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Ryan Healy is a recent college graduate. He is a founder of 
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For the past two and a half years, my brother Dan has been running SloopyMenus.com, an online food ordering service at Ohio State University. Since launch, the site has grown exponentially and it is now the “go-to” place to order food at OSU.
Dan’s main role is sales and marketing. He speaks with restaurant and bar owners, university reps and students, on a daily basis. He also comes up with marketing ideas like the “Sloopy Menus mobile,” (yes, they actually stripped and painted an old car), Sloopy Menus beer-pong balls and Sloopy Menus sponsored happy hours.
He’s had a lot of success. But, like most young entrepreneurs, getting straight A’s is not his top priority. Don’t get me wrong, his grades are still above average, but when you get a taste of entrepreneurship as a college student, you understand that grades don’t count for jack in the real world.
The thing is, now Dan’s a senior. His friends are buying suits, going to career fairs and interviewing for jobs. He has been “anti-corporate” since day one, but he doesn’t necessarily have the next great idea, so he decided to jump on the bandwagon and see what this job hunt thing is all about.
A few weeks ago, Dan went to an information session for a mid-sized company at Eddie George’s bar/restaurant and decided to stay and introduce himself afterwards. He immediately hit it off with the recruiter. They talked business, sports, politics and whatever else two guys talk about at a bar. The next day he had an interview with the same guy. The interview went well, they exchanged thank yous, and Dan left assuming he had the job.
Turns out, Dan didn’t even make it to the second round interview. He was shocked, pissed off and really confused. Here he was, a small business owner since 19 years old. He had decent grades and a knack for conversing with older people. And he didn’t even make it to the second-round interview for an average company.
What Dan didn’t realize is the company made a great decision by turning him down. How could someone who ran their own business for three years, called all the shots and made connections with big-shots in the city ever be satisfied with a run-of-the-mill, entry level job?
Someone like Dan would have gone nuts in a position like this, and he probably would have jumped ship in less than a year. Because that’s what us Millennials do, right? We don’t settle. But my brother still didn’t understand how the company wouldn’t want him; it was a serious blow to his ego.
Here’s the thing; if you want the job hunt to be easy and you want a run-of-the-mill entry-level job, don’t be abnormal. Get good grades, be gracious and don’t talk to a recruiter like he is your buddy or a potential business connection. Most companies want average entry-level workers because most companies are pretty average. There’s just not much opportunity for a 22 year old to manage a project or take real responsibilities in the majority of organizations.
But if you want to do something exciting; something you are really passionate about, you have to be abnormal. My brother didn’t realize it at the time, but this company did him a huge favor. He now sees that just because his friends are doing it one way, does not mean he needs to follow. He’s back on track to do something he really wants to do. And thank god. I was starting to get a little worried.
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It wasn’t until I had to sit on the other table that I understood why a candidate shouldn’t over-impress. Ryan is right that most companies are pretty average and want average entry-level people. If you tout all your ambitious achievements and awards, the company might think you are over qualified! You also have to understand that the interviewer only has an hour to get to know you and it’s easy for them to make a lot of assumptions about you like “he’s going to be too bored in this ‘entry’ position” or “he’d be better off in a more dynamic department/industry”. Sometimes this is a blessing in disguise.
At the same time though don’t stop doing ambitious “abnormal” things, just find the right outlet to share them or the right opportunity to put them to use. And if you do start at an average company you can be an above-average employee by looking for areas that your true entrepreneurial spirit can come through.
Makes perfect sense for your brother. After all, he’s already got the experience that someone coming in to an entry-level position would be looking for. Being “over qualified” isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
@Norcross: weeeell, I agree with you, but it can be a bad thing if it gets in the way of someone’s ability to find a job when he or she needs one. It’s obvious that Ryan’s brother is overqualified for the kinds of low-hanging opportunities that he’s finding, and he’s probably too young to have built up the kind of professional network that older workers rely on when they are looking for management and other high-level opportunities. I’m not sure where a person goes from there, other than to keep your eyes open and keep actively marketing yourself.
Nothing wrong with an entry level job. In your brothers case, it sounds like it would have to be the right job given his experience. Certainly a run of the mill first job would bore him to death and not really give him the experience he’s seeking.
Clearly he has a passion for owning his own business and now is certainly a good time in his life to explore that. Speaking from experience, it’s much tougher later on. So be abnormal if that’s who you are.
Thanks for the comments. I think being “overqualified,” coming out of college can be a short term disadvantage, but it will undoubtedly be an advantage in the long run. My brother will find something that fits his skills/goals, it will just be a little more difficult. If not, he’s always got a job with me!
Also, Scott great point. “Be abnormal IF THAT’S WHO YOU ARE.” Not everyone wants to be different, and not everyone should be. Many entry level jobs can be interesting.
