Jobs and the Future of Work

Too smart for you job - and other signs you should move on

An employee works on his computer at the office of CloudFactory, a Canadian startup that based itself in Kathmandu, where it hires teams of Nepalese October 5, 2012. Not far from the world of regimented cubicles and headset-toting call centre operators, a quiet revolution is stirring in its slippers. While it's early days, proponents of so-called commercial crowdsourcing contend that a swelling army of global freelancers is already disrupting traditional outsourcing - from preparing tax statements to conducting research on pediatricians. Picture taken October 5, 2012. To match story ASIA-FREELANCE/       REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar (NEPAL) - RTR39016

No one wants to feel like their skills are being underutilized or their potential is being wasted. Image: REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Aine Cain
Careers Intern, Business Insider

No one wants to feel like their skills are being underutilized or their potential is being wasted.

But it's still a fairly prevalent issue. According to one survey, 35% of millennials with bachelor's degrees said their first jobs out of school didn't require a college degree.

Of course, having a college education doesn't necessarily make a candidate more intelligent than people without degrees. Anyone can be too smart for their job, whether they're overqualified or just stuck in the wrong role, field, or organization.

Here are some signs that it's probably time to move on to something more challenging soon:

1. You're bored

Nonstop boredom is the biggest indicator that you're too smart for your job, according to a LinkedIn Post from CEO and founder of Human Workplace, Liz Ryan. "If boredom overwhelms you such that you need sugar and caffeine to stay awake, you're in the wrong spot," Ryan explains.

Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of "The Humor Advantage" says that feeling bored doesn't necessarily mean that you're not doing anything.

"You might find yourself constantly taking on other tasks or helping on other projects out of sheer boredom or just to keep your mind stimulated," he told Business Insider.

2. You don't have to try hard

Tasks that don't phase you at all always seem to stump everyone else in your office. Of course, it's great to be adept and above-average in some areas, but if you're consistently outperforming pretty much everyone all the time, it's time to consider that you might be overqualified.

"It could be a sign that you're too smart for your role if you're finishing you assignments and taking on more," says Ryan Kahn, a career coach, founder of The Hired Group, and author of "Hired! The Guide for the Recent Grad. "This is a great sign and grounds for a promotion if you are able to excel in your role and take on projects of higher value and responsibility."

3. Your coworkers are stuck in place

If your coworkers can't keep up when you explain a complex idea, or are opposed to reworking the way things have "always been done," it might be a sign that they're not intellectually challenging you. Even if they're friendly and hard-working, it won't better you to stay in a position that doesn't push you. "You don't improve your game by playing with people a level (or two or three) below your league," Ryan says.

4. You're not learning anything

Jobs should always function as learning opportunities, whether you're miserable at the company or loving your work. If you find that there's nothing else to learn from your role, it's probably time to move up within the organization or move on altogether.

According to Kerr, signs of lack of intellectual stimulation at work include feeling "increasingly bored, un-energized or demotivated by your current workload, to the point that you are often distracted or can't focus to the point that your work is suffering."

5. Your boss doesn't have a vision

"You can't grow your flame working for someone who has no idea what a vision is or where to get one," Ryan says. Your boss should be someone you can learn from and bounce ideas off of. If they don't have a plan for how to grow the department, or even further their own career, it's a sign there's not much they can offer you.

6. You clam up

"You have a tendency to not speak up during meetings because you're concerned that people view you as the office know-it-all or that you're always trying to be in the spotlight," Kerr says.

7. You're basically managing your bosses

"We all make mistakes, but if you find yourself consistently finding errors in your bosses' work or opportunities to elevate their work, could be a sign that you're too smart for your role," Kahn says.

Kerr says that if you find yourself constantly looking at your boss and thinking "Wow, I could so do that job," then you're probably due for a promotion.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Future of Work

Related topics:
Jobs and the Future of WorkEmerging Technologies
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Future of Work is affecting economies, industries and global issues
World Economic Forum logo

Forum Stories newsletter

Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.

Subscribe today

Investing in a more age-inclusive workforce can help us navigate demographic shifts

Kate Bravery and Mona Mourshed

December 20, 2024

How global corporations can support migrant workers

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum