If you are around that 40ish age, you are probably over-qualified! Loosely translated to mean that they're hiring women and don't have any other excuse to not hire you.
Gentleman I know in ND was afforded that response. He had worked for years as the ofice manager for a small construction company (road construction) there in our home town, prepared many of their bids, did most of their ordering for jobs, did the books. Old man turned it over to his son, his son parked on a train track one night after leaving the bar. None of the other kids wanted the business, so they shut it down. The gentleman in question, being tired of the stress of the office, had applied for a job driving a truck at another construction company, and they told him he was over qualified.
He took offense to that excuse, asked them how in the [beeep] one could be "over-qualified"? He told them if he knew how to drive a truck, he was qualified. The fact that he possessed other skills, was beside the point!
He had a heckuva time finding work, was 50ish at the time. I likewise went through the same thing at 45.
