Universum released the results of the Pan-European Student Survey. In Switzerland, Tagesanzeiger released the results in the print version on June 28th. The results of the Pan-European Student Survey reveal how students perceive multinational companies/organizations as employers in Europe.

Apple beats Google and L’Oréal takes third place in the business ranking. In the engineering ranking, Google comes first, followed by BMW and Apple.  For natural sciences, IT and humanities or liberal arts students, Google is also employer of choice. Nevertheless, Apple is proving to be an equal opponent, taking second place in nearly all rankings, apart from engineering and IT where it respectively appears at third and fourth place.

Click here for the Pan-European ranking lists

Google first appeared in 2007’s ideal employer rankings and Apple emerged in 2009. Since then, both companies have claimed leading Employer Branding positions. Regarding their employer image, survey results reveal that Apple surpassed Google in connection to innovation and the appeal of its products and services. ‘Inspiring management’ is another factor where Apple leads. Google, however, outranks its rival in being most associated to ‘good reputation’ and is also, not surprisingly, strongly associated to providing a ‘creative and dynamic work environment’. The former attribute may be due to the company’s well-known corporate philosophy of “you can make money without doing evil” and the recent media attention received in its battle with the Chinese government over censorship regulations. However, although both employers are equal opponents, Apple is proving to be a tasty one for Europe’s young graduates who are all now probably iPhone hooked.

Universum’s CEO, Michal Kalinowski commented on the rankings, «Over the years we’ve seen an increasing trend that students are drawn to innovative companies, such as Google and Apple. These two employers are strongly associated to a number of drivers that make an employer attractive. For example, Google and Apple outrank other employers when it comes to being associated to having ‘innovative’ or ‘exciting & attractive products and services’, ‘good reputation’, ‘offering a dynamic and creative environment’, and having ‘inspiring top management. Yet most of all, maybe Google can blame Apple’s popularity on its ubiquitous, trendy and must have products, namely the iPhone, iPod and now even the iPad».
On the engineering side, all the employers in the automotive industry, namely BMW, Audi, Porsche, Ferrari, Toyota, Daimler, and the Volvo Group, have dropped in the rankings. The only exception is Volkswagen, which managed to climb three positions and is now ranked 17.
As engineering and business students reconsider their first-choice employers, Universum’s IT ranking remains consistent with last year’s, leaving the top five employers unaffected: Google (no. one), Microsoft (no. two), IBM (no. three), Apple (no. four) and Intel (no. five). For IT students, Microsoft and IBM push their way ahead of Apple and are definitely companies that are good in attracting Europe’s IT graduates. Microsoft is also a company that appeals to humanities/liberal arts students, as it comes at seventh place. These rankings show that IT graduates still prioritise IT sector employers over others. Similarly, regarding natural sciences students, many of the big pharmaceutical companies naturally appear in their top 10, namely: Bayer (no. three), GlaxoSmithKline (no. four), Novartis (no. five), Pfizer (no. six) and Roche (no. seven). Finally, humanities/liberal arts students are a breed apart, and choose a more diverse set of employers in their top 10: L’Oréal (no. three), IKEA (no. four), The Coca-Cola Company (no. five), Nestlé (no. six), Sony (no. eight), European Central Bank (no. nine) and LVMH (no. 10).

Students are targeted separately according to their main field of study. The Pan-European rankings are available online at:

www.universumglobal.com/IDEAL-Employer-Rankings/The-Pan-European-Student-Survey

The Tagesanzeiger article is available at: http://2doc.net/PanEurope.

About the Universum Top 100 Ideal Employer Rankings – The Pan-European Edition
The results are based on the answers of 21’166 students, studying for degrees in Business, Engineering, IT, Humanities, Law and Natural Sciences, and 55’596 individual employer evaluations. Each respondent is presented with a list of 100 to 130 national and international employers, nominated by the target group through an independent and structured nomination and assessment process, which prevents companies unfairly influencing their position. Respondents acknowledge those companies they would consider working for. Of the companies selected as ‘considered employers’, the respondents then select their five ‘Ideal Employers’. The rankings, dubbed the Universum Top 100, measure the level of employer attractiveness of companies or organisation on the recruitment market. The field for this survey was during November 2009 to March 2010. Respondents were targeted at Europe’s top 100 tertiary-level academic institutions.