Interviewing Overqualified Applicants

A manager of a small business recently posted a job opening for a mostly clerical type job. A degree is not required and generally neither is judgment. She also put the level of compensation clearly on the job posting and worked very hard to not over exaggerate the importance of the position. 

The problem is that nearly every applicant so far has been what I would consider overqualified. Most have a degree of some sort and have extensive work experience. She says that she not necessarily opposed to hiring someone overqualified people but she fears that once they get hired that they will be either unhappy or they will leave as soon as something better comes along. This is a common situation in an increasingly competitive job market. So what should she do?

She started thinking about how to word interview questions so that she can weed out those who will jump ship as soon as something better comes along and who will stick around. She doesn’t think flat out asking will get an honest answer (as I have interviewed for jobs myself and can’t imagine telling an interviewer something like that.)