By Michal Kalinowski

Friends, I have great news to share with you: For the first time in employer branding history, Universum can present the world’s Top 50 Most Attractive Employers ranking.

This is a global ranking based on our surveys among 120,000 business and engineering students in 11 of the world’s leading economies: US, Japan, China, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain, Canada and India. In the surveys, students considered 800 employers and nominated their top 50 Ideal Employers.

Google is the world’s most popular employer, followed by Microsoft. The Big Four accounting firms, professional services firms and car companies such as BMW and Daimler also appear high on the rankings. 

For the first time, you now have the opportunity to review the similarities and differences in how the most successful companies in the world work with their employer brand.

In our own analysis, we have found three main similarities among the ranked companies:

• They have a global strategy for their employer brand that supersedes geographical borders.
• Their work is focused and long term.
• They involve top management, communications and HR in their employer branding work.

We also know a few things about the recruitment market:

• An entry level recruitment can cost between $5,000-15,000.
• In three years, we will have three people leaving the job market for every one person entering it. 
• Fewer and fewer students enter the study programs most needed in the market. For example, the number of IT students in the UK has fallen by 40 per cent in the past seven years.

Hence, having a well-developed employer branding strategy is crucial for recruitment success in the future. The companies on the Top 50 Most Attractive Employers ranking have succeeded with theirs. Let yourself be informed and inspired by them, and you will too.

We have noticed a big buzz about this ranking, so there is obviously an interest and a need for the information available in it. I’d be happy to discuss it further with you.