Largely on the basis of its perceived creative environment and friendliness to work-life balance, Google is the most desired employer in an annual survey of about 21,000 business students worldwide. Google photo
When it comes to companies that business majors are infatuated with, one stands over the rest. Google continually is at the top of mind for business students worldwide, according to an annual survey conducted by Universum. Founded two decades ago and based in California’s Silicon Valley, Google has been at the top spot in the Universum poll for the past three years for business students.
It’s not hard to see why. Google is known for treating its employees to ski trips and work day picnics. Employees also have access to free food, bikes, and on-campus recreational opportunities like volleyball courts, a gym, and a bowling alley. On Glassdoor, Google has an impressive 4.6 rating out of five and has consistently ranked in the top ten in Glassdoor’s Best Places To Work ranking for the past seven years.
TECH GAINING MORE IN POPULARITY AMONG BUSINESS STUDENTS
Universum surveyed nearly 21,000 business students from hundreds of universities worldwide between October and February to compile the list. For the second year in a row, the Walt Disney Company placed second behind Google. This year, Amazon jumped both Nike and Apple to claim the third spot. The first financial firm to make the list is J.P. Morgan at sixth place, which is where it was last year. Ernst & Young followed in seventh, a slight rise from its eighth place finish last year. Deloitte is the first consulting firm to make the list at eighth place, also an uptick from its ninth place finish in 2017.
Still, tech’s dominance in popularity among young talent continues to surge. Three of the top four companies are tech giants and the two highest ranked companies to debut on the list are tech related in Netflix (placing 11th) and Tesla (placing 12th). Elon Musk’s side project, Space X also shows up on the list at 31. The rise in tech popularity has been evident and growing for the past few years.
“There definitely continues to be a significant trend towards tech companies, large tech companies and growing tech companies,” Sarah Rumbaugh, the CEO and co-founder of RelishCareers says.
RelishCareers is a matching platform for students and employers. Rumbaugh’s team mainly focuses on graduate school recruiting, but has also been involved in recruiting at the undergraduate level. In their own research of students currently enrolled in elite business programs, tech became the most popular industry for the first time, Rumbaugh says. “There’s less interest in finance services and for the first year ever in our reporting, candidates are more interested in tech than consulting as well,” she says. “Interest in CPG and manufacturing remains stable.”
COMPANIES LOOKING FOR GRADUATES WITH DATA SKILLS
Rumbaugh says the growing interest in tech stems from a “combo of reasons.” For one, tech has grown rapidly in the business world over the past decade. Plus, Rumbaugh says, millennials are attracted to the work-life balance many tech firms offer and have a natural connection with technology. “Candidates are moving towards companies that are more interconnected with their lives,” she says.
As for what employers are looking for in graduating students, it comes down to “data candidates” in data analytic-related roles, Rumbaugh says.
“There’s a huge opportunity for distribution to help companies hire for dat’ related roles; the employers are still trying to figure out what the jobs should look like, what schools to recruit from, how to interview, what qualities to look for,” Rumbaugh says, noting RelishCareers is trying to help solve those problems. “There’s basically no established processes in this space. And the schools struggle to connect their students with employers.”
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