{
  "registry_version": "1.0.0",
  "data": {
    "title": "Experience-Age Grading Mismatch",
    "status": "active",
    "evidence_ids": [
      "evidence.too_good_to_hire_capability_and_inferences_about_commitment_in_labor_markets"
    ],
    "content": "# Experience-Age Grading Mismatch\n\nA candidate with 10+ years applies for a role graded at mid or senior, and the screening note records forecasts about boredom, short tenure and salary expectation.\n\n### Structural Context\n- **Actor:** `recruiter`\n- **Nature:** `bias`\n- **Removability:** `none`\n\n### Causal Relations\n- Amplifies `mech.unstated_compensation_band_discrepancy` — Unstated Compensation Band Discrepancy\n- Masks `mech.genuine_technical_skill_shortfall` — Genuine Technical Skill Shortfall\n\n### Non-Inferences\n- Being rejected as \"overqualified\" is an organisational tier mismatch, not a candidate deficiency.",
    "aliases": [
      "M-017"
    ],
    "id": "mech.experience_age_grading_mismatch",
    "type": "mechanism",
    "summary": "A candidate with 10+ years applies for a role graded at mid or senior, and the screening note records forecasts about boredom, short tenure and salary expectation.",
    "operates_at": [
      "bar.inbound_screening_triage",
      "bar.recruiter_screening_call",
      "bar.hiring_manager_in_depth_review"
    ],
    "emissions": [
      {
        "artifact": "obs.feedback_stating_candidate_is_overqualified_for_the_grade",
        "fidelity": "direct",
        "likelihood": "high",
        "evidence": [
          "evidence.too_good_to_hire_capability_and_inferences_about_commitment_in_labor_markets"
        ],
        "observed_at": [
          "recruiter"
        ]
      },
      {
        "artifact": "obs.generic_closer_alignment_rejection_template",
        "fidelity": "euphemism",
        "likelihood": "high",
        "evidence": [
          "evidence.hidden_workers_untapped_talent_hbs_accenture"
        ],
        "observed_at": [
          "screening"
        ]
      }
    ],
    "facets": {
      "actor": "recruiter",
      "nature": "bias",
      "visibility": "inferable",
      "removability": "none"
    },
    "amplifies": [
      "mech.unstated_compensation_band_discrepancy"
    ],
    "masks": [
      "mech.genuine_technical_skill_shortfall"
    ],
    "evidence_level": "supported",
    "honest_baseline": false,
    "specimens": [
      {
        "kind": "note",
        "label": "Screening note, internal",
        "lines": [
          {
            "text": "12 years experience against a role scoped at 4–6.",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "text": "Concern: likely to be bored within two quarters; salary expectation probably above band; risk of using us as a bridge.",
            "tell": true
          },
          {
            "text": "Recommend: pass, unless the manager wants to see them for the level above.",
            "tell": false
          }
        ],
        "reading": "Every line is a forecast about the future, none is an observation about the work. This is why the rejection can arrive before any technical signal exists."
      }
    ],
    "perspectives": [
      {
        "actor": "actor.recruiter",
        "sees": "A CV with years and scope above the level the requisition is graded and funded at, and a screening queue larger than the week's capacity.",
        "reads": "A forecast about retention and salary expectation, formed before any technical signal exists. The band is fixed and the level is not the recruiter's to change.",
        "does": "Passes at screening, or asks the hiring manager whether they want the profile at the level above — which is a different requisition."
      },
      {
        "actor": "actor.candidate",
        "sees": "A rejection naming seniority or overqualification, arriving before any technical stage, for a role whose posted band was acceptable.",
        "reads": "A decision about a future they were not asked about. Nothing in it separates a levelling grid from a judgement about the work.",
        "does": "Records the stage the rejection arrived at, and names a salary expectation at the screen of the next process rather than after it."
      },
      {
        "actor": "actor.employer_policy",
        "sees": "A levelling grid mapping years and scope to a band, and requisitions approved at one level at a time.",
        "reads": "Consistency across every hire, which is what the grid exists for. The applications the grid excludes do not reach this layer.",
        "does": "Holds the grid and the band, and any exception moves through the levelling committee on its own cycle rather than through the process in progress."
      }
    ],
    "non_inferences": [
      "Being rejected as \"overqualified\" is an organisational tier mismatch, not a candidate deficiency."
    ],
    "agency_zones": {
      "recruiter": "high",
      "candidate": "low",
      "employer-policy": "low"
    }
  }
}