The new generation of students preparing to graduate are more interested in making an impact in their workplace, choosing smaller companies to obtain employment.

The employer branding company Universum released its annual report ranking the world’s most attractive employer on Wednesday. Nearly 300,000 business and engineering/IT students from the 12 largest economies around the globe were involved.

Students from both areas of study totalling 74 per cent said they wanted to work for a company with fewer than 1,000 employees. “While this is surprising, we understand this is a direct result of the demographic answering the question ‘generation impact’,” said Jonna Sjovall, Americas managing director of Universum.

This generation is passionate about innovation and making a difference, and believe that their impact will be much smaller in large companies; however, the odds are greater of making an impact at a company with no more than 500 employees.

Yet the five most attractive employers for this year’s business rankings are all large firms. In first place is Google, which has more than 70,000 full-time workers, followed by Goldman Sachs with 33,000 employees, Apple (116,000), Ernst & Young (230,000) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (220,000).

“Companies like Goldman Sachs are moving up in the attractiveness ranks because of their innovative workspaces, inspiring purpose and offering of extensive training and development,” said Petter Nylander, Universum’s chief executive. “These offerings empower employees, both impacting work and society.”

In the UAE, EY remains an attractive choice for non-GCC nationals. Gus Schellekens, partner at EY, said that one challenge was that being such a large organisation, there are many pockets of opportunity. “Some of these are more developed and interesting to students than others,” he said.

“Most millennials are looking to have an impact on the world in some way so government policy, deals, sustainability are all popular for this reason.”

He said that while the mainstays of auditing and consulting also remain popular, tax is probably a difficult area to attract new graduates.

business@thenational.ae