How to Use overqualified in a Sentence

overqualified

adjective
  • They didn't hire her because she was overqualified for the job.
  • Even in a robust truck market, these big boys are more than a little overqualified for daily use.
    — Tony Swan, Car and Driver, 16 June 2017
  • Here are her best tips for ‘overqualified’ candidates on how to navigate the job process.
    — Sophie Caldwell, CNBC, 30 Dec. 2025
  • The reviews have not been very kind, and the movie itself barely deserves its wildly overqualified cast.
    — Josh Spiegel, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Feb. 2018
  • Overcome the perception of being ‘overqualified’ for the job.
    — Maggie McGrath, Forbes, 22 Nov. 2024
  • An overqualified worker is likely to be looking for a higher salary than what your company can offer.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes, 2 May 2022
  • In fact, Fleming was worldly to a degree and, if anything, overqualified to write spy novels.
    — James Parker, The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2024
  • Openings for even menial posts attract throngs of overqualified applicants.
    — The Economist, 24 Oct. 2019
  • Hiring managers were more likely to hire overqualified women than overqualified men.
    — Cassie Werber, Quartz, 7 Feb. 2022
  • Drew Gulak might be one of the most overqualified interviewers in the history of this business.
    — Alfred Konuwa, Forbes, 16 Apr. 2022
  • Young, overqualified and underemployed, most toiled away at jobs unrelated to their degrees.
    — Shervin Malekzadeh, Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2018
  • Key and Leguizamo, comic talents who are wildly overqualified for this sort of thing, work hard, very hard, to infuse the tired material with laughs.
    — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2019
  • Ethan Hawke joins a long list of overqualified actors taking supporting roles in MCU projects.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 29 Mar. 2022
  • As a result, women to feel the need to overperform and become overqualified for equal opportunities.
    — NBC News, 10 Mar. 2021
  • That offers no improvement on the often cartoonish roles available for overqualified actresses of a certain age.
    — Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 July 2023
  • However, grads might have better luck pivoting into trade jobs and making peace with being overqualified and in debt than pining for the dream corporate job.
    — Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 9 July 2024
  • If things go wrong, the overqualified graduate activist class could provide the revolutionaries of the future.
    — Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Atlantic, 28 June 2026
  • Shohei Ohtani returned to the mound At this time in 2025, the Dodgers deployed the most overqualified opener of all time.
    — Stephen J. Nesbitt, New York Times, 16 June 2026
  • Best known locally as a pastry chef but a veteran of kitchens around the country, Ong may be the most overqualified server in Washington.
    — Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 11 Nov. 2022
  • An overqualified and utterly spectacular third baseman for most of his career now playing shortstop full-time in 2018.
    — Ted Berg, For The Win, 26 Apr. 2018
  • And on her first mission, this overqualified woman joins H for a night of hedonism diplomacy, showing some sluggy alien grandee a good time in a London nightclub.
    — Darren Franich, EW.com, 12 June 2019
  • Instead of promoting women to management roles, women are left overqualified in their current positions and unable to utilize all of their skills and make their own decisions.
    — Kim Elsesser, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2022
  • Bringing Lopez aboard likely only works in a specific circumstance, in which Harden is brought back and Sengün becomes an overqualified sixth man.
    — Michael Shapiro, Chron, 20 Apr. 2023
  • The company initially rejected her as overqualified, but then her résumé landed on the desk of founder Nadia Boujarwah, who brought her on to grow the business.
    — Diana Tsui, The Cut, 12 June 2018
  • In a world where high-level high school players have found other routes on their road to the NBA, Bates is the most overqualified recruit to make a similar decision.
    — Stephen Means, cleveland, 30 June 2020
  • Research indicates hiring managers fear overqualified candidates may be dissatisfied, demand more, or leave quickly.
    — Caroline Castrillon, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026
  • Those overqualified co-stars provide somewhat of a counterweight to Jerry Buss’ leering gaze, which dominates so much of Winning Time.
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Feb. 2022
  • Many young people were overqualified for the low-paying jobs they were offered, but took them anyway to stay afloat and gain experience, which is not only harmful in the immediate, but can lead to huge financial losses over a lifetime.
    — Farah Joan Fard, Marie Claire, 18 May 2017
  • Still, this overqualified cast continues to win me over by chewing scenery like every single one of ‘em went to the Al-Pacino-in-Heat school of acting (off-screen cocaine habit included).
    — Andy Andersen, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024
  • Meanwhile, overqualified singers like Ravyn Lenae, Mustafa, and Omar Apollo do some of the background vocal riffs that Harlow’s limited range won’t reach.
    — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 17 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'overqualified.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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