they feel the candidate:

• May leave as soon as he or she finds a job commensurate with the higher qualifications.
• May continue looking for employment with a higher salary.
• Has never been promoted by previous employers.
• Has not explained why he or she seeks a lower level position.

“The employer’s top priority is to make the right hiring decision. It costs money to hire and train a new employee, and it is beneficial to the organization when the employee comes on board for the long haul,” Decker says. “It can be scary for an overqualified person who isn’t finding job openings that match their credentials.” How can you overcome this negative perception?

Change the format of your resume

“If you have a lot of skills, it can be helpful to organize your resume into a functional resume format,” Decker says. “Rather than presenting information in chronological order under each position held, highlight your skills and accomplishments as they pertain to the position you are seeking.” You can include the companies you have worked for in the past without emphasizing titles that may raise concerns. Quintessential Careers, a website dedicated to empowering job seekers, supports this tactic for overqualified applicants.

Customize resume to each specific position

“Tailor each resume to include the attributes the prospective employer seeks,” says Decker. “Highlight the things that show you are qualified, not overqualified.” Be sure to include characteristics of your personality that show you are motivated, a team player and dedicated to performing the job effectively. Along with a positive attitude, these soft skills can help define you as an asset.

Call on your professional network

Never underestimate the importance of joining a professional association. “People who know you can vouch for your experience and value to the company, even though your qualifications may be higher,” Decker says. “This is one of the best ways to overcome negative perceptions.”

Honesty is the best policy

“Prospective employers call your references, check your background and criminal history, and speak with the company where you last worked. Be honest about the reasons you left, and make it known that you are flexible about salary in a new position,” Decker says. “Today’s economy makes this a reality.”

Above all, focus on how your learned skills can benefit the company. Employers want to provide good service to customers in a positive atmosphere for employees.

For senior individuals who have paid off most of their major debts, such as home and auto loans, and don’t use credit cards or store retail credit on a regular basis, the possibility of becoming “unscoreable” exists. This can happen because credit score models rely on recent credit activity in order to generate an accurate score. If all recorded credit activity has stopped, then there’s no recent information to use as the basis for a credit score. As a recent Experian study points out, older individuals tend to have better credit scores, so it’s important to do what you can to sustain yours.

Why is having a credit score important for seniors?

If you’ve paid off your mortgage and have plenty of savings on hand to last you the rest of your life, you might wonder why maintaining a credit score would be important. Although you may not be planning on taking out another home loan or making other major purchases on credit, you may need a score for other life events, such as:

• Financing unexpected needs
• Applying for rental housing if you plan on selling your house and downsizing
• Establishing an account with a cellphone provider or other utility
• Acting as a co-signer on a loan
• Entering into a reverse mortgage

How to avoid becoming “unscoreable”

While it may seem logical to close accounts that you don’t use or need, you can keep your score active by maintaining them. This is especially important if you’ve paid off your mortgage and auto loans.

VantageScore, which has the ability to provide a credit score to a broader population of consumers with limited credit histories, recommends keeping at least one credit card active. It’s a good idea to use each of your accounts at least once every 24 months so that your payment data gets reported to the three national credit reporting companies (CRCs) – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can avoid incurring interest simply by paying off your balance after making a purchase.

If you want to close out credit card accounts, it’s best for your credit profile if you keep the oldest accounts active. Credit score models put greater emphasis on the older credit accounts in your credit files because it demonstrates that you have a reliable history of on-time payments.

What to do if you find yourself without a credit score

If you end up in this situation, VantageScore recommends opening a secured credit card, which is a credit card that includes a deposit. Be sure the card issuer reports payments to the three major CRCs.  Some of these cards convert to a regular credit card after a certain period of time.

Another option is to work with a lender that offers manual underwriting, or one with whom you already have an established relationship and knows your finances. Some of the major lenders have the ability to issue credit the old-fashioned way by reviewing your credit files and other data to determine the specific terms if you qualify for a loan. Here again, be sure to work with a lender that is reporting payments so you can re-populate your credit files.

Once you begin rebuilding your credit, you will actually become eligible to receive a VantageScore credit score as soon as one month after a lender first reports your payment information to the CRCs, though for other models this timeframe could be as great as six months later.

Doing what you can to maintain the credit score you’ve worked so hard to establish over the years is important. If you do end up without a credit score, know that anyone – especially someone with a solid financial history – can rebuild their credit by taking a few easy steps.