{
  "registry_version": "2026.08.2",
  "data": {
    "title": "Seniority Double Bind",
    "status": "active",
    "evidence_ids": [
      "EVD-002"
    ],
    "content": "# Seniority Double Bind\n\nCandidate is simultaneously rejected as overqualified for junior/mid roles and underqualified (or insufficiently specialized) for staff/leadership roles.\n\n### Trigger Rule\nCandidate observes rejection for overqualification at level N and skill-depth shortfall at level N+1 within the same market cycle.\n\n### What this Establishes\n- Candidate falls into an evaluation boundary gap where compensation/experience expectations mismatch standard job tiers.\n\n### What this Does NOT Establish\n- Does not establish that the candidate lacks market value.\n- Does not establish malice or coordinated collusion between employers.",
    "id": "P-001",
    "type": "pattern",
    "summary": "Candidate is simultaneously rejected as overqualified for junior/mid roles and underqualified (or insufficiently specialized) for staff/leadership roles.",
    "required_artifacts": [
      "A-002",
      "A-013"
    ],
    "compatible_mechanisms": [
      "M-001",
      "M-004",
      "M-017"
    ],
    "trigger_rule": "Candidate observes rejection for overqualification at level N and skill-depth shortfall at level N+1 within the same market cycle.",
    "establishes": [
      "Candidate falls into an evaluation boundary gap where compensation/experience expectations mismatch standard job tiers."
    ],
    "non_inferences": [
      "Does not establish that the candidate lacks market value.",
      "Does not establish malice or coordinated collusion between employers."
    ],
    "interventions": [
      "I-002",
      "I-003"
    ],
    "evidence_level": "supported",
    "specimens": [
      {
        "kind": "email",
        "label": "Two rejections, six weeks apart",
        "context": "same candidate, same market, adjacent levels",
        "lines": [
          {
            "text": "12 Feb — Senior Backend Engineer (level 4). Your experience sits above the band scoped for this role and we were concerned it would not hold your interest.",
            "tell": true
          },
          {
            "text": "26 Mar — Staff Engineer (level 5). The panel felt the depth of platform ownership was not yet at staff scope; we would look for a broader track record of org-wide impact.",
            "tell": true
          },
          {
            "text": "Both roles: same city, same domain, same six-week window.",
            "tell": false
          }
        ],
        "reading": "Neither message is unreasonable on its own. Put next to each other they describe a candidate who is above one level and below the next, with nothing in between open."
      },
      {
        "kind": "note",
        "label": "What the pair does and does not establish",
        "lines": [
          {
            "text": "Established: two rejections, two stated grounds, two adjacent levels, one market cycle.",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "text": "Not established: that either judgement was wrong, that the two employers coordinated, or that the candidate is unhireable. The motif is a property of the level grid, not of the person moving through it.",
            "tell": true
          }
        ],
        "reading": "The pattern is worth naming precisely because each half is defensible. The trap is structural, which is also why no single conversation can argue it away."
      }
    ]
  }
}