The main attributes students associate with top-performing tech multinationals are market success, a willingness to embrace new technologies and innovation.
Google, Microsoft, Apple and Intel are the employers that Irish IT and engineering students want to work for.
That’s according to the Most Attractive Employers Index Ireland 2022, based on a survey of more than 8,000 Gen Z and millennial third-level students in Ireland.
The survey focused on students across IT, engineering, business, medicine, natural sciences, humanities and law. It was published today (23 June) by Universum, which is part of IrishJobs.ie.
It found that large multinational companies were seen as the most attractive employers to students.
IT students ranked Google as their top employer of choice, followed by Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Intel.
Engineering students ranked Intel in first place, ahead of Google, Microsoft, Apple and Pfizer.
Pfizer ranked in first place for natural sciences students, potentially due to its work around the Covid-19 vaccine. The pharma giant was followed by Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, the HSE and Glanbia.
Google also featured on the list for natural sciences students, coming in sixth place. Meanwhile, business and economics students ranked it in first place, the same as IT students.
According to the survey, the attributes that students associate with top-performing tech multinationals are market success, a willingness to embrace new technologies and innovation.
Steve Ward, UK and Ireland business director at Universum, said this research offers “an important snapshot of the type of companies and attributes that current students and graduates are searching for in their future employer”.
He referenced the role tech and pharma multinationals have played, both in the response to the pandemic and in the development of society since the onset of Covid. Last year’s index showed an increased level of interest in pharma and healthcare-related careers.
“With renowned tech and pharmaceutical multinationals leading the way in this year’s index, it’s clear that third-level students are keen to play their part in helping to shape the growing digital and scientific transformation that is underway across our economy and society, not only in Ireland, but across the globe,” Ward added.
He said he hopes the index will give employers looking to attract students an insight into their preferences, with findings that can be taken on board when devising talent acquisition strategies.
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