According to HR professionals, companies sometimes cannot meet the salary expectations of job seekers, or a highly experienced specialist may fail to demonstrate the necessary depth of knowledge, leading to rejection.
Experienced IT developers are reportedly facing job rejections due to being «overqualified.» Hundreds of such incidents have been shared by job seekers on LinkedIn. Some applicants were directly informed by employers that their experience level exceeded the requirements for the position, while others were advised to tailor their resumes to appear less experienced for future interviews.
One user succinctly put it: «HRs want someone experienced and all-knowing, but not too experienced and all-knowing.»
This situation has led some professionals to consider downplaying their educational background and work experience on their resumes.
While job seekers are indeed rejected for being overqualified, Alexandra Radina, Head of HR at EvApps, points out that this phrase often masks other underlying reasons:
Alexandra Radina
Head of HR at EvApps«I`ve personally experienced and even issued such rejections. This phrasing primarily conceals a few possibilities. Firstly, the candidate`s salary expectations might be excessively high. Secondly, there`s a reluctance to offend the candidate directly. I`ve encountered situations where an individual, despite having extensive experience, performed significantly below their perceived level during our technical interview and grading assessment. To avoid causing offense, we framed the rejection in terms of overqualification. However, I haven`t seen instances of candidates deliberately misrepresenting or lowering their experience or qualification levels.»
One seasoned developer recently expressed his frustration with the job search on X (formerly Twitter), stating that he now intends to secure multiple middle-level positions. He rationalized this by suggesting it would lead to less responsibility while potentially earning more money overall.
How prevalent is this practice? Ilya Popov, an expert and Project Department Director at SafeTech Group, offers his insights:
«We haven`t experienced this at our company. Nor have my acquaintances who are job hunting. Typically, if individuals have specific qualifications, they declare them and find employment accordingly.»
Question: «An X user posted about planning to take on several middle-level jobs simultaneously, suggesting it would entail less responsibility and more income. Is this a trend you`ve observed in the industry?»
Answer: «There`s a distinction across different specializations—developers, analysts, project managers, and so forth. A developer`s role, for instance, might allow for juggling multiple positions, which could indeed be lucrative. However, I haven`t encountered such practices among the employees I work with; these cases are unfamiliar to me. My impression is that a proficient senior developer, capable of validating their expertise, will secure competitive compensation within a senior-level role. Pursuing multiple middle-level positions, it seems, would be more demanding for the specialist and might not ultimately translate into better overall earnings.»
The IT job market witnessed a notable increase in competition during the second quarter of this year. This was reported by the technology publication CNews, citing data from hh.ru. The average industry ratio of resumes to vacancies has nearly doubled compared to the same period in 2024. A year ago, there were approximately five to six resumes per vacancy; now, that number stands at ten or more. The industry publication attributes this trend to several factors: the return of specialists from related fields, an influx of new graduates and candidates who have retrained, and the expansion of IT departments within various companies.
