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So, you landed a joband youre already way too good at it. Maybe you took it out of necessity, maybe it was meant to be temporary, or maybe you thought it would be more challenging than it is. Whatever the case, now youre stuck wondering how to stay motivated in a role that doesnt come close to tapping your full potential. The good news? Youre not aloneand youre definitely not stuck. Being overqualified doesnt have to mean being overlooked or underutilized. In fact, with the right mindset and a few smart strategies, it can be a surprisingly powerful launchpad for growth, connection, and future opportunity. We spoke to 10 professionals whove been thereand came out stronger. Heres how they made the most of roles they were technically overqualified for, and how you can do the same. Cultivate cross-departmental relationships The strategy I’ve seen transform this situation for many people time and time again is to cultivate relationships across departmental lines deliberately. Your advanced perspective lets you spot opportunities others simply can’t see. Start by identifying colleagues in different teams whose work interests you. Drop by their desk or invite them for coffee with genuine curiosity about their challenges. Listen carefully as you’ll hear problems you’re uniquely positioned to solve. I once noticed one of our senior analysts was feeling underutilized. After we talked about cross-departmental networking, she connected with our marketing team and discovered they needed help interpreting customer data. Her advanced skills perfectly filled their gap, and her job satisfaction soared within weeks, if not days. This isn’t about showing off but finding pockets where extra skills create unexpected value while keeping intellectually engaged. People remember who made their work easier, and these connections often bloom into collaborative projects that perfectly match your capabilities. Susan Andrews, HR consultant, KIS Finance Engage in open conversations As a founder, I believe that keeping overqualified employees engaged goes beyond simply assigning more work. It’s about creating an environment where they feel challenged, valued, and genuinely supported. People stay in companies where they see a future for themselves, where their skills are recognized, and where their well-being is a priority. This is why open, ongoing conversations between leadership and employees are essential. Motivation isn’t one-size-fits-all. Some individuals thrive on new challenges and leadership opportunities, while others value better work-life balance, financial recognition, or deeper involvement in projects they truly care about. If we don’t take the time to ask and understand, we risk disengagement and ultimately losing great talent. Beyond these fundamental strategies, I also believe companies should explore creative and forward-thinking approaches to employee motivation. Retaining overqualified talent isn’t just about avoiding disengagement, it’s about turning their expertise into a competitive advantage for the business. Here’s how we can take it further: Allow employees to pitch and lead their own initiatives, whether it’s process improvements, new product ideas, or research that aligns with company goals. Giving them the autonomy to shape projects can be incredibly motivating. Involve senior or highly skilled employees in strategic discussions, external industry panels, or mentorship programs. Recognizing their expertise beyond their immediate role gives them a greater sense of purpose. When employees feel financially tied to the company’s success, they’re more invested in long-term growth. Offering stock options, profit-sharing, or performance-based incentives can help align their goals with the company’s vision. Instead of generic training, allow employees to direct their own professional growth. Sponsoring executive education, certifications, or even providing a “personal development budget” empowers them to grow in ways that matter to them. Some overqualified employees feel constrained by rigid structures. Offering hybrid work models, results-driven schedules, or even sabbatical opportunities can keep them engaged and refreshed. At the core of all this is a culture of trust, respect, and recognition. Employees who feel heard, empowered, and rewarded are the ones who will drive the company forward, not just in their roles, but as true contributors to its long-term success. Livia Oboroceanu, CEO and founder, Acadova Anticipate needs and be humble Long before I was a leader and organizational development consultant, I was completing my original nursing degree. One of the requirements was to complete a two-month stint working in the operating room. This stint began in fifth year, so we were reasonably knowledgeable by then. As a “beginner” nurse in the OR, my role was to be a “gofer”to open packs, to fetch things that were needed, and to count used swabs to make sure nothing was left inside. Within a day, I had figured that it was going to be a pretty boring two months. So, I decided to pay deep attention and to figure out what was needed, before it was