Universum - IDEAL Employer Rankings 2012

The winners were announced at an awards event that took place last night, March 7th and are the culmination of the 2011 - 2012 Universum research cycle that polled over 16,900 tertiary students from all 23 accredited tertiary institutions and over 9,100 professionals.

Universum has been conducting this type of research globally for over 20 years and in South Africa for 8 years with the purpose to improve the communications between students, career services and employers.

Every year the annual rankings and associated trend reports are important indicators of employment trends, young people's expectations for the future, as well as the current skills gap within the South African job sector. As Universum South Africa MD Ulrik Simonsson explains, "Youth unemployment is one of the greatest problems in South Africa at the moment, and yet there are still a huge number of vacancies at many companies. Universum assists companies in attracting and retaining the best talent for their companies, by researching the career expectations and preferences of their potential future employees and helping companies to define and refine their employer brands".

Awards are given to the companies ranked the highest in the three different surveys - student, professionals, and MBAs. Students and professionals vote for employers in terms of the following four broad areas of study:

• Business/commerce students
• Engineering/technology students
• Health care / health sciences / sciences students
• Humanities / liberal arts /law students

South African Student Survey Ideal Employers

Business / Commerce / Management

1. KPMG
2. Coca-Cola South Africa
3. South African Revenue Service
4. Deloitte
5. South African Reserve Bank
6. PricewaterhouseCoopers
7. South African Breweries (SAB)
8. Eskom
9. Investec
10. Ernst & Young

Engineering / Technology

1. Eskom
2. Sasol
3. Transnet
4. Google
5. Anglo American
6. Anglo Platinum
7. Murray & Roberts
8. Microsoft South Africa
9. BMW South Africa
10. BHP Billiton

Health Care / Health Sciences / Sciences

1. Dept. of Health
2. CSIR
3. Sasol
4. Medi-Clinic Southern Africa
5. Dept. of Science & Technology
6. Dept. of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries
7. National Health Laboratory Service
8. Dept. of Environmental Affairs & Tourism
9. Google
10. Pfizer Laboratories

South African Professional Survey Ideal Employers

Business / Commerce / Management

1. Investec
2. Google
3. South African Breweries
4. BMW South Africa
5. Woolworths
6. Allan Gray
7. Coca-Cola South Africa
8. Rand Merchant Bank
9. Mercedes-Benz South Africa
10. Discovery

Engineering / Technology

1. Sasol
2. Eskom
3. BHP Billiton
4. CSIR
5. Aurecon
6. Anglo American
7. South African Breweries
8. Hatch South Africa
9. Google
10. BMW South Africa

Sciences

1. CSIR
2. BHP Billiton
3. Anglo American
4. Sasol
5. DST
6. Rio Tinto Group
7. Woolworths
8. Kumba Iron Ore
9. Google / South African Breweries

South African MBA Ideal Employer Rankings

1. South African Breweries (SAB)
2. McKinsey & Company
3. Coca-Cola South Africa
4. Sasol
5. Google
6. BMW South Africa
7. MTN
8. Anglo American
9. World Bank
10. Unilever

Insights and comments

• Out of the top three contenders in the Engineering / Technology category for the students, two of the top employer are parastatals, namely Eskom and Transnet, but with the number one spot being scooped by Sasol. In the Business / Commerce / Management category, we see four government departments and parastatals in the top ten IDEAL Employer rankings.

• In the professionals' survey, we see companies that are associated with financial strength and market success taking the top spots in the IDEAL Employer Rankings. Universum MD, Ulrik Simonsson explains. He goes on to explain why we see such different trends in the professionals survey, "professionals' gather information about potential future employers in very different ways to students.

Professionals' use word of mouth communication channels, such as acquaintances employed by the companies and friends and families to gather information. This is first-hand information about the experiences of working for the companies. Students on the other, use more indirect channels such as company and career websites to gather information about potential future employers".

Furthermore, professionals have very different priorities in life, having work / life balance and leadership as career goals, whereas students see serving the greater good as the most important career goal, which also manifests in the very different IDEAL employer rankings between professionals and students.

• The surveys found that the most read publications to learn about potential future employers are Financial Mail, Business Day and Sunday Times for professionals, while students read Sunday Times as their publications of choice for learning about potential future employers.

Comments on winners

• Transnet: Nonkululeko Sishi, the Group Executive of Human Resources at Transnet attributes Transnet's success as an IDEAL employer to their commitment to addressing the skills shortage in South Africa, as well as their commitment to providing opportunities to individuals who show potential. "The skills shortage in South Africa is often cited as one of the main reasons for slow growth and poor service delivery, especially in the technical fields. Transnet has embarked on a focused intervention to address our technical feeder pipeline pro-actively, by awarding full-time bursaries to deserving candidates, studying engineering at university. The company is also making Work Integrated Learning opportunities available to University of Technology students who have successfully completed the theoretical component of their qualification - requiring industry exposure." In addition to being ranked 3rd in the category for Engineering and Technology students, Transnet received the award for the "Biggest Climber", which is the company that has across the board climbed the most in the rankings since last year.

• KPMG, who won the coveted number one spot in the Business / Commerce / Management category of the student rankings, attribute their success in employer branding to passion, "We believe graduates that come into contact with our recruiters or current trainees can see our passion in our people, and that makes our employer brand successful", says the KPMG recruitment team.

• SAB beat all the management consulting firms in the MBA rankings, and also took the third spot in the professionals' survey. Rudhir Ramasar, Graduate & Bursar Consultant, attributes this to the depth and breadth of the experience offered in employment at SAB, "you are able to make an impact and add value in the work that you do from inception right through to completion and beyond.

The impact you make on a business through an engagement is often diluted and can become blurred in the case of industries that are project related". He also acknowledges the importance of the company's reputation, both globally and locally, "many MBA courses use extensive case studies and references to SAB's growth over the past few decades. We are seen as a benchmark in terms of our global expansion strategies and many MBA graduates want this exposure to further expand their knowledge and skill sets"