Best employer branding in the UK
Universum studied 39,500 students from 97 British Universities to understand the career aspirations, goals and workplace requirements for graduates.
The Global Talent Survey found that Google is the UK’s most desirable company to work for by graduates for the seventh consecutive year. Whilst Google continues to prove popular with those studying business and STEM, their applicant pool continues to widen with humanities and law students both ranking the organisation in their top two and four companies to work for respectively. The companies highly coveted graduate schemes and internships are in high demand and Google is renowned for rewarding its employees with highly competitive salaries and employee benefits – all combining to make the tech giant an attractive workplace for students across multiple disciplines.
Top 10 business employers in the UK in 2019
| Rank | Business |
|---|---|
| 1 | |
| 2 | J.P. Morgan |
| 3 | Goldman Sachs |
| 4 | Apple |
| 5 | PwC |
| 6 | Nike |
| 7 | KPMG |
| 8 | Deloitte |
| 9 | L'Oréal |
| 11 | Morgan Stanley |
Top 10 STEM employers in the UK in 2019
| Rank | Company |
|---|---|
| 1 | |
| 2 | Rolls-Royce |
| 3 | Microsoft |
| 4 | Apple |
| 5 | Jaguar Land Rover |
| 6 | BAE Systems |
| 7 | McLaren |
| 8 | Aston Martin |
| 9 | Airbus |
| 10 | Lamborghini |
Increased interest in tech and innovation roles is a trend being reflected across many subject areas. UK STEM talent are looking for industries that embrace innovation and new technologies, and careers that will see them competitively and intellectually challenged. As a result, STEM talent are looking beyond traditional engineering roles to automotive and aeronautic employers like Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover and BAE Systems.
Moving away from tradition
The move away from traditional roles associated with subject choice is also reflected across the business student market. Where previously banking had been a high career choice, business students are seemingly less interested in the sector as Deloitte slumped two places in comparison to the 2018 Global Talent Survey. Multi-national Morgan Stanley now sits in tenth place after falling three places since the previous year, meanwhile, US firms J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs retained their respective second and third places, while tech giant Apple climbed the ranks into fourth.
The wane in interest may be a demonstration of the wider impact Brexit uncertainty has had on the banking industry over the past year.
Universum Managing Director for Nordics, UK and Ireland, Claes Peyron said:
Brexit is obviously a factor that is weighing on the minds of young talent when they consider which industry to start a career in. When we conducted our 2019 survey, the deadline for Brexit was set for March, and there was a lot of media coverage during the field period on which industries would be affected the most. Banking is obviously one of those industries, and this could be why we are seeing varied success rates of employers trying to attract business talent, despite their increased talent attraction efforts over the past few years.
It was only two years ago during the release of our 2017 UK rankings when we reported that Brexit had no effect on talent wanting to join the Banking industry, on the contrary, more wanted to join than in 2016. However, I suspect that the closer we have gotten to the deadline, the more unsure talent have become about joining an industry where jobs are reported to be heading to the continent.
Forward thinking
The results show how forward-thinking students are catching onto the fact that UK jobs in the sector are becoming few and far between, creating a challenging environment for those looking for long term careers in the sector.
The wider findings also delved into the media habits of students and found that Facebook, Instagram and most surprisingly, YouTube were amongst the top five most used online platforms used to learn about future employers, ahead of employer-focused resources across both business and STEM students. A huge 27% of students favoured YouTube, supporting the growing trend in how millennials and Gen Z are interacting less with traditional media and official outlets in favour of online and social media platforms.
Find out more about the UK’s Most Attractive Employers 2019 here.