neededto make it interesting by thinking ahead, not waiting for instruction. On my third day, I was rotated into the operating room of the chief surgeon whose scrub nurse was always the OR supervisor. For the rest of my two months, I was the OR supervisor’s gofer. If she was on duty, I was her right-hand man. She was feared by the other students, but I had a great relationship with her and we had fun. Two months later, as I stepped out into the big wide world, she gave me a glowing reference which opened incredible career doors, and I had learned more than I ever thought I would working in a mundane job! More than anything, I learned a few profoundly valuable life lessons! Motivation and contribution are a choice. Be humble even when you think you know it all. If all you take away is experience that’s okay, but you never know! Janet du Preez (MSc MOTI), leadership and organisational development consultant, Engagement Dynamics Create your own challenges One method that I would recommend is to create your own challenges rather than waiting for them to come to you. Being overqualified does not equate to sitting around idle. Put your skills to use by providing suggestions or streamlining processes that can be backed by your skills and what you know best about the business. For instance, if you notice inefficiencies in processes with data, you can design a more streamlined analytics dashboard that saves time and provides better insight to your team. This demonstrates you’re taking initiative and have leadership potential, and it keeps you engaged. By setting a new standard for yourself and stepping outside your formal job description to challenge yourself, you transform a situation that may be frustrating into a platform for making contriutions and professional development. As I like to remind my staff, “Stagnation is a choicechallenge is progress.” Peter Bajwa, director of technical development, App-scoop Solutions Inc. Shift mindset to opportunity I believe that every experience is an opportunity for growth, even when you’re in a job where you’re overqualified. One key strategy to stay motivated and contribute meaningfully is to shift your mindset from frustration to opportunityspecifically by focusing on how you can add value while building skills for your next level. My tip: Treat it as a stepping stone, not a setback. Instead of seeing the role as beneath you, use it as a platform to sharpen leadership skills, expand your network, or master an aspect of the business you haven’t explored yet. I always encourage women to go beyond their job descriptionwhether it’s mentoring colleagues, optimizing processes, or taking initiative on projects. I’ve seen many women, especially women of color, hesitate to take up space in roles that don’t challenge them enough. But I’ve learned that thriving in any job comes from owning your value and making strategic moves. If you position yourself as someone who elevates the team, opportunitieswhether inside or outside the companywill come knocking. You may be overqualified, but you’re never above learning, leading, or leveling up. Sheena Yap Chan, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, SheenaYapChan.com Use the job as training ground I know that being overqualified for a job can feel frustrating, but it can also be an opportunity. One way to thrive is to treat it as a low-stress training ground, a place where you can build new skills without the pressure of a high-stakes role. A great strategy to stay motivated is to set a personal growth goal within the job. For example, if you’re in marketing but want to improve your data skills, use the extra time to master analytics tools like Google Data Studio or Power BI. You can apply what you learn to your current tasks, even if it’s not required, and provide insights your team wasn’t expecting. By doing this, you stay engaged, add value in a unique way, and build skills that will help you in your next big role. Plus, leadership might notice your initiative and create new opportunities for you within the company. The key is to treat every job as a stepping stone, no matter where you are in your career. Daniel Sanchez, cofounder and CEO, Influencity Approach the role as consultant One effective strategy to thrive in a job where you are overqualified is to approach the role as a consultant rather than just an employee. This mindset shift will help you see your role not as a limitation but as a platform for contributing meaningfully. Try going above and beyond your assigned responsibilities and offer to become a mentor to colleagues or, utilize your knowledge, delivering in-house workshops. By carving out an unofficial role for yourself, whether it’s as a team advisor, or a problem-solver, you can build influence and showcase your abilities. By approaching your role with the mindset of leaving a legacy through mentoring, or introducing new initiatives, you can ensure that your contributions have a lasting positive impact. In this way, being overqualified becomes a chance to create meaningful change while challenging yourself to grow. Emily Maguire, entrepreneur and career consultant, Reflections Career