Universum held the Fifth Annual Universum Awards in New York City last Wednesday. The event was hosted by the New York Times and featured a number of talented speakers and guests.

The featured speakers included Yolanda Mangolini, Global Director of Diversity Talent and Inclusion at Google, Paula Caligiuri, author, professor and frequent CNN analyst as well as New York Times Bestselling Author and Businessman Stedman Graham.

The night saw dozens of awards handed out to employers who were perceived to be the most attractive as voted on by over 65,000 undergraduate and MBA students in the United States.

To see a full list of the winners you can go to Businessweek:

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/may2011/bs20110511_024823.htm

Last week I mentioned that Universum’s first annual employer rankings for young professionals was released. The rankings saw extensive coverage and really helped ignite the conversation on just what makes an employer seem like a good place to work?

While many were content with just listing the employers as ranked by the 10,000 plus professionals, some decided to delve in more deeply to uncover just what makes an employer seem attractive?

Laura Vanderkam from the CBS Interactive Business Network decided to look at the rankings more closely and question just why a company that very few people are qualified to work for consistently ranks high on desired employer lists.

Vanderkam writes:

“Google’s perks in particular are legendary (free lunches! ball pits!) and nearly 25% of young professionals said they wanted to work there.

“But if you think about it, this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Google’s a great place to work… if you’re a software engineer. If you’re a writer, chemical engineer, musician, botanist or any of a host of other specialties, the opportunities are a bit more limited.”

And she’s right, there are very few of us out there that would be qualified to write code, but essentially it all comes down to branding and positioning, two of Google’s strong points.

The Universum Survey is incredibly straightforward. Students and professionals alike are asked the simple question “Where would you consider working?”

The result represents the strength of employer brands regardless of industry or the individual’s qualifications. It’s not so much a job application as it is a wish list, and where employers rank on this list depends heavily on its use of employer branding and strategy.

You can read Laura Vanderkam’s article in its entirety here:

http://www.bnet.com/blog/time-management/what-makes-a-company-a-cool-place-to-work/373

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

International companies are increasingly focusing on emerging markets for the growth of their business, given the pace of the economic development, size of the prospective markets and the cost advantage in many areas. This growth is fully dependent on the success of attracting and retaining the right talent to run and develop the operations. Yet finding the right people has been difficult. Similarly, in the developed nations, companies are faced with the challenges of an ageing population and a shortage of skilled workers – this has lead to the so-called War for Talent.

Universum, the global leader in Employer Branding, presents key arguments of why employer branding should be a core component of your organization’s strategy.  We explore the career and employer preferences of today’s students – or tomorrow your employees. We will discuss how to measure your activities, to ensure that you are implementing the right activities, and how to communicate to talent to fulfill your recruitment needs. Employer branding will help you be more successful in the recruitment and retention of top talent.

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To register for this complimentary webinar, please follow this link: http://www.ere.net/webinars/global-trends-in-employer-branding-and.asp

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