World’s Most Attractive Employer 2016 survey, organization’s Ranks

Respondents who participated in Universum’s Talent Survey, a company into employer branding, have ranked the companies they find most desirable for employment. Ones that strike the right balance between work and an employee’s lifestyle and those that further career goals score the highest.

On the business rankings, Apple which moved up 5 spots from 7th to 2nd place and is challenging Google for the top position, followed by EY and Goldman Sachs. PwC fell 3 places to 5th place.

Top employers 2016

1 Google     

2 Apple       

3 Ernst and Young (EY)

4 Goldman Sachs   

5   PwC

6  Deloitte       

7  Microsoft   

8  KPMG       

9  L’Oreal       

10  JP Morgan   

On the engineering/IT side, Google retains its top position followed by Microsoft, Apple, BMW Group and IBM, which took over GE’s spot at 5.

1 Google

2 Microsoft

3 Apple

4 BMW Group

5 IBM

6 General Electric (GE)

7 Intel

8 Siemens

9 Samsung

10 Sony

Banks are struggling to compete with tech firms for business talent, and as a result certain banks have fallen in the rankings.

However, due to the interest of engineering/IT talent in joining professional and financial services firms, some banks have made strong advances in the engineering/IT rankings.

There has also been mixed fortunes for consumer goods firms, with strong “lifestyle” brands doing better than others, such as Nike debuting on the ranking at 16, ahead of the Adidas group at 19.

There is a stable attractiveness for the automotive industry, with the exception of Volkswagen for both business and engineering/IT talent.

There have been significant declines in attractiveness for hardware-focused IT firms and electronics manufacturers and energy industry noticeably less attractive following collapse in oil & gas prices, yet renewable energy firms have seen a spike in popularity amongst both sets of talent.

The World’s Most Attractive Employer 2016 survey ranks organisations based on the feedback of thousands of university business and engineering/IT students from 12 of the world’s largest economies: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and United States.