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The purpose of this paper is to estimate the extent of “over‐qualification” (i.e. holding a qualification which is above that required to gain entry to the job being done) and “skills under‐utilisation” (i.e. being in a job which does not make use of the knowledge and skills possessed) in the United Kingdom and to examine whether these conditions are correlated with age.

The paper makes use of the 2006 Skills Survey. Cross tabulations of both conditions with age are produced and binomial probit estimates of both conditions are reported.

It is estimated that 38 per cent are over qualified; 15 per cent are in jobs which do not make use of the knowledge and skills they possess; and age is correlated with the probability of being over qualified but not with the condition of under‐utilising the knowledge and skills possessed.

Skills policy in the United Kingdom focuses almost exclusively upon increasing the supply of more highly qualified individuals. Given the extent of over‐qualification and skills under‐utilisation demonstrated in the paper, more effort should be made by policy makers to design and implement policies which increase the demand for highly skilled labour.

The paper answers three questions: How prevalent are qualification mismatches? How prevalent are skills mismatches? To what extent are the two conditions of being over‐qualified and being in a job which does not offer scope to make use of the knowledge and skills possessed correlated with age?

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of labor mismatches on wages and on job satisfaction for the Spanish case, with a distinction been made between educational and skills-related measures of mismatch.

The focus is placed on the usage that the individuals do of their skills in the workplace and different measures of skills use are considered to check the robustness of the results.

Using data from PIAAC, the results suggest that whereas educational mismatch shows greater effects on wages, the effects of labor mismatch on job satisfaction are better explained by the relative use of individual skills in the workplace.

Both educational and skills mismatches are relevant for understanding the economic effects of labor mismatch. Nevertheless, it should be taken into account that educational mismatch is not an accurate proxy for skills mismatch, mainly when the non-monetary effects of labor mismatch are addressed.

There is room to increase workers’ skills utilization in the workplace, which, in turn, would contribute to enhance individual job satisfaction and, consequently, workers productivity.

A process of upgrading in the Spanish labor market would allow to take full advantage of recent investments in education and skills formation done in the country in the last decades.

This study contributes to the literature on labor mismatch by explicitly considering that educational and skills mismatch might reflect different phenomena and by analyzing the effects of both types of mismatches on different labor market outcomes.

Considers the architecture and production of everyday life and its positive outcomes, as well as ways of disrupting it, resulting in the loss of these outcomes. Indirectly, such disruption might be brought about by the possible effects of the huge, interacting global changes (in the fields of macro‐economics, technology, culture and politics) on our organisations. These changes force organisations to change themselves too, in order to survive. Some of these forms of adaptation are discussed. Looking at their consequences on the everyday life of their employees, the article roughly distinguishes two kinds of consequences. The article indicates a number of possible sources of stress, and some approaches and interventions that may mitigate their possible harmful effects. Moreover, it concludes that such interventions can have more general positive effects for the organisation, because stress‐related complaints can be indicators of underlying factors that may negatively affect other organisational goals as well.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the concept of graduate work readiness (GWR) from a stakeholder perspective. The research attempts to pull together the various multidisciplinary themes from the literature into a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between graduates and the labour market, considering the international dimension of what is a global phenomenon.

The critical review is divided into four distinct sections, the first is to contextualise the concept of GWR and graduate employability taking into account recent academic discussion, particularly in the EU and ASEAN; second, to explore the different perspectives of stakeholders in the “triple helix” of universities, governments and the corporate world; third, critically to assess the arguments that educational provision is poorly aligned with labour market needs; and finally, to investigate the implications of the fourth industrial revolution for graduate jobs and skills and propose an agenda for future research.

Despite the apparent consensus between stakeholders over the central importance of graduate employability, there is considerable diversity in how each imagines GWR is best assured.

Any review is limited by the extant literature and whilst it is not uncommon that most research has been done in North America, Western Europe and Australasia, this is a serious limitation. GWR is a global concern and this review shows the need for more research that extends beyond the dominant geographical focus and its attendant paradigms. The implication is that geography is important and local research is needed to develop solutions that fit specific cultural, economic and institutional contexts.

The paper highlights the need to reconcile different stakeholder perspectives on GWR and ensure that they work together on shared agendas to improve graduate transition to the labour market. At the same time, the profound changes being brought about by the fourth industrial revolution suggest that more attention should be paid to the employability of existing employees.

This review should prove useful to both academics and practitioners because it emphasises the need to treat GWR as a concept that varies according to context and stakeholder interests, rather than a homogeneous phenomenon.

Training improves workers’ competencies by eliminating or reducing mismatch between the levels of acquired and required skills. However, the question of who needs the training can be pertinently managed by training needs analysis (TNA). Thus, the purpose of this paper was to explore the training needs of Pakistani university librarians on collection management skills.

The study was conducted on a randomly selected sample of Pakistani university librarians. Using survey questionnaire method, a five-point Likert scale was utilized to measure the acquired and required levels of collection management skills (CMS). A paired sample t-test was used to ascertain the significance of difference between the acquired and required skills. Further, descriptive statistics were used to perform TNA.

