Even though we are in the Great Resignation and job markets become candidate driven rather than employer driven, some employers seem still to pursue the ‘same old’.

Here’s a new bias to be aware of when you’re applying for a job you’re overqualified for: Hiring managers often assume that women will stay put in that job, regardless of whether they give you a promotion, raise, bonus, or additional responsibility down the line.

Researchers Elizabeth Campbell and Oliver Hahl discovered this bias by asking people with hiring experience to evaluate candidates with qualifications above and beyond the job requirements. They learned that those people were 26% more likely to choose an overqualified woman over an overqualified man. Why? Overqualified men, in their minds, were greater flight risks. And so researchers deduced, managers might not work as hard to retain women.

Do you – yes you female corporate warrior – recognize the situation of being in a job you’re overqualified for, but for which you are not being recognized and rewarded appropriately?

I remember the situation of a few years ago, in which the hiring manager did not ask about my career goals as part of the interview process.
I was quite in disbelief and played that ‘missing out’ back…

I'm a wrong to expect for a hiring manager to ask these relevant questions during interviewing, and at an early stage? Also, for a line manager to address these aspects to each of their direct reports, and before female (top) talent is already on the way out the door... rather than at the exit interview!

We all have agency in our own careers and can advocate for ourselves when we’d like advancement opportunities. However there is mounting evidence that women hesitate to advocate for raises, more responsibility, or rewards for their work out of a concern that they’ll be labelled bossy or arrogant when they do, and these concerns have merit.
These labels have consequences because women face additional barriers to their career advancement when they’re seen as unlikable, something that isn’t true for men.

To be continued...