Over-qualification in Young Spanish Workers: A Decade of Research at IDOCAL

Abstract

Over-Qualification is a common phenomenon in industrialized societies, and it has received increasing interest from social scientists in recent years. The main purpose of this paper is to summarize the main findings obtained from a decade of research on Over-qualification and related topics at IDOCAL (Research Institute on HR Psychology, Organizational Development and Quality of Working Life; University of Valencia). Drawing on extensive surveys of young people entering the labour market and graduates of the University of Valencia, our research team developed a number of contributions on over-qualification and education-related person-job fit. This paper presents an overview of these findings, organized in three different sections: the relationships between employability as psychological resources and perceived employability and over-qualification and career success, the relationships between over-qualification and different job outcomes (such as job satisfaction, propensity to leave, and performance), and the evolution over time of over-qualified employees in terms of career outcomes.

Keywords

• over-qualification
• career success
• employability