What should you do when you have more papers and qualifications than required for the job, but you want the job?

Recruiters are wary of people who are overqualified because they fear that you will not stick at the job, become bored and restless, and will maybe leave the company after a short while.

There are a number of options open to you here. You can either not declare all your qualifications , or you can declare them and explain why you want this job even though you are technically over qualified.

If you take the first option it may mean you have some explaining to do about gaps on your CV while you were attaining those qualifications.

For the second option, You could explain the situation in your covering letter, perhaps by saying you this job is exactly what you are looking for because you have decided you want a change in career direction, a better work life balance, a less stressful or demanding job. Maybe you need to take a step down to allow you to care for elderly parents, or young children.

But why are you doing this? Can you not find anything more suited to your qualifications?

Once you have accepted a lower level job and salary it may be difficult to step back up again.

Maybe your cover letter should say that you realise you are overqualified for this, do they have anything more suitable for you?