Survey: Google world’s most attractive employer

By Trevor Mogg September 30, 2011

Google will be pleased to know that when it comes to hiring new workers, the company pretty much has the pick of the bunch.

According to the results of a survey carried out by employer branding firm Universum, more people would like to work for the Mountain View company than any other.

More than 160,000 job seekers from the world’s 12 biggest economies were questioned in the survey, which was split between those looking for a career in the business sector and those looking for a career in the engineering sector. Google came top in both categories as the world’s most attractive employer for the third consecutive year.

Lovisa Öhnell, head of research and consulting at Universum, said of the business category findings: “The talent market for business career seekers is being dominated by the professional services firms, known for being great places to launch a career, and by companies that offer a new working culture in a dynamic environment.”

She added: “For the last three years we have been seeing Google leading the pack and it will take a strong player with a clear talent strategy to steal this number one spot.”

Companies just behind Google in the survey’s business category top 10 include KPMG (2) and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Tech companies appear in the form of Microsoft (6) and Apple (9).

As for the engineering category, IBM appears in the number 2 position behind Google, with Microsoft at 3. Sony takes the number 6 slot, with Apple at 7.

“The software industry is highly dependent on its human capital, hence the efforts to attract and retain the brightest minds in the world,” said Carlo Duraturo, global account director at Universum. He continued: “There’s a new working-culture paradigm today – the relaxed & creative office – and part of it we owe to this industry. Generation Y feels very comfortable working in this new environment and it’s clearly reflected in the attractiveness of the software industry.”

The survey also reveals that American companies appear very attractive to prospective employees – 28 of the top 50 companies in the survey are based in the US. Among the companies in the engineering category, 26 are based in the US. Germany is the second most represented country.

To see the top 50 business and engineering companies for prospective employees, click here (PDF).

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