Students rate BMW as a top employer

After BMW, commerce students would most like a job with PricewaterhouseCoopers, followed by KPMG and Deloitte & Touche. Students doing engineering degrees voted Sasol as their second most desirable employer, while in third position is Anglo American, followed by brewers SAB.

Humanities students ranked SABC first, SAA second and BMW as their third choice. Students doing law differ somewhat; voting law firm Bowman Gilfillan as their most desirable employer, followed by major brands BMW and Coca-Cola.

Magnet Communications surveyed more than 3500 final year students at 13 leading universities and technikons across the country. Students were drawn from four different degree strands: commerce, engineering & science, humanities and law. When asked to identify which employer was the most desirable, BMW was top in two of the polls, namely commerce and engineering, second amongst law students and ranked third by students doing humanities degrees.

"BMW is able to select the best 1% of applications for our 'Drive' Graduate Program that has enabled us to achieve this award" says Greg van Wyk, HR Director at BMW South Africa.

The rankings give some insight into the importance of employer brands in swaying student opinion. "BMW evokes thoughts of joy, of challenge, of culture, of dynamism. It's the language of the young and young-at-heart. We draw like-minded people to our company" van Wyk said. "It's all about the best people driving our business".

Behind the rankings, however, lies another more informative line of questioning that delves deeper into the student job-hunting psyche. Findings from the research include career goals, preferred industries, attractive employer qualities, expected working hours, expected salary in first job and preferred communication channels.

Magnet Communications forms part of Swedish consulting firm Universum, who conducts similar surveys in Europe, the US and Asia. Thus revealing how SA student's thinking sometimes differs from the views of their overseas counterparts.

Magnet's Anders Keen said: "The desire for career/life balance is universal, but SA students are keener to build a sound financial base. The popularity among students of being offered secure employment, rather than increasingly challenging tasks or internal education, is another noteworthy South African quirk."