Coaching Invest energy in personal projects When a job doesn’t challenge you in the traditional sense, it can give you the freedom to invest energy elsewhere. Instead of feeling frustrated, see it as an opportunity to perfect work-life balance. Use the extra mental bandwidth to work on personal projects, network, or build a side business. This way, the job becomes a stable foundation that funds your bigger ambitions without draining you. I know someone who took a lower-level role after years in high-pressure management positions. With less stress, they finally had time to start an online business while still earning a paycheck. A year later, their side business grew enough for them to transition into full-time entrepreneurship. If you’re overqualified, it doesn’t have to be a limitationit can be a stepping stone to something even better. Shane McEvoy, MD, Flycast Media Master specialized software tools When you’re overqualified, sometimes it’s best to just lean in and learn even more. Most industries have specialized software tools, and being an expert at them gives you an incredible competitive advantage against your peers vying for the same rolesit even opens up opportunities to consult other businesses later. Learn the depths of your given tool until you become a master at it. Then, share your knowledge. Start with your internal teamhelp train them, create guides or learning modules, and serve as the unofficial go-to support person. This will give you something to strive for and challenge yourself in a role that doesn’t bring enough of that naturally, and it opens up a whole world of opportunities later. In electrical contracting, for example, estimating software has a steep learning curve and is notoriously difficult to use. If someone learns all the shortcuts, how to create the most accurate bids, and how to troubleshoot any problems, they become invaluable. Andrew Bates, COO, Bates Electric Bide your time and save ideas Keep your head down and bide your time. I was in a position where I was overqualified before starting my own business. Your well-meaning suggestions may come across as threatening if you’re more qualified than your boss who might think you’re after their job. My mom advised me to save my ideas in a notebook. When I later started my business, I was able to successfully implement many of my own ideas to scale my business rapidly. Givona Sandiford, CEO and founder, Melospeech, Inc
Category:
E-Commerce
You pay $75 more for your hotel room than the guest in an identical room next to yours. A friend is charged an extra $10 while online shopping for the same item. The difference in these prices isnt a result of simple supply-and-demand economics, but rather algorithms that analyze customers personal data in order to maximize what an individual will pay. Traditional pricing is based on market forces. Price discrimination is different, explains Justin Kloczko of the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. Its based on you: Did you keep that tab open on your phone for some medication you are thinking of buying? Does the retailer know you prefer expedited shipping? Congrats, youre going to pay more than someone else who isnt considered to want the product as badly. These arent hypothetical scenarios: Retailers and platforms are doing this right now, a practice that critics call surveillance pricing. The issue was a focus of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission under former Chair Lina Khan. In the final days of the Biden administration, the FTC released a study showing that third-party companies use AI tools to help retailers boost revenue by as much as 5%, either through cost savings or by hiking prices for customers. But under President Donald Trumps new FTC chair, Andrew Ferguson, the agency seems unlikely to pursue the matter. Ferguson abruptly shut down the public comment period on surveillance pricing in January, and just last week Trump illegally fired the two remaining Democratic FTC commissioners, both of whom had championed studying the issue. With the federal government in retreat, California lawmakers are stepping up with a series of bills aimed at stopping companies from charging you based on who you are and what they know about you. The practice relies on intermediary companies hoovering up your personal information as well as data about your online and offline habits, and using AI to predict what price youll pay. Based on your private data, they may decide that because it’s your payday, you’d be likely to pay more, explains Victoria Noble, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which sees surveillance pricing as a problem attributable, in large part, to failures inor the absence ofprivacy legislation. Or when you need something the most, such as in an emergency, you would also likely pay more. California’s legislative package takes aim at different ways that AI is being used to set prices. One bill, advanced by Assemblymember Chris Ward and cosponsored by Consumer Watchdog, would block retailers from using a consumers personal information to adjust prices; another is aimed at algorithms that personalize prices based