However, according to a new study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, the stereotype of over-qualified employees are not true. In the study, dozens of qualified employees from eleven companies were tracked and compared to their peers. Researcher Jasmine Hu: “We found that employees whose qualifications outperformed their job requirements had not only an improved overall performance compared to their colleagues, but are also more enthusiastic about sharing ideas, and more loyal.”
team-builders
The most productive and engaged employees proved to be employees who were considered to be over-qualified. As well as this, teams with colleagues who had more knowledge and/or experience than specified in the job profile proved to work more efficiently and with greater productivity. The addition of an overqualified candidate in a team ensured that the morale and performance of the whole team would be higher compared to teams with members of similar qualifications
Onboarding
To that effect, managers also benefit when an overqualified employees start paying attention to promoting additional qualities of the employee and the interaction between team members. The more collaborative the culture, the more positive the impact on qualified employees.
Recruiters and managers should not only look at the CV. “The attitude of a candidate is often more important. This can only be determined during a job interview.” Of course, as Anne Fisher adds finesse to it, overqualified applicants must first have survived the screening process, for an organisation to be able to benefit from these advantages.