You are too talented for us.

I once met a student from a prominent academy in the Netherlands; the academy is well known for their conceptual approach. I went to a student exhibition at this academy and saw that a few had good ideas, but many of them were trying to be so deep, that they missed any connection to reality. On top of that, every student’s style was the same as every other one’s. The same colors, the same type, the same explanation of why that style was everywhere.

I thought these kids really needed long internships, because they had no clue about working with a real purpose, based on a target audience. I was thinking: what the hell do they teach here?

Anyway, this student told me that he had amazing ideas, that he was gonna take a year off just to think about what companies he wanted to work for. He told me had so many options already, he was interviewed by several companies and all of them told him the same: “You are too talented for us, you should find something better.” He was so proud of it.

This brought back all the memories of when I was looking for a job. Maybe you have heard this same sentiment from a company before. Did it make you feel good about not getting a job?

Now I ask you a different question: What do you say when someone that you don’t know very well gives you a present that you already have or that maybe you don’t like?

When a company tells you that you didn’t get the job because you are ‘too talented’ for them, you can do three things:

1. Accept that you are not what they are looking for and move on.

2. On the tiny, remote chance that they actually mean it, your best option is to insist and convince them that you are the one they want.

3. Face the truth. It’s probably number 1.