on explicit or perceived characteristics gathered from personal data. Yet another bill would prohibit algorithms from setting rental property prices and would allow tenants to sue landlords who use such technology. Its not just consumers who are being targeted. A bill from California Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry addresses algorithmic price-fixing, which involves competitors using AI to collude to set higher prices. AI price-fixing is anti-competitive, restricts supply, and artificially inflates prices, she says, citing a case where, between 2022 and 2024, the price of frozen french fries rose by almost 50%, even though the underlying costs declined after manufacturers used a software program called PotatoTrac to share pricing data. A group of restaurant owners sued the manufacturers, alleging anti-competitive behavior. As the California Legislature, where Democrats control both houses, weighs these bills, it remains unclear whether Governor Gavin Newsom, who has occasionally vetoed AI-related measures (including a notable safety-related bill last year), would support such legislation. Also unclear: how watered-down the bills might be before they make it to his desk. But if passed, they could force companies operating in California to charge everyone equally, at least within the states borders. Now is the time to intervene on algorithmic pricing, say advocates. These technologies will only become more invasive, says Kloczko of Consumer Watchdog. AI is trying to hack our minds so it can predict our desires and fears in order to get us to buy more things for as much money as possible. Regulators are just starting to understand how widespread these practices are and how they impact the everyday lives of consumers. The FTC investigation started under Khans leadership found about 250 businesses across retail sectors use consumer information to set prices. Companies track behaviors from location to mouse movements, and even monitor what products you leave unpurchased in online shopping carts to decide what to charge you. Initial staff findings show that retailers frequently use peoples personal information to set targeted, tailored prices for goods and servicesfrom a person’s location and demographics, down to their mouse movements on a web page, Khan wrote in a statement last year. But now the FTC is pulling back on the issue. After Ferguson shut down the request for information and public comment periods for surveillance pricing and several other issues, Alvaro Bedoya (one of the two commissioners fired by Trump last week) criticized the decision, saying, Chairman Ferguson seems uninterested in the challenges that regular human beings face. Aguiar-Curry says federal inaction makes state action crucial, especially in California, the home of major tech companies: It’s more important than ever for California to lead on policies that make living more affordable, she said. Whether we have partners in Washington or not, protecting consumers and small businesses from illegal and unethical business practices is good policy and makes good sense.
Category:
E-Commerce
For two decades, Wayfair has thrived by offering customers an abundance of trendy, inexpensive furniturearound 30 million options, specifically. But as an e-commerce company, Wayfair’s employees didn’t actually touch or feel any of the pieces on the site. Our goal was to find suppliers of furniture and make them easily available online to our customers, Michael McCorry, director of curation strategy and operations, tells me. We only learned about the products later, through customer reviews and feedback. If a product got bad reviews, it would sink lower in the rankings. For the customer, shopping at Wayfair presented something of a risk. With such an enormous selection, they would very likely find a piece of furniture that perfectly fit their desired aesthetic. But unless it had many reviews, there was no telling whether it was well-made or would fall apart after a few weeks. Wayfair has heard this criticism loud and clear. Today, it unveils a new program called Verified that involves merchants painstakingly examining a selection of furniture on Wayfair’s site. The company has selected a small fraction50,000 pieces by the end of the yearthat will be verified for quality, durability, and value. The brand will highlight Verified furniture with a new purple check, and these pieces will surface higher in search results. This curation process is designed to make the shopping process easier for customers, but it also streamlines operations for the company. Wayfair expects that these verified pieces will become bestsellers. McCorry says that in the soft launch of the verified program, the 10,000 pieces that were verified already made up 15% of Wayfair’s total revenue. When 50,000 pieces are verified, it could make up a much more significant chunk of the company’s earnings. This new dynamic allows the company to ensure that the most popular products are in-stock and ready to ship quickly. But it could also make life more complicated for suppliers, who are likely to see an instant decrease in sales of non-verified items. [Photo: