The annual The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers survey was released today, revealing the companies which are rated the most enticing places to work by student and graduate job-seekers.
The top four remains unchanged from last year, with PricewaterhouseCoopers still in pole position, followed by the Civil Service, Accenture and KPMG.

Among the top ten, accountancy firms were particularly prominent, with three of the Big Four placed (Deloitte being the other one, in 6th place). Martin Birchall from High Fliers Research, who carried out the survey, said it was "no surprise" that leading accountancy firms dominated the table:

"Graduate vacancies for trainee accountants have increased by more than 60% over the last two years and two of the leading firms are set to hire over 1,000 graduates each year in 2006," he said.

The highest 25 firms also remains largely unchanged; the exceptions are four outfits who have jumped into the top quartile – Teach First (41 to 19), the Police Force (36 to 20), Deutsche Bank (35 to 23) and BP (32 to 25).

The highest placed entrant into the Top 100 rankings was Penguin, the publishing house. Other new joiners include Google, Saatchi & Saatchi, Corus, the Environment Agency and Intel. While these are well known names, some of them are not traditional large-scale recruiters of graduates (Saatchi & Saatchi, Penguin) Their emergence into the Top 100 can be construed as signs, both of growth in their ambitions, and good performance in their home sectors.

In terms of the mix of companies represented in the Top 100 – it’s fair to say the league table is the preserve of the global corporations - FTSE100 and NYSE100 companies and the like; with some notable exceptions, such as the prestige professional services and law firms (McKinsey for example, at 38) and even the charity Oxfam, at number 53. There is a fairly varied mix between the different sectors - banks, oil, pharmaceuticals manufacturing and FMCG companies are all present in droves.

See below for the full list. The vast majority of these employers advertise with Milkround, so head to our search page to find their latest graduate opportunities!