Top 5 most attractive global employers for engineering/IT graduates
Millennials, the demographic group born between 1980 and 2000, are widely known as the generation with the most affinity for rapid technological advances. Consequently, the information technology industry has generally attracted many millennials to its workforce.
Global research and advisory company Universum recently surveyed more than 240,000 students to find out the “world’s most attractive employers” for graduates in the engineering and information technology fields. The survey found that millennials, whether engaged by a start-up or a large multinational corporation, want to work in environments that foster innovation and inspire them to further their professional development.
Four out of the top five-ranked employers are headquartered in the United States. The data was compiled by Universum from surveys it conducted between September last year and April this year in Australia, Brazil, Canada, mainland China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Britain and the US.
For the fourth consecutive year, Google was the world’s most attractive employer. It had the same distinction from a separate Universum poll of business students. Google was founded in 1988 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, while they were students working on their PH D degrees at Stanford University in California. The company, which went public in 2004, runs the world’s most popular internet search engine, which has made it a powerhouse in online advertising services. It also operates video-sharing site YouTube, mobile operating platform Android, Chrome browser and various online productivity tools, such as Gmail and Translate. Total revenue reached US$66 billion last year, with 53,600 full-time employees at the end of December.
Microsoft
With a new chief executive at the helm since February last year, software giant Microsoft has stepped up its efforts to master the always-online world of millennials, with initiatives to expand its reach and capabilities in the red-hot area of enterprise “cloud” services. The company founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 continues to strengthen its Windows software platform, while building up its own devices business. That hardware operation includes its Surface tablets and Lumia smartphones. In its fiscal year ended June 30 last year, Microsoft posted revenue of US$86.83 billion and had a total head count of 128,076.
Apple
The latest Universum survey showed that Apple moved up a notch from last year’s ranking, which followed the company’s much-ballyhooed debut in the smart wearables market segment. The Apple Watch, along with the recently introduced Apple Music service, showed the company’s highly calculated strategy of making big bets in market segments where it was not involved before. The iPhone, however, remains the most profitable and popular product for the company co-founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. In its fiscal year ended September 27, Apple recorded US$182.79 billion in revenue and had 92,600 full-time employees.
BMW Group
German car and motorcycle maker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG took the fourth spot in this year’s global employer ranking after being overtaken by Apple. Founded in 1916, BMW owns two other strong premium brands, Mini and Rolls Royce, and has operations in more than 150 countries. The company to date has sharpened its focus on automatic safety and driver assistance technology, rather than on driverless systems. Apart from cars and motorcycles, the third gear of BMW’s business is financial services, which includes retail customer and dealer financing. Total revenue hit 80.4 billion euros (US$89.29 billion) last year on a record total of 2.12 million vehicles sold, while its workforce reached 116,324 at the end of December.
General Electric
US industrial conglomerate GE traces its beginnings to renowned American inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison. In 1892, his Edison Electric Light Co merged with the Thomas Houston Electric Co to form GE. Its business areas today include: aviation, offering jet engines, aerospace systems and aircraft maintenance services; power and water, covering gas and steam turbines, as well as nuclear reactors and generators; energy management, offering plant automation hardware; and healthcare, providing medical imaging and patient-monitoring systems. The company posted total revenue of US$148.6 billion last year and had about 305,000 employees.tmer
