On 17th October, Anu Sharma, a Google employee, has shared a post on her X handle where she revealed being rejected by a company because she was too good for the job role.
Anu shared a screenshot where the company gave the reason to reject her. The Screenshot read, “The position you've applied for requires someone with the specific qualifications mentioned in the job description. After going through your resume, we realized that your qualifications significantly surpass the role requirements. Our experience has shown us that people with higher qualifications than what the job role needs often find their work unfulfilling and naturally, part ways soon after joining.”
“Didn't know you could be rejected for being too good,” she wrote in the caption. This post shared by this Google employee has gone viral on the internet. Her followers started sharing their stories. One of the users wrote, “I've been told in interviews thrice now that I'm over qualified and they think I'll leave their company in a few months.”
“I personally know a case of someone who came to do Masters after working for 10 years. He applied to entry level position through campus recruitment (standard process) He was rejected for the reason stated above, but was asked to apply to a Sr. Dev position (and got the job),” another commented.
Many users have appreciated the company for its honesty. “I mean you have to appreciate their openness regarding the matter. They could have easily made up some excuse or could have pinned it on you. Instead, they owned up and acknowledged your superiority for the role. You won’t find many companies doing that. And what if they were right and you didn’t like the opportunity there? Would have been a loss on both sides,” a user said.
Who is Anu Sharma?
Anu Sharma is a software engineer at Google. She has previously worked as an intern at Intuit. She has completed her graduation at Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women. She has won several awards including Techgig Geek Goddess award, McKinsey Next Gen Women Leaders award, Codegoda 2023, Infathon 3.0, and more.
Recently, on LinkedIn, she shared about being rejected for being overqualified and wrote, “Here's a bit of a background behind the now viral story I shared on X. Honestly, it feels great (even though I got rejected) to be called "too good". But do you realize the efforts and work it took to get here? Probably not, it's easy to get fooled into thinking that some people are just born to succeed, while others are not. I want to share my experience, and the trade-offs I made to get here.”
“Often times I see people who drop out of college, thinking they can be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. Everyone's background is different, and unless you have a family business or you're super rich, please complete your studies. Get a degree, at any rate, even if it doesn't help much, sadly, we have to face the realities of the world we live in. And especially in India, if you don't have a degree, your chances of getting a job are significantly reduced,” she further added.