For many of us, working life has meant building step by step over many years. We learned. We gained experience. We took on more responsibility. We accepted promotions, completed further education, became experts, led teams or perhaps built our own businesses.

Some of us planned our careers very consciously. For others, the path was shaped more by the opportunities an employer offered along the way. Either way, we grew. And quite rightly, we were often proud of what we had built.

But the market has changed.

AI and other major shifts are transforming the world of work. Industries are changing, organisations are restructuring, roles are disappearing or being reshaped, and employers are looking for different skills and capabilities. Perhaps you are affected by a restructuring. Perhaps you decide yourself that it is time for something new. Or you simply reach a point where you want your next professional chapter to look different.

And suddenly, all that experience can seem to become a problem.

You may hear that you are overqualified. Too senior. Perhaps too expensive. Your background does not quite fit the position. And you may start wondering whether you should leave certain things off your CV so that you do not appear to be “too much.”

And many people seem to be asking themselves exactly that question. A recent Monster survey found that 57% of workers would consider removing experience from their CV if it doubled their chances of getting hired. Some had already downplayed senior titles, achievements, degrees or leadership responsibilities.

What an irony. We spend years building our professional lives, but the market we once built them for is no longer quite the same. Expectations have changed, roles have changed, and what is considered relevant has changed too.

But is making yourself smaller really the right strategy?

First of all, a CV does not need to contain everything you have ever done. A good CV is not an autobiography. It needs to be relevant to the role and to where you want to go next. Sometimes that means shortening earlier experience, reducing detail or putting less emphasis on titles or experiences that are no longer relevant for your next move.

But there is an important difference between making your CV more relevant and making yourself smaller. Your experience is not only a collection of job titles, qualifications and promotions. Think about what has happened underneath all of those years of work.

You have learned. Along the way, you have developed not only professional expertise but also human and social competencies: judgement, resilience, empathy, leadership, communication and many more.

And you have also learned a lot about yourself.

Those things do not disappear simply because a particular title or qualification is no longer relevant.

The real question then becomes: what do you carry forward?

Employers still look for relevant experience and skills. At the same time, how people think, adapt, communicate, collaborate and fit into an organisation continues to matter greatly. Your experience matters, but not necessarily every part of it in the same way it did before.

So the task is not to make everything you have done smaller. It is to look at it differently, present it differently and connect it more clearly to what is needed now.

What from your experience is still relevant? What have you developed over the years that could create value somewhere else? What should you leave behind? Which capabilities could transfer into another role, another industry or another way of working? And which parts of yourself have not yet had enough space in your professional life?

This is where career transition becomes more than simply searching for the next job. It becomes a process of taking stock and looking at yourself and your experience as a whole.

Being “overqualified” can also be a conscious choice

There is another side to this discussion.

Not everyone who applies for a role with less responsibility, a smaller title or a lower hierarchical level is taking a step backwards.

Perhaps after many years of managing people, you want to be closer to the actual work again. Or your priorities have simply changed and flexibility, meaningful work or more space for the rest of your life now matter more than the next promotion.

That is not necessarily making yourself smaller. It can be a very conscious choice.

And this is where your positioning becomes important.

An employer may wonder why someone with your background wants the position. They may worry that you will become bored, expect more money or leave as soon as something “better” comes along.

You need to be able to explain your choice, not defensively, but clearly and convincingly.

Why does this role make sense for you now?

If you know the answer, your experience can become an asset rather than something you need to apologise for.

Rethink rather than reduce

Of course, this sounds easier than it often feels.

Repositioning yourself can be uncomfortable. You may have to let go of an identity connected to a title, a company or a certain level of status. You may have to explore possibilities you had never considered before, learn something new, talk to different people, test ideas and accept that you do not yet have all the answers.

And there can be uncertainty, fear and rejection along the way. Your confidence may take a hit, particularly when something you have been proud of for many years suddenly seems to be working against you.

It requires perseverance, curiosity, motivation and yes, courage.

The answer is not to squeeze yourself into a smaller version of who you have become or to lose confidence in everything you have achieved so far. Instead, look at everything you have built and ask:

What of this belongs in my future and how can I use it differently?

Your next step does not have to reproduce your past. But neither does it have to erase it.

Today, the task is often to rethink, translate and recombine what you already bring – and then position yourself for where that value is needed next.

Take the courage to look beyond what you have always done and explore what else could be possible and, just as importantly, what you still want from your working life. It is not about making yourself smaller. It is about understanding what you bring, where it could create value next and what kind of next chapter you want to create.

That path may not always be comfortable. But it can open up new possibilities that were not visible before, including some you may never have imagined.

If the market no longer seems to have a place for the version of you that has worked until now, let’s explore what your next professional chapter could look like. Let's talk.

#careertransition #careerdevelopment #careercoaching #executivecoaching #courage #futureincolour