Abstract:

Job match is an important concept related to the quality of the employment: It implies education-employment fit and takes profit of those skills acquired during higher education studies. Also to study the situation of not working persons (unemployed and inactive persons) is interesting for career guidance. In a previous article we studied variables affecting employability for recent graduates in a positive economic context. As a further step the main aim is to explore the relationship between job match of higher education to the workplace, and work status (employed versus not working). This study aims to explore the relationship between job match/work status and situation and school-to-work transition, and also the characteristics of first job and current employment.

The study was conducted on a sample of 196 graduates from Universitat Jaume I of Castelló who finished their degrees in 2004 (5 years in the job market) 55.56% are women (average age 31 years old).

We studied differences between job-matched group and not job-matched group and also working and not-working group in key variables related to employability (such as socio-demographic variables, amount and typology of working experience, Successful job-search techniques for finding the current job, job-search intensity, self-efficacy, time to find their first job and time to find current job, typology of first employment, promotion prospects at current company, level of English, international mobility, …)

The results show significant differences in the way job-matched and not job-matched graduates and workers and non-workers face the job search process for the current job. Further implications for career guidance are commented.

Keywords:

Job matching, school-to-work transition, job search, first job, employability, successful job entry.