Member Article

Financial services careers no longer student favourites

Google and BBC TV are the most desirable employers among UK students, a new survey has shown.

The Guardian UK300 asked 25,000 students who they would most like to work for, and the intelligence services, TV companies, charities and big name brands lead the way.

MI6 and MI5 moved into the top ten for the first time, coming in at five and nine respectively, while financial and professional services institutions have been pushed out of the top ten completely this year.

In 2011, Deloitte, Ernst and Young and PwC had all featured at the top of the tables, but this year gave way to significant climbers such as Innocent Drinks, and Oxfam.

Last year’s number one, NHS Graduate Scheme, has dropped to number four whilst 2011’s number five, IBM is now at 39.

Kathryn Callow, UK account director at trendence said: “This year’s findings show that the usually desirable financial services companies have fallen out of favour with current students who are becoming more interested in organisations like Amnesty International and Oxfam.

“This could well be down to the image crisis that the sector has faced since the downturn and as a result, many students are now looking at the third sector as a valid career path.

“It’s also very interesting to see the intelligence services break into the top ten for the first time – again this seems to be an example of a wider trend for today’s students to work for an employer who aims to do good and have a positive impact on society.”

The annual trendence Graduate Barometer surveys UK students at 100 universities. The findings aim to provide graduate recruiters with a deep insight into student opinions on factors such as employer brand, career aspirations and preferred communication methods. The results also form the Guardian 300 listings.

trendence, which launched in 2000, also allows recruiters to benchmark their brand performance explicitly against named competitors to measure impact on a campus by campus basis.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .