Employer Ranking 2023: Energy and Defence companies are becoming more attractive to students
Universum Rankings of the Most Attractive Employers 2023 show which companies inspire students and what is important when starting a career.
Companies from the energy supply and defence industries have become significantly more attractive as employers for students compared to the previous year. On the other hand, companies from the pharmaceutical, retail, e-commerce and FMCG sectors are falling back to pre-pandemic levels. Notably, Tesla is losing a lot of its attractiveness. Flexible working hours and work-life balance retain the importance gained during the global pandemic for students in the fields of business, engineering, IT and natural sciences. Despite inflation, salary expectations in the four fields of study have risen only slightly.
These are the key findings of the Universum Student Survey 2023 for Germany*. The rankings of the most attractive employers in Germany are based upon this survey. Between September 2022 and March 2023, the employer branding consultancy Universum**, belonging to The Stepstone Group, surveyed over 35,500 students from various fields of study throughout Germany. "The results suggest that companies that contribute to overcoming crises benefit from the associated media attention and therefore their attractiveness as an employer increases. This was the case during the pandemic, for example, for vaccine manufacturers. Due to the Ukraine war, it is energy suppliers and defence companies. Our experience shows that companies need a strong employer brand in order to be able to use this temporary positive effect for their recruiting in the longer term. BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson, for example, have succeeded in doing so," says David Falzon, Country Manager in Germany for Universum, commenting on the results.
Rheinmetall and ThyssenKrupp make it into the top 50
Of the armament companies, Rheinmetall in particular is making significant gains among IT students in the current ranking, jumping 41 positions to 48th place. In the field of natural sciences, the company also made a big leap up to 49th place gaining 28 positions. In the engineering ranking, Rheinmetall climbs 14 positions to 20th place. This puts the armament company in the top 50 in these three specialist areas.
ThyssenKrupp also has an armaments division and achieved the biggest jump with 38 places to 47th place in the field of natural sciences. In the ranking for business, they rose 13 positions to 45th place. As a result, ThyssenKrupp has made it into the top 50 in both divisions.
Energy suppliers such as E.ON, EnBW and RWE are also becoming significantly more attractive as employers, but so far only a few have made it into the top 50. For example, EnBW climbed 14 places to 39th place in the field of engineering, RWE climbed eight places to 32nd place and E.ON rose three places to 33rd place.
Flexible working conditions and work-life balance continue to be important
Despite the war in Ukraine and inflation, the characteristics that make companies attractive to students are relatively stable. The list of the top 10 continues to be topped by an attractive base salary and a high potential income in the future. This applies equally to both men and women. Secure employment and a friendly working environment continue to be particularly important to students. Overall, attractive additional benefits, opportunities for international travel and transfers, and market success have become more important than in the previous year. The latter, for example, has risen four places among students of business and thus for the first time is among the 10 most important employer characteristics.
The increased importance of flexible working conditions and work-life balance, which increased during the pandemic, continues to remain strong. Both attributes are among the top 10 employer characteristics in the fields of business, IT and natural sciences. In engineering, work-life balance has lost relevance with the relegation from 13th to 16th place. Compared to the previous year, work-life balance has become much more important, with an increase from 7th to 4th place for IT students. "The data suggest that the 'new normal' of the work world, which is associated with both attributes, is stabilizing and that it is not regressing to pre-pandemic levels. The generation that is about to start their careers has very specific ideas about their future workplace – a good income, flexibility and work-life balance are definitely part of it," says Benedikt Strobel, who leads data collection for the German student survey at Universum, summarizing the results.
Expected salary shows miniscule increase
In contrast, concrete salary expectations have risen only slightly by one percent despite inflation. The increase is based solely on the salary expectations of male students (from 54,146 euros to 56,174 euros), while those of women have even fallen slightly across disciplines (46,183 euros to 46,073 euros). This increases the distance in the expected gender pay gap from 15 to 18 percent. Overall, Germany is one of the major economies with the largest expected gender pay gap. "At the same time, the expected salary gap among students contributes to the fact that the actual salary gap among young professionals is also widening. The problem begins already at university," says Falzon.
