工作與水平相稱有多重要

As graduation draws near, those who haven’t landed a job yet may be desperate to find one. Perhaps some of the job offers they have received are below their skill and experience levels. Is it better to take these offers, or reject them and remain unemployed?

畢業臨近，還沒找到工作的同學可能迫切想找到一個職位。也許，他們得到的工作機會以自己目前的技能和經驗遠遠可以勝任。那麼，究竟是該接受這樣的職位，還是拒絕掉繼續等待機會呢？

A recent study conducted by a University of Texas sociologist may give soon-to-be grads some food for thought. It’s about how taking a job below your skill level could affect your prospects for future employment. The result of the study is: It matters a lot.

最近，美國德克薩斯大學的一位社會學家做了一份調查，結果可能會讓即將畢業的同學們好好思考一番。這份有關“接受低於自身技能水平的工作，可能會影響未來就業前途”的調查。其結果證明：這兩者之間關係緊密。

“A history of skills underutilization is as scarring for workers as a year of unemployment,” according to David Pedulla, whose study on the topic appeared in the American Sociological Review.

“自身能力不能充分施展，對於就業者來說，就像待業一年那樣可怕，”大衛•裴多拉表示，他的研究登上了《美國社會學評論》期刊。

Pedulla explored his interest in what he calls “labor market inequality” by developing resumes for imaginary job applicants. The job seekers he created had a few things in common. They had a college degree, worked nearly two years at their first job, and worked about four and a half years at their second job.

通過給虛構的求職者設計簡歷裴多拉探索了他感興趣的領域，他稱之爲“勞動力市場不平等”。他在試驗中設計出許許多多應聘者，他們有很多相同之處。比如，都具備大學本科學歷，第一份工作幹了兩年，第二份工作幹了4年半等等。

What differed was their third job – the one Pedulla created for them for the most recent year. His imaginary workers either had a full-time job that matched their skills, a part-time job, a job below their skill level, or were unemployed.

然而不同之處出現在第三份工作——這也是裴多拉對於應聘者的特殊設計。他設想中的就業者，要麼擁有一份匹配能力的全職工作，要麼是一份低於自身技能水平的兼職工作，要麼乾脆待業。

Then Pedulla submitted 2,420 resumes based on his imaginary job seekers, along with cover letters, to online ads for 1,210 real jobs. Each of the applicants had an email address and real phone number that employers could contact if they were interested in talking with the applicant further.

裴多拉爲其設想中的求職者一共提交了2420份簡歷和相應的求職信，去應聘網絡廣告中的1210個真實崗位。每份應聘資料中都有電子郵箱地址以及真實的電話號碼，如果僱主對於應聘者感興趣可以進一步聯絡。

The callback rates varied widely based on how the imaginary job seeker had spent their last year. Pedulla said employer interest in his fictional applicants reflected what kind of signals the applicant’s most recent job history sent to hiring managers, including how competent they were and how committed they were to their careers.

就業者最後一年經歷的不同，導致了僱主回電率的不同。裴多拉表示，僱主對於這些虛擬應聘資料的興趣，反映出的是應聘者最近一段經歷釋放給僱主的信號，比如他們的競爭力，以及他們對於職業的投入程度。

Male and female applicants who had full-time jobs the previous year were called back 10.4 percent of the time. Those whose most recent year of employment was in a job that was below their skills level were only called back about 5 percent of the time. Male applicants who had been unemployed for a year were called back 4.2 percent of the time, while unemployed females were called back 7.5 percent of the time.

在衆多應聘者中，前一年擁有全職工作的人，僱主回電率爲10.4%。而前一年的工作技能要求不如自身水平的應聘者，回電率只有5%。男性應聘者待業一年的回電率爲4.2%，而待業的女性應聘者的回電率爲7.5%。

The study also showed that holding a part-time position over the previous year hurt men much more than it did women. Men with a year of part-time work only were called by employers 4.8 percent of the time, while the figure is 10.9 percent for women. “Men face severe penalties for part-time work histories, but women experience no penalties,” Pedulla wrote.

這份研究同樣表明，應聘前一年做兼職工作，對於男性的傷害要大於女性。兼職一年男性的得到僱主回電率爲4.8%，兼職一年的女性應聘者得到的僱主回電率爲10.9%。裴多拉在研究中寫道：“男性面臨兼職工作經歷帶來的嚴重影響，然而女性擁有這樣的經歷並沒有多大影響。”

However, Pedulla cautioned that there are some limits about what lessons can be taken from the experiment. It only measured the initial interest of employers in his fictional job candidates, not whether the employer would hire them or what they would be paid based on their most recent job experience. And he only conducted the study in five major cities, and doesn’t know whether he would have gotten the same results in smaller labor markets.

然而，裴多拉也提醒大家，從實驗中學到的東西有侷限性。實驗只測算出了僱主對於虛擬應聘者的最初興趣，但是並沒有測算出僱主是否會僱用他們，或者應聘者最近的工作經歷會讓他們獲得什麼樣的薪水。而且，裴多拉的實驗只在五個城市進行，他並不清楚在其他小規模的勞動力市場中，是否還會得到相同的結果。