THURSDAY 20 SEP 2012 9:22 AM

GOOGLE TOPS THE CHARTS AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN

Google lets you stand up at your desk. They let you develop cool doodles for its homepage. They let you ride unicorns around the office. Be it the stuff of myth or truth, Google has been named the World’s Most Attractive Employer for the fourth consecutive year by Universum.

The Universum index is split into business and engineering categories. Google topped both. Again.

On the business side, KPMG was the runner-up for the second year running and Proctor & Gamble, following a hugely successful Olympics sponsorship, rose from seventh in 2011 to third. In the engineering category, IBM and Microsoft rounded out the top three with Apple falling from seventh to eighth place.

Universum CEO, Petter Nylander says that young professionals interested in networking and a launchpad for future IT-based careers are attracted to software giants like IBM and Google.

“Studies have shown that companies that only rely on a strong consumer brand to
capture talent have twice the cost for talent attraction compared to companies with a
strong employer brand,” he adds. “To counter problems in securing an adequate talent pipeline it is necessary to have a talent attraction and employer branding strategy.”

Research conducted by PayScale at the end of August also found that tech firms were extremely popular with today’s graduates. This trend can be traced to the ease with which social media skills can translate into a profession in the technology industry.