Who is weathering the storm? Graduates to vote on desirable employers

Posted by sarah, September-16-2009

The next few months will see over 100,000 votes being cast in the “Graduate Barometer”, a huge survey developed by Trendence, the HR and employer branding research giant. Graduates will be surveyed on which companies, across a number of sectors, would be the most desirable place to spend a large proportion of their time.

The results of this survey will be of interest to many. It will be noteworthy to see if the current economic situation has dislodged traditional favourites and whether the waves of negativity seen of late will have soured graduates perceptions of the big names. It will also be telling to see how the list differs from the Sunday Times Best Companies and Best Big Companies to Work For lists.

Whatever the results may hold, they will be particularly pertinent for industry commentators. With so many employers on recruitment lockdown there is a real concern that there will be a talent gap in a few years time, when mid level, skilled but not senior individuals will be in high demand and have the pick of the roles which will suddenly begin to appear in floods and not trickles.

The companies which hire fresh talent now will be the best equipped to handle this….if their grads are treated well, that is. As the Sunday Times and Trendence lists may well show, a super hot employer brand can only survive so many PR glitches, hiring freezes and mass redundancies before public opinion starts to slip.