Over Qualified Flashcards
The recession of recent years has seen a change in the job market as many organisations downsize or are disbanded completely.
downsize
This has created a situation where the number of applicants in the job market far exceeds the number of available jobs, particularly at higher levels, e.g. upper and middle management.
number
This then flows on by forcing highly educated and experienced workers to have to seek jobs that are below their level of education or expertise.
education or expertise
This is exacerbated further by a generally held belief that hiring overqualified people results in negative effects for the company, in the form of high turnover, low job satisfaction, and poor performance.
negative
This essay will address the truth of these claims.
truth
Over qualification is the situation where an individual has surplus education, experience, skills, and so on, that are not needed by or applied to the job.
needed by or applied to
People who find themselves in this situation may be those returning to work from a layoff, older workers seeking new opportunities, young post-education new entrant workers, and immigrants.
immigrants
However, over qualification may be a different concept to potential employees and potential employers.
concept
Potential employees, like those above, have a very subjective view of their own level of over qualification.
subjective
They are likely entering the job market from a negative situation of layoff or lack of experience and therefore view their level of competence from a negative vantage, thus while having excess skills they may still view themselves as ideal candidates for the job.
ideal
On the other hand, employers view over qualification from an objective view point of information in a resume and thus they may not be inclined to even interview those perceived to be over qualified.
objective
Many studies, while being criticised for being limited in design, have consistently found that over qualification is linked to poor job attitudes.
poor job attitudes
This translates into feelings of being deprived of a deserved better job, potential high rates of job turnover, lower job satisfaction and less self-confidence.
deprived
However, other more recent research has indicated that this may not be the whole story. In fact, some have suggested that the opposite is true.
research
One recent researcher contend that over qualification is linked to many positive job outcomes and that through proper management these overqualified individuals can become assets to the organisation.
positive
Over-qualified employees have been found to go beyond their existing job specifications to make valuable contributions to organisations.
valuable
They also provide an excellent training and recruiting ground for future positions within an organisation.
positions
Some research has suggested that the over-qualified individual performs their job better than their less-qualified co-workers.
better
They may also personally feel that they are under-performing, but this is in contrast to objective review by peers and supervisors which reveal them as high performers with few absences and a greater ability to work independently.
under-performing
The over qualified employee will usually be a faster learner and more easily trainable.
learner
Perhaps, the over qualified individual is an unrealised resource due to stigmatisation.
stigmatisation
The general misconception is that employing an over qualified individual will have negative effects for an organisation, yet this has been challenged in recent research.
negative
The evidence suggests that if an over qualified applicant is managed properly and given opportunities to excel, then they will excel.
managed
The term over qualification is unfortunately ambiguous in that there is a disconnect between how the applicant and the employer view the distinction.
disconnect
The best way to move forward on this is for employers to refrain from arbitrarily consigning the resumes of the perceived over qualified to the bin.
to the bin
