Google. Google. Google. Let’s just give the company the permanent cup, and then disqualify it from consideration for all those best of talent acquisition, and best company to work for lists for at least five years.
I say this because the company-who-shall-not-be-named is now at the top of yet another best list. Universum says Google is at the top of both the global business and global engineering lists in “The World’s Most Attractive Employers 2012” survey. In case you’re wondering, Google was at the top of both lists last year.
What this means is that the company was again the top choice of business and engineering students in 12 of the world’s leading economies: Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, UK, and U.S. Universum, a global employment branding firm with a strong focus on students and recent graduates, surveyed some 144,000 students in those countries to come up with the rankings.
“The Google fever is still hot! Students are still attracted by Google’s relaxed and creative work environment, international atmosphere and innovative products. Google let the students know that they offer great benefits that are hard for other companies to match,” says Petter Nylander, Universum’s CEO.
On the global business list, KPMG was #2, leading Michael Andrew, chairman of KPMG International, to boast, “We are proud that students globally are recognizing our employment offer and have ranked us so highly for the third consecutive year. What makes the ranking especially meaningful is that it is based on the opinions of those who represent the future of KPMG and our clients.”
Universum, based in Sweden, regularly surveys students and Gen Yers worldwide on their perceptions of employers, what things they associate with them, and asking them to select the employers they would consider working for, and finishing up by asking them to name the companies they most want to work for.
Reports are created for a number of countries — not just the 12 counted for the global report. Results by country differ, naturally. In the U.S., Google ranked fourth in engineering, behind NASA, Boeing , and Lockheed Martin. It was #1 in business and IT.
In the United Kingdom, Apple garnered both top spots. In India, Google was #1 on the combined Engineering/IT list.
The survey found students bumping up their interest in both automotive and energy companies. Seven auto industry firms made the top 50 engineering list, as did seven energy companies.
Universum also reports that 14 percent of students visit online communities every hour; 57 percent visit a couple times a day. Average time per visit is 23 minutes and 71% believe employers visit their personal profile after interacting with employers on online communities.