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Permalink Reply by Valentino Martinez on July 17, 2012 at 9:32am

After my evaluation and recommendation, and the hiring manager's interview of my candidate for a field sales role, the response was:  "He's too perfect.  There must be something wrong with him." 

With that the hiring manager opted not to move forward with my "too perfect" candidate. Lesson learned, at least with this hiring manager, you can be too perfect for employment consideration. 

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Permalink Reply by Elise Reynolds on July 17, 2012 at 9:55am

I too had a similar experience.  After finding a direct technical match of someone who had worked for a direct competitor I was told "Gosh, he is a good fit but maybe he is too good a fit."

 

Sometimes I think hiring managers are really more interested in window shopping than actuall purchasing.

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Permalink Reply by Valentino Martinez on July 17, 2012 at 11:18am

I agree, Elise--

Some hiring managers feel "less is more".  "Too good" a candidate may present a threat to their job so they pass on really good candidates.

I admire those hiring managers who actually want to be better by actually hiring better--threat or no threat.

Tim asked for "silly" excuses.  This one borders on stupid.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Schultz on July 17, 2012 at 2:38pm

"Too perfect", I get that a lot in dating.  ;p

I have a few low self esteem companies who say "S/he is too good for us"

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on July 17, 2012 at 6:27pm

"He's not from here originally, he might not stay, his family doesn't live here, he didn't go to hich school here, nope pass."

Candidate had gone to school at the local university, married a local girl and had two kids in school.  All his working career had been in the same city.

 

Client was a medium size local CPA firm who turned over two or three staffers a year because they got tired of public accounting.  All of them locals who had gone to high school and family that lived in the area but they would not hire someone who had not gone to high school and had family living in the city.  I finally started presenting candidates by saying, "his wife is from the area and will not move because her parents live here so he has to find something in this area, poor guy is stuck in this mud hole.  Hired!

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Permalink Reply by Chris Grove on July 19, 2012 at 9:29am

I had a client refuse a candidate after 3 very strong interviews because "I don't like the cut of his jib".  Silly reason but I kinda respected him for it, sometimes gut instinct is right, he took one of my other candidates instead. 

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Permalink Reply by Bill Schultz on July 19, 2012 at 1:03pm

Yes I can deal with that too.  You have to like the person sitting across the desk from you.  Chances are, you'll be with them more than your family.  

Chris Grove said:

I had a client refuse a candidate after 3 very strong interviews because "I don't like the cut of his jib".  Silly reason but I kinda respected him for it, sometimes gut instinct is right, he took one of my other candidates instead. 

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Permalink Reply by Matt on July 22, 2012 at 3:30pm

Agree.. I have had this happen before - frustrating. Conversely,  I have had the hiring manager that told me that the person is so good they scare the hell out of me. - Big company - lots of opportunities - hiring manager was wearing "the big hat"

Matt

Valentino Martinez said:

I agree, Elise--

Some hiring managers feel "less is more".  "Too good" a candidate may present a threat to their job so they pass on really good candidates.

I admire those hiring managers who actually want to be better by actually hiring better--threat or no threat.

Tim asked for "silly" excuses.  This one borders on stupid.

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