John Zappe of ere.net has recently written an interesting article about the importance of social media in the field of recruiting. In it, Zappe compares two surveys that have to do with the topic.

The first survey is from Universum and it surveyed a number of U.S. students about employers use of social networking. Among many other things, the survey showed that 59 percent of students find it “unattractive” to be contacted by an employer on Facebook–most preferring to be contacted on LinkedIn.

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By Kina Zeidler

When President Barack Obama kicked off his ‘Education to In novate’ campaign in November last year, he made the US STEM-education a national priority. Many were the compa nies, especially those with an extensive need of engineers and scientists, which applauded the initiative. In his speech, President Obama pointed out worrying statistics about 15-year-old Americans who are ranked 21st in science and 25th in math when compared to their peers around the world. The focus of the ‘Edu cate to Innovate’ campaign is hands-on activi ties outside the classroom. President Obama emphasised the significance of great teachers, teacher effectiveness and the importance of a classroom environment that professionals want to bring experience and enthusiasm into. His initiative obviously struck a chord. The private sector, universities, engineers, teachers, organi sations, foundations and non-profits pledged more than USD 260 million to improve the level of STEM-education in the US.

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Stockholm, September 28^th 2010—Universum releases the global talent attraction index: “The World’s Most Attractive Employers 2010”, based on close to 130,000 career seekers with a business or engineering background. Following the unprecedented world release in 2009, Google still manages to keep the number one position, but this time facing growing competition from the big four accounting firms. In the business category, 2010 has been a good year for the auditing and accounting industry, as the top four companies now take four out of the top five places in the ranking. “We’re witnessing the auditing firms and FMCG companies reconquering their talent group after a brief love-affair with the IT industry”, said Michal Kalinowski, Universum’s CEO. On a less positive note, the companies in the Banking and Investment industry, Management Consulting, and Oil & Gas, now encounter the problem of being perceived as less attractive employers.

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So your company ranked among the 2010 IDEAL Employers, now what? It’s time to use feedback from your target audience to improve communication and understand your position in the market.

Join us this Thursday, July 22nd at 2pm to learn more! Joel Quast, Senior Consultant at Universum, will share valuable information in this webinar.

Register now at: https://universumusa.ilinc.com/register/bxcrmfk

Based on more than 22,859 employer evaluations, reflecting the opinions of approximately 9,956 undergraduate students, Universum – Americas presents the 2010 Canada Top IDEAL^TM Employers

With the Government/public service industry showing up in the top three preferred industries among all fields of study (Business/Communication/Law, Engineering/IT/Natural Sciences, Liberal Arts/Fine Arts/Education/Social Sciences and Health/Medicine), it is only appropriate that the top ranked companies follow suit.

Based on the frequency of being selected as an IDEAL^TM employer, Universum produces an IDEAL^TM employer ranking, dubbed the Universum Top 100. The rankings reflect the level of employer attractiveness that companies or organizations have on the recruitment market, and consequently the strength of their employer brands.

“Since Canadian student career goals of job stability and serving society’s greater good were of high importance this year, it’s no surprise that they are choosing the Government of Canada as a top employer,” said Tracy Lynn Drye, Senior Vice President of Employer Branding at Universum, “We have actually seen this as a global trend. Undergraduate students around the world have expressed interest in beginning their career with the government, starting even prior to the economic challenges facing many markets.”

The first 10 IDEAL^TM Employers, segmented by their main field of study are:

Business/Communication/Law: 1. Government of Canada, 2. Apple, 3. Google, 4. Bank of Canada, 5. Provincial Government, 6. Deloitte, 7. L’Oréal, 8. Air Canada,9. Canada Revenue Agency, 10. KPMG

Liberal Arts/Fine Arts/Education/Social Science: 1. Government of Canada, 2. Provincial Government, 3. Health Canada, 4. Google, 5.Apple, 6. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 7. Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), 8. Air Canada,9. Public Service Commission, 10. L’Oréal

Engineering/IT/Natural Sciences:  1.Governement of Canada, 2. Health Canada, 3. Google, 4. Provincial Government, 5.Apple, 6. Microsoft, 7. Canadian Natural Resources Limited, 8. Research In Motion (RIM),9. Bombardier, 10. IBM

Health/Medicine: 1. Health Canada, 2. Government of Canada, 3. Provincial Government, 4. Google, Johnson & Johnson, 6. GlaxoSmithKline, 7. Pfizer, 8. Apple,9. Air Canada, 10. L’Oréal

To view the Universum Top 100 go to http://www.universumglobal.com/Canada-Undergraduate-Rankings

It’s hard to ignore corporate social responsibility, now that most students and professionals have embraced it as a necessary component of their organization’s brand. In addition to doing good for the environment, several studies show that employers with CSR initiatives do well financially—often better than employers that have paid little attention to their social and environmental responsibilities. A Goldman Sachs study showed that companies with strong environmental and social governance policies outperformed the stock market by 25 percent, and 72 percent of the companies on the list outperformed their industry peers.

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Universum is holding 4 Employer Branding Forums across the United States. At the end of June, we are visting New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago,  Houston and holding events that will feature a Universum speaker, university and company speakers and a students panel for Q&A session. This will be a great enviroment for networking and knowledge sharing! Hope to see you there!

Please visit our employer branding store to view more details and purchase tickets:

http://www.employerbrandingstore.com/Browse/Tickets.aspx

For more information please contact Salvatore Viola –  sal.viola@universumusa.com