Today got a reject for a supporter position with a reason "you are overqualified". Which makes sense, since I doubt there are many people who stay in support more than 3 years, and I stayed for 13.
I believe it was my mistake, that I stayed in Citi for as long as I did. I did, because I was doing stuff, that was *not* part of my job, which kept up my interest. It helped me to learn stuff outside of my Citi's "specialization". But when you look at my resume... it doesn't show.
On LinkedIn, I've changed my "title" to "13+ years of Tech Support and Product Ownership". It's not a lie, although I was product owner for 9 maybe 10 years. It was called "application manager" in Citi, but it was a mix of product ownership, project management, business analysis and bits and pieces of other roles.
I know that I can do this kind of jobs, and I do apply to them, and every time I need to explain somehow, why I think I can do that job. Because when a person looks at my resume (which was made with assistance of professionals) - they see a supporter. And for some it may look like a badge of a loser. Because, as I said, not many will stay in support for more than 3 years.
It was my mistake to stay at Citi for this long, because I can't really show all the experience I have, unless an HR, and then a hiring manager decide to talk to me. I should have left much earlier. Especially, since there was no room for me to "grow horizontally". There was only 1 opportunity, but it was taken away from me, because someone ruled, that they needed to hire a woman to maintain certain gender percentage. The woman hired was good at her job, no concerns from me here, but I still feel a bit salty about that situation.
So right now, I am kind of in an existential hell. I am overqualified for tech support, so I am not hired for those roles. I am underqualified for tech support lead, because I do not have official experience as a "leader" or "manager". And for everything else I am also underqualified in the eyes of the companies, because I, again, do not have "formal" (or "professional") experience, so hiring companies would not give me the time of day without something tangible. If I left Citi earlier, I could have gotten the formal experience as product owner or project manager, and it would have been much easier to get a job in these and similar fields.
One may say: "Go get a certificate for PM". Well, yeah, it's a possibility, but then I'd still be a junior in the eyes of all hiring managers, even though I have experience of at least a middle, if not a senior. Which would mean, that the problem still won't be solved.
My point is: do not be like me. Do not take on extra responsibility outside of your job, unless you know, that you can transfer internally to a position, which is actually responsible for those things. Otherwise, you may be ruining your future prospects.
