Overqualified? Read this.

Some-time hiring-manager here. Recruitment is expensive; moreso when unemployment is low. 3-6 months of salary is not unreasonable. “Overqualified” means the company wants to hire (and pay) at a lower rate for a long-term position, and thinks you’re likely to jump ship at the first shiny opportunity, which costs the company another round of recruitment. Good tricks, from a job-seeker’s perspective, are:

1. Seek work through a temp agency or recruiting house like Kelly or TekSystems: They are staffed by people with a vested interest in matching people with positions.
2. Know and highlight what you want from a longer-term position like what you’re applying for, perhaps in an “objective” statement. This helps frame the discussion as “company gets a deal” not “company gets a raw deal”.
3. Expand the scope of your search to include roles with traditionally higher turn-over. They might focus their recruitment efforts on students, but a mature adult would be considered an asset here.
4. Consider the three Ds: Dirty, Dangerous, and Difficult. These normally pay well enough that turn-over isn’t a special risk – although there may be an apprenticeship period. Someone may ask why an ivory-tower graduate wants to get her hands dirty, but as long as your answer doesn’t speak of desperation you should be fine. Plus you probably have a clean nose, which is a tangible asset in the trades.