For Singapore business and engineering graduates, Google is their employer of choice, as indicated in the latest study by employer branding firm Universum.
The Silicon Valley search engine squeezed past SIA to grab the number 1 spot for Singapore engineering students. Business students have ranked Google as their first choice since 2014.
Besides offering a great challenge for recent graduates, Google also offers a fun work environment complete with yoga and nap pods.
For the fourth straight year, work-life balance has ranked as the top determining factor for Singapore graduates’ career choice.
Of the 9,304 students surveyed from the four main Universities in Singapore (Singapore Management University, National University of Singapore, Singapore Institute of Management, and Nanyang Technological University) 66% indicated work-life balance was the most important factor.
For the students, work-life balance means a few things:
- Having a career that aligns with their personal interests is more important that other things like salary or title.
- Working for an employer that respects employees and has scheduling/timing flexibility.
- A workplace that allows them to visit social media sites and do personal things at work.
As Universum stated, these findings directly support the results from last year’s survey and therefore provide more conclusive insights.
Besides work-life balance, Singapore grads also value security and stability (56%) followed by the third most important factor, working for a cause that helps the greater good (40%).
Compared to last year’s results, these factors are unchanged for engineering students. But business students saw working for a cause rise from seventh on the list up to the top three.
Singaporeans place more importance on altruistic career goals, as compared to other places in the region like Malaysia which saw a drop in this value, representatives from Universum indicated.
The reason Singapore graduates value these three factors most highly when choosing their career, is because they want to join an environment, and be part of something that matches who they are and what they believe is important. Universum says that finding the perfect employer is now more like finding a partner for a relationship, rather than just a job.
Other things business and engineering graduates in Singapore want employers to provide, are a friendly work environment, personal growth, professional development opportunities and high salary in the future.
Visit the Universum website, for more information on the rankings, and details for other disciplines such as IT, Humanities and Arts.