The World’s Most Attractive Employers For Biz Majors

It’s becoming a bit of a routine. Each year, for nearly a decade, the brand strategy company Universum has published its most attractive employers for business majors ranking. And each year at the top of the list is Google. This year’s survey of more than 115,000 business majors from around the globe revealed the same result. Google once again topped the list of Universum’s Most Attractive Employers for Business Majors.

While Google’s reign has stayed consistent over the years, other companies to make this year’s list have not enjoyed the same amount of consistency. Three out of the world’s “Big Four” accounting firms, which also feature management consulting arms, take up the next three spots. First is Ernst & Young (EY), which climbed one spot from third last year to second this year. Following EY is PwC, which took an even bigger climb from sixth place last year up to the top three. And in fourth is Deloitte, which was also fourth last year. Rounding out the top five is Apple, which gained two spots from last year’s seventh-place finish.

According to this year’s report, financial services and management consulting are the two most popular industries for business students. Of the top-10 employers, seven are in management consulting or financial services. The other three companies to make up the top-10 — Google, Apple, and Microsoft — are in tech. The first consumer products company to make the list this year is L’Oréal in 12th place.

BIGGEST WINNERS & LOSERS IN THIS YEAR’S RANKING

The company that gained the most ground in the rankings this year was Toyota, which surged nine spots from 47th place in 2018 to 38th. Next, PepsiCo jumped seven spots from 38th to 31st. And Intel gained six spots from 46th place to 40th.

At the other end, beer maker, Heineken dropped the most — seven spots — from 39th to 46th place. Goldman Sachs had the next biggest drop, falling from second to seventh. And fall four spots were Grant Thornton and Volkswagon.

WORK-LIFE BALANCE, JOB SECURITY TOP GOALS FOR BIZ MAJORS

As for career goals, maintaining a work-life balance is still the most important goal among current business majors, although slightly less important compared to last year. Some 53% of respondents listed work-life balance as a career goal compared to 55% last year. Meanwhile, job security or stability climbed one percentage point from 44% to 45%. The career goal that saw the largest growth from last year to this year is the ability to “be entrepreneurial or creative/innovative,” which climbed four percentage points from 26% last year to 30%, becoming the fourth most popular career goal among respondents. The goal that saw the biggest decrease was having an international career, which went from 31% to 27%.

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In terms of what students prefer from their employers and careers, high future earnings remains most popular. Universum also broke down this section into country-specific data and of the 12 countries included, high future earnings was the most popular category in nine countries. The next most popular preference was professional training and development. And secure employment rounded out the top three. Interestingly, a competitive base salary was the least popular preference among current business majors.

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See the next page for the entire list of the top-50 most attractive employers among business majors.)