The thing I’ve struggled with, and I’m sure many others too, is, even when you have great ideas, you still “need” that entry-level job in order to pay the bills. It’s frustrating to see average people at average companies take home a living wage… but if you are the creative one, you have to build your capital a completely different way unless you can find a company that will hire you for the average boring job. And, if you’re the one with creative ideas, you need capital to form your next big thing *and* support yourself. It just seems like there’s no framework in place, or no easy way to get from A to B. I take consulting jobs, part time jobs (which I enjoy, but don’t pay well), even bartend, but since I’ve gone out on my own I haven’t had the stability or consistent pay that I want to have that would actually make me feel secure.
As an abnormal 22 year old, I agree that not getting that job is probably one of the best things that could happen to your brother. When I was 19, I had an amazing internship for an entertainment company. I did a kick ass job, but after the internship was up, they didn’t hire me. At the time I was devastated (I also needed a paying job desperately)… but now, I see that I would have been miserable as an assistant there, and would have moved on as soon as possible. As it happened, I got hired by an online company 6 months later, and I am now managing operations — and having an absolute blast doing it.
It is hard, and requires luck, but definitely be yourself — it will totally pay off in the end.
(That said, I still haven’t finished school… so my current challenge is how to manage my career and responsibility at work, and finish my degree. If anyone has any tips on that, let me know…)
Classic case of “bad fit”.
Part of what I do at my college is helping people with interview and job search skills, and one thing I constantly find is that students forget that jobs should be a two-way fit. “They” should want to hire you as much as you want to work for them.
In many cases, people (especially the freshly-graduated) see interviews as a chance to repeat “please hire me, I am fantastic” mantra, leaning too far in the way of seeking the approval of the company.
There should be more of a balance — and I’m glad that your brother realized it — because the company is screening you just as much as you should be screening the company.
i got slammed with “overqualified” when i was interviewing 6 months ago. turns out i needed to stop listing my previous salary.
aside from that, the one thing that got me my current job was honesty. i looked my interviewee straight in the eye and said, “i need this job.” i later learned it had been between me and one other candidate. my interviewer told me she thought i might be bored working with numbers when i was so used to more “creative” projects. not at all. telling her how willing i was to do the job in front of me got me further than if i had kept my mouth shut.
i knew i could do the job and i needed it. i’m lucky, because somehow it didn’t come off desperate, and i had already exhibited that i had the skills to do it.
Being overqualified can often be a problem. With all the stuff on my own resume, due to my rather freewheeling early years, I got myself turned down for a number of later jobs that i applied for. I guess that’s the risk of being “too good.”
I’ve learned however, that here in the legal field, being overqualified may be a good thing. Law firms want overachievers, and so far overqualification hasn’t been a problem with firms lookinng for young associates. Maybe being overqualified depends mostly on the field one goes to. Just my quick two cents.
That was very enlightening. Thanks for sharing your brother’s experience with us. I was actually taken off guard by the entry title. After reading the whole article, I realize that it has more to do with people who have established their own businesses at an early age. There are people who stand out but have not necessarily become someone like your brother. And I also agree that the company really did him a big favor.
While I found this a good piece of a warning, I don’t see how it really provides a solution. I am in job limbo right now, and my problem is I have not much experience, but a Master’s degree and a really good head for management. No one wants to hire me for a management post without more experience, but I can’t stay in entry level work, because it’s getting me nowhere, that sort of “will be bored with this and jump ship in a year” type of situation.
There is nothing worse that getting turned down for a job that you think you are qualified for. Although there are acceptions, it is usually salary, not skillset that will make someone overqualified.
Your assertion that companies look for “average” employees is a little bit of a stretch. Companies are competing for talent at unprecedented levels these days. Due to demographic shifts (baby boomers) and low un-employment rates, there is a real talent shortage out there right now. I have recruited for my company, and we look for anything but “average” students. We are truely looking for the best and brightest in their field.
My guess is that your brother is applying for jobs that require a different skill set than he currently holds. Most big companies need new students hires to do a lot of “grunt” work when they are hired right of college. This is for two reasons: 1) college students usually have the technical capabilites and aptitude to do this kind of work, and 2) new students don’t possess the experience necessary (i.e., industry knowledge) to jump into high level positions. Of course companies want and NEED young talent with potential, but they must possess the basic skillset to do the required work, right off the bat.
Your brother was keen at getting instant rewards from his business, but probably lacked the prepartion to apply for the jobs he was applying for. It doesn’t matter how well you can talk the talk in an interview, if you don’t have a track record of walking the walk (skills, experience, grades), it is hard to find a job when you have a pool of extremely qualified college grads. It would be hard to believe anyone turned him down simply because he was, “too good.”
This is a good lesson for college students to learn. Decide where you want to be at graduation BEFORE you get there. If you want to start your own business right out of school, by all means go the way of Ryan’s brother. If your intention is to get a job with a big company out of college, you need to prepare much differently. Several of my friends made big bucks selling pest control during their summers at college instead of doing low paid internships. Needless to say, they drove nice cars, but had a harder time landing a job. The absolute worst is when a student has NO experience and a 4.0. I pretty much scratch them off my list. There is no right or wrong, but you need to have a gameplan before its too late.