Universum has released 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 2009 results, Google still manages to keep the top stop position, but this time facing growing competition from the Big Four auditing firms. In the business category, 2010 has been a good year for the auditing industry, as the top four companies now take four out of the top five places in the ranking.
Michal Kalinowski, Universum’s CEO, said: "We’re witnessing the auditing firms and FMCG companies reconquering their talent group after a brief love affair with the IT industry,"
On a less positive note, the companies in the banking and investment industry, management consulting and oil and gas now encounter the problem of being perceived as less attractive employers.
In the engineering category, however, IT-sector companies continue to dominate: the top three employers – Google, Microsoft and IBM – maintain their positions from last year. The notable changes are Japan’s Sony at number four and Apple’s new entry. German car manufacturer BMW is still the most powerful employer brand in the automotive industry. In the top 10, where American corporations dominate, praise must also be given to Siemens for their eighth position.
World’s Top 10 – Business
1 Google (1)
2 KPMG (8)
3 Ernst & Young (5)
4 PricewaterhouseCoopers (2)
5 Deloitte (10)
6 Procter & Gamble (6)
7 Microsoft (3)
8 The Coca-Cola Company (13)
9 J.P. Morgan (7)
10 Goldman Sachs (4)
World’s Top 10 – Engineering
1 Google (1)
2 Microsoft (2)
3 IBM (3)
4. Sony (7)
5. BMW (4)
6. Intel (5)
7. General Electric (6)
8. Siemens (8)
9. Procter & Gamble (10)
10. Apple (new entry)
Already in 2009 American companies was the largest single group in the top 50 companies (20 amongst business students and 17 amongst engineering students – not even counting Big Four and large management consulting firms as US organisations). This year the number is 24 for both lists.
Comparing the list of the most attractive employers with the list of most admired companies (by Fortune) or most valuable brands (by Interbrand), it is clear that extremely attractive employers do not depend as much on their consumer or corporate brands. The overlap between the rankings above and Universum’s global index is only half.
The world’s global talent are concerned about their own development and outside image. For that reason, they tend to choose companies that provide professional training and development, a good reference to a future career and organisations that have leaders who’ll support their development. The Big Four auditing firms just happen to be perceived by the talent group as fulfilling these important selection criteria.
Due to the banking and investment sector being perceived as responsible for one of the world’s largest economic meltdowns in history, employers in the industry have lost their appeal as a great place to kick-start one’s career. Management consulting companies have also dropped in the rankings, often linked to the banking and investment sector, and may have been perceived as part of the problem of past financial mismanagement.
Due to public consciousness of environmental issues, companies in the oil & gas industry also face challenges to attract top talent and have also experienced a drop in the rankings this year.