Which companies are most attractive to students?
When asked which companies they describe as their ideal employers, most business students once again named Porsche (1st place), followed by the Mercedes-Benz Group (2nd place). The BMW Group climbs one position to 3rd place and lets Apple slip to 4th place. Google still holds 5th place. Porsche and the Mercedes-Benz Group also continue to occupy 1st and 2nd place in the field of engineering. Siemens made it to 3rd place, climbing two positions. Audi and the BMW Group, on the other hand, each lost one place and ended up in 4th and 5th place respectively.
With Google, Apple and Microsoft, the top is still stable in ranks 1 to 3, even among IT students. Porsche climbs one position to 4th place and Tesla loses one place and ends up in 5th place. For natural science students, BioNTech, the Max Planck Society, Bayer and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft are once again among the most attractive employers this year, ranking 1st to 4th. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has moved up one place to 5th place.
The top 5 employers at a glance
Business
1. Porsche
2. Mercedes-Benz Group
3. BMW Group
4. Apple
5. Google
Engineering
1. Porsche
2. Mercedes-Benz Group
3. Siemens
4. Audi
5. BMW Group
IT/Informatics
1. Google
2. Apple
3. Microsoft
4. Porsche
5. Tesla
Natural sciences
1. BioNTech
2. Max Planck Society
3. Bayer
4. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
5. German-Aerospace Center (DLR)
Tesla is losing its appeal
Tesla, on the other hand, is seeing significant losses. The car manufacturer, that is so closely associated with Elon Musk, entered the top 5 in 2021 in the Universum employer rankings for the fields of business, engineering, IT and natural sciences with much praise and great positive media attention. Since Elon Musk and Tesla have been reported rather negatively, the company has lost significantly in the rankings. Tesla can only stay in the top 10 this year among IT and engineering students (5th and 8th place). In business, the company falls eight places to 15th place and in natural sciences by seven positions to 14th place. Nevertheless, with these rankings, Tesla continues to be a very attractive employer, which students associate more strongly than German employers for the topics of "innovation" and "openness to new technologies".
Data-driven employer branding is gaining in importance
The results of the Universum Student Survey 2023 make it clear that employer attractiveness is a very competitive field. In order to stand out from the crowd and inspire students, companies are now more than ever required to show what they stand for, i.e. to invest in their own employer brand. "In the age of labour shortage, companies will compete for employees as they have done so far only for market share. To do this, they need a professional employer branding strategy based on market data and candidate insights. The topic is too important to decide on measures based solely on a gut feeling. After all, it will be absolutely crucial for the success of many companies in the future," says Dr. Tobias Zimmermann, labour market expert at The Stepstone Group.
*About the Universum Student Survey 2023 in Germany
For the Universum Student Survey 2023, a total of 35,523 students at 235 universities in Germany were surveyed between September 2022 and March 2023. On this basis, Universum compiled the employer rankings for various fields of study: business, engineering, IT/computer science, natural sciences, humanities and social sciences, law and medicine/health sciences. Among other things, the respondents provided information on which companies they would like to work for, what criteria they use to evaluate employers, what salary expectations they have and what long-term career goals they are pursuing. More information and rankings: https://universumglobal.com/de/studentsurvey2023/
**About Universum
Universum, part of The Stepstone Group, is a global leader in employer branding. With over 30 years of valuable experience, we have established ourselves in 60 markets worldwide and are present at locations in 20 countries. Our surveys of students and professionals provide HR managers with unique information on what young talents are looking for in companies. Our data-driven and meaningful results are trusted by over 2,000 clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, as well as global media partners who publish our annual rankings and trend reports.
Further information: www.universumglobal.com/de
Press contact: Universum Deutschland
David Falzon / Country Manager Germany / Mobil: +49 172 456 44 67/ E-Mail: david.falzon@universumglobal.com
Anke Schölzel / PR Consultant Germany (external) / Mobile: 0049 160 75 55 887 / E-Mail: anke.schoelzel@universumglobal.com