Results of the paired sample t-test showed a significant difference among all indicators of CMS. Further, findings of TNA specified more than 50 per cent of deficit (over-utilization), less than 50 per cent of surplus (under-utilization) and 20 per cent of job best-fit in terms of CMS. Based on these results, training and top-down allocation of tasks are suggested to the higher authorities to manage over and under-utilization of CMS and to produce more job best-fits.

These findings are significant to design training programs on CMS, to revise courses on collection management, to evaluate performance of collection managers and understand the causes of under and over utilization of CMS. Moreover, findings inform librarians to eliminate mismatch in the levels of acquired and required CMS through training programs that may further enhance job best-fits.

The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically manager and employee views on employees’ skills utilisation in organisations in Scotland.

Questionnaires to managers and employees, plus three case studies comprising manager interviews and employee focus groups.

Highly significant differences are found between manager and employee views on: the match of employee skills to their current jobs; the extent of utilisation of employees’ skills; and opportunities for promotion. The main difference in views is on the match of employee skills to their current jobs, with employees opining more than managers that employees’ skills exceed the requirements of their job. Also, for managers and employees alike, the meaning of skills utilisation is obscure despite the language of skills being widely used in organisations.

The scale of the empirical research is possibly limited. There is potential for manager and employee bias. A case study of a private sector organisation is not included.

It is apparent that there is potential to increase employees’ skills utilisation in organisations in Scotland. Managers are challenged with better utilising the skills within their workforces by using these skills to drive improvements in work processes and practices.

Previous commentary and research on skills utilisation mainly centres on policy and employer standpoints. This paper focuses on manager and employee viewpoints on employees’ skills utilisation.

This paper discusses the redevelopment of MSc Civil Engineering and Construction Management of a modern university in the Midlands of the UK in recent years, with the aim to offer flexible future learning opportunities for built environment professionals and address the sector's skill shortage concerns (Augar Review, 2019 and 2021; Department for Education (DfE), 2020 and 2021; Foresight Review, 2017).

The research method is insider action research and a case study approach. It involves interviews with external and internal stakeholders who contributed to this redevelopment and review of relevant documents related to the development.

The research finding showed that both the internal and external stakeholders welcome the proposed redevelopment of postgraduate courses in Civil Engineering and Construction Management. They found the course offers opportunities for civil engineering and construction professionals to further develop their skills and to address government initiatives on flexible and future learning. The online offer of the course is attractive to potential students. It has brought a substantial financial return to the university and created a new international presence of the course and the university.

It has been argued that an insider research approach may have an advantage in accessing information compared to other research methods. The case study approach may have limitations on generalisability.

This research can be used as an example for other universities that aim to enhance their existing offers to address government initiatives and enhance financial viability.

This paper is a pilot study examining a university's response to skill shortage and government proposal on flexible learning for adults through redevelopment and enhancement of the offer of the existing postgraduate courses.

The “Peter Principle” is contradicted here. Alternative methods of decision making and research are examined and it is concluded that many organisations have untapped reservoirs of skill and experience which, if utilised, could increase the talent available to companies.

The purpose of this study is to assess the training needs on emotional intelligence (EI) of librarians serving in the university libraries of Pakistan.

A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from a randomly selected sample of Pakistani university librarians. A paired sample t-test was used to examine the significance of difference between the four indicators of EI. Further, descriptive statistics were used to assess the training needs on EI.

The difference between all indicators of EI was found to be significant. The results showed less than 50 per cent of deficit, more than 50 per cent of surplus and 20 per cent of job best fit in terms of EI of university librarians. Further, results illustrated that librarians require training to cover the skill deficiencies. Similarly, top-down allocation of tasks is required to produce more person-job fit and control surplus or over utilisation of the skills.

Findings of this study have several implications for university librarians, such as designing of training programs, incorporation of EI in the performance evaluation to investigate the causes of deficit and surplus in EI, etc.

This study is a first attempt that extended the scope of EI towards librarianship in Pakistan. The findings probably motivate university librarians to improve the current level of their EI.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the amount of training received by employees; the extent to which individuals are dissatisfied with the training they receive; and employee perceptions of the extent to which the skill levels they possess are higher than/lower than those required to do their jobs.

A matched workplace‐employee data set which has its origins in the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey is created and analysed using ordered and binomial logits.

One in five employees received five days or more training within the last 12 months. One in three received no training at all. One in three are satisfied with the training they received. One in four are dissatisfied. More than half of all employees felt that their skill levels are higher than those required to do their jobs. Only 5 percent felt that their skill levels are lower than those required to do their jobs.

There is little evidence of “skills gaps.” However, there is much evidence to the effect that employees' skills capacities are under‐utilised.

The contribution made both to the skills and training policy agenda and the controversy over explanations of the UK's relatively low rate of productivity growth.