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I am a late-forties mother of several children and I believe my position as a manager for automation development is ruining my health. I have to take care of my family as well as manage my team in an environment with many deadlines and responsibilities. I am also suffering from high blood pressure.

I tried looking for a job as an automation developer (this is my specialty and my team's domain). Wanting to be hired as a specialist, I applied at many places but had no callbacks. I believe this is because my history of being a manager for 3 years is visible on my LinkedIn, and an employer is offput by three things:

  1. They believe that as a manager I do no technical work
  2. They find it odd that I step down from a high position
  3. I am overqualified and this leads them to worry about hiring someone expecting a high pay and someone who may not be as obedient.

Knowing this, if I modify my resume to emphasize that I am a technical leader rather than a manager, it is inconsistent with my LinkedIn (and perhaps dishonest), which has many connections.

I really don't know what to do. I considered easing my stress without leaving my job, but I find that my position is indeed the root of the problem. I also considered deleting my LinkedIn to be able to emphasize my resume in a way that better reflects my job, but I am hesitant to do that.

What are some courses of action I should consider for finding a less stressful job, even though I'm over qualified?

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    Related question: Convincing a prospective employer about taking a “lower” ranked job. – sleske Jan 26 '17 at 14:59
  • Please clarify: What do you mean by "modify my resume"? Do you want to omit the three years as a manager? How? – sleske Jan 26 '17 at 15:01
  • Hey @sleske, I clarified. I am afraid that as a manager an employer will think that I do no technical work myself, even though I do. That's simply one aspect. The other aspect is that I'm overqualified. So by modify I wanted to say that I am a technical lead rather than a manager. But of course this is a questionable thing to do on my resume. – user63537 Jan 26 '17 at 15:06
  • Yes, your resume sums up your skills set and your experience. But the cover letter is where you make your case for being hired. I don't see any mention of cover letters in your post. I have no idea what you are doing - sending your resume to prospective employers and hope that they are willing to spend their time and resources to make the argument for hiring you for you? – Vietnhi Phuvan Jan 26 '17 at 15:38
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    To address your core problem. Are you sure your company has such an amazing culture and work-life-balance attitude that it will be impossible to find another similar position with less stress? Also: If I feel like I have 10 hours of work to do in 8 hours, I just do 8 hours and go home, it's a marathon not a sprint. What do you do? – Nathan Cooper Jan 26 '17 at 15:45
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I would not delete your LinkedIn but that is just an opinion.

Your resume should map to your LinkeIn but there is a lot of wiggle room there. You could tone down your LinkedIn and stay within honest.

In the cover letter just state you are looking for technical role. Your experience as manager has been valuable and rewarding but you find that technical is your true calling. Don't say it is because you are stressed out.

As a technical person you are not necessarily overqualified. You just need to convince them you are looking for a technical position and will stay around.

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You should look at the source issue here; work/life balance. Fix that, rather than jumping off the boat and (maybe) into the same situation at another company.

Talk to your management about stepping back from the role you're in, and becoming a developer in the same department. This will remove you from the management stress, and you won't have the stress of a new job/new company. Alternateively discuss bringing in a co-manager to help you with the current work - that way, you can build up your successor, which will look great on your annual appraisal.

Mental and physical health is a big topic in the workplace at the moment; I think that if you talk to the right people in your company, you'll find that a lot of support is available.

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As you actually wrote your question, the answer very much seems to be, "modify your LinkedIn so that your technical expertise is salient and your managerial expertise is secondary." Your many connections will probably not mind that you are technically proficient.

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