While the crisis has contributed to increasing the expectations of young people in relation to work (work/personal life balance, telecommuting, and salaries), it has not revolutionized their preferences in terms of preferred employers. On the business school side, Universum is however observing some changes…

This is what Universum tells us, which interviewed 42,642 students (mainly from Grandes Ecoles all over London). In its online questionnaire distributed from October 2021 to March 2022, the firm asked future graduates to quote, from a list, the companies they know, those for which they would consider working, and those to which they intend to apply.

Luxury and commercial banking

If LVMH (owner of the “Echos”) and Chanel remain first and third in the votes of future managers, a new brand makes a sensational entry on the podium, in second place: Hermès. Regularly cited by students, the brand has been added to the Universum list (see methodology). L'Oréal and Apple follow.

“This clearly shows the interest in luxury, in terms of employer attractiveness! The podium is 100% made up of luxury companies. We are also seeing progress in the banking sector, which goes hand in hand with the desire to earn a good salary. Conversely, auditing and strategy consulting attract a little less. These are demanding sectors, while young people want a better balance in life”, explains Aurélie Robertet, London director of Universum. Indeed, KPMG, Deloitte, McKinsey and EY all show a small decline, while nevertheless remaining in the top 20.

Industry and aeronautics on the engineering side

On the engineering side, Airbus is always first. Thales passes second, taking the place of Google, now third. In the top 10, Dassault Aviation and Dassault Systèmes are progressing, as is Air London. A good sign for the sector, according to Universum: “Aeronautics is recovering, with good commercial results. On the other hand, the sectors that have benefited the most from the crisis, e-commerce, mass distribution, construction, are falling back a little..

Young engineers favor industry, their core business, turning perhaps a little less towards luxury brands, safe havens for employment during the crisis. The proof: LVMH, L'Oréal and Chanel are all down in this part of the ranking.

Finally, among IT engineers, the top three remains the same as last year: Google, Microsoft and Apple, followed by Thales and Ubisoft. We find in the top 10 the big groups in the IT field, logically, Amazon, IBM… So many references for young people who intend to find their place in the sector!