Dimensions of graduates' job satisfaction in the short and medium terms

Time-related job satisfaction is receiving growing attention in the literature. In this contribution, we analyse the changes occurring in graduates’ job satisfaction and in its main dimensions at various survey occasions after graduation. We will focus, too, on the theory of job satisfaction measurement. The analysed data come from a survey of graduates at the University of Padua, interviewed with a CATI procedure six months, one year and three years after graduation. After verifying that the main dimensions are the same over time, we investigate the determinants of the changes occurring in graduate job satisfaction, finding a broad stability and some sources of variation mainly related to salary and study-job consistency variations. Graduates who move to a different job usually increase their satisfaction, at least for the most predictable aspects. Satisfaction levels also show a “toward-the-mean” effect.