Wayfair] Inexpensive Furniture For Every Taste Wayfair emerged in the early days of the e-commerce revolution. While Amazon offered a very wide array of product categories, Wayfair wanted to be a destination exclusively for homewares. Wayfair doesn’t actually manufacture any products; instead, it sources furniture from factories around the world, styling the pieces in attractive ways, so that customers could easily find pieces that matched their aesthetic. (Many other retailers, including Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel, also source products from third-party factories.) Merchants go through each item, categorizing pieces by stylelike mid-century modern or traditionalto help make it easier for customer to find what they are looking for. Our role was to source these products and make it easier to find the pieces that would go perfectly with their style, says McCorry. But over time, it became clear that customers were struggling to figure out what pieces were high quality and what pieces were not. This is also an issue of value, says Liza Lefkowski, VP, curation, brands, and stores. Customers want to know that the quality of the items corresponds to the price they’re paying for it. But in some cases, it was hard for them to tell. For decades, with the rise of fast fashion and fast furniture, consumers were looking for products that were affordable and trendy. But after bad experiences with poor quality, many customers are now looking for well-made, durable products at fair prices. [Photo: Wayfair] Verifying 700 Pieces of Furniture a Week McCorry says that part of the idea of the Verified program emerged when Wayfair began opening stores last year. For the first time, Wayfair employees were getting to see furniture in person, and recommending pieces to customers. We began to think we should do this with our online selection as well, he says. There was no way that Wayfair would be able to individually verify all 30 million pieces of furniture it sells. So, the company has developed a way to pluck out pieces to verify. Madeleine Gauthier, merchant manager, says the company’s team of merchants is at the frontline of this process. They’re familiar with the selection of products in their narrow category, such as outdoor furniture sets or bar stools. The goal is to verify several pieces of furniture across categories, styles, and price points. So, for instance, Wayfair will try to verify several brown leather sofas that cost around $1,200 price point, and several modern wooden vanities that cost around $300. Merchants send products to Wayfair’s Boston headquarters for testing. They choose these pieces based on whether they have good reviews and how popular they are. Then, they spend about half an hour on each item. We start with the unboxing experience, to make sure everything is packaged well, says Gauthier. Then we check that the assembly process is not unreasonably difficult. Next, they actually use the furniture, as a customer might. For an outdoor dining set, they will check if the pieces seem heavy enough that they wouldn’t blow away in a storm. They will sit in the chair and see whether it is the right height for eating a meal at the table. They will then compare the product to others they have tested. In the end, they will identify and promote the top products We want to have enough variety so that if you’re looking for something very specific, like a metal outdoor bar stool, you will be able to find a verified one, Gauthier says. Wayfair creates a little video of each product, with a merchant talking about its selling points. At this pace, the company can review about 700 products a week. Today, at the launch, there are 10,000 products that are verified. But the brand expects to get to a total of 50,000 over time. [Photo: Wayfair] Winners and Losers McCorry believes that many customers will gravitate towards the verified products. It makes the shopping process so much easier for them, which was the whole point, he says. They don’t need to go through all the reviews, because they know we have tested it and recommend it. Some suppliers are likely to experience an immediate windfall as a result of this program. Sales of their Wayfair-verified sofas or side tables are likely to spike. But other products are likely to go down in sales. Lefkowski admits that this has caused some concern among vendors. In response, Wayfair is trying to be as fair about the process as possible. We gave them a lot of warning about this program and we are very transparent about what we are looking for, she says. If their product didn’t pass the test, we give them feedback about what went wrong so they can correct it. And McCorry says that once Wayfair has verified all 50,000 products, its merchants will keep reassessing what is in the Verified program. If a supplier has an interesting new product that consumers seem to like, Wayfair might test and verify this product, displacing a similar verified product. Long term, our hope is that this encourages all suppliers to focus on quality and workmanship, says McCorry.
Category:
E-Commerce
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