I came across several instances where students missed out on job for a silly reason. This might not be that good but certainly worth sharing, for I wish people with inordinate talent don't lose a job for an ordinary reason.

This is an extremely sincere guy who is in the most coveted department (In India (specially in IIT), we virtually have a hierarchy of branches from Computer Science to Metallurgy which is quite unfortunate) with an impeccable CV, the kind of CV you dream of graduating with, when you are a freshman. He glided through the preliminary rounds of aptitude tests and technical interviews. Now, he is sitting before the HR Manager. The interviewer questions him whether he would ditch the company and go for higher studies to which he replies a fake yet vehement 'No' citing the hackneyed reason of interest in practical exposure. Then, the recruiter asks the candidate about his experience of summer internship [It was at one of the most prestigious varsities of Europe]. The candidate gets in the comfort zone and begins to articulate his exposure.
Now, the interviewer deliberately makes an controversial statement inviting response from the candidate - "My nephew is applying to MIT, its the Best for Physics?". I don't exactly know the reason- whether this boy was extremely passionate for Ivy League or he became too casual, replied immediately "Not really sir, Princeton is the best. MIT has the best labs for condensed matter analysis but arguably not the best theoretical physics group." Now, that's a suicide if you want a job. You are not supposed to know so much about the prospective destinations of higher education if you are not looking in that direction.

Obviously, the candidate could not get that job. Yet, I don't think he would mind that as he would be joining Princeton for the same, in the Fall,2013.

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