The 2010 Canada’s Top Campus Employers Report, produced by Brainstorm Strategy Group Inc. and DECODE, finds the Government of Canada at the top of the overall employer rankings. Provincial and municipal governments as well as Health Canada, the Public Service Commission and the Canadian Forces also make it to the top 25. In the corporate sector household names like Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook all made the list, as well as Research in Motion, Deloitte, Air Canada and Bombardier.
Non-profit organizations also made a strong showing with the Hospital for Sick Children, the Canadian Cancer Society, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the David Suzuki Foundation and Oxfam all ranking in the top 25.
The 2010 Canada’s Top Campus Employers Report reflects the attitudes of more than 27,000 Canadian university and college students on what makes a great employer and which companies they want to work for. The report also provides new insights into the career interests and aspirations of today’s students.
“It is interesting to see that 14 of the 25 top employers listed are either government, government-related or non-profit,” says Graham Donald, President of Brainstorm Strategy Group Inc. and co-author of the report. “It demonstrates that despite the challenges of the economy in the past couple of years young people are not going to waver from their desire to do meaningful, interesting and useful work. This is a positive sign about the strength of character that Generation Y brings to the workplace.”
Positive too is students’ outlook on the economy and their job prospects, which is reflected in a decrease in concern about these issues from last year (down from 62% to 56% this year). This confidence about finding a job however, corresponds with an increase in the number of students wanting job security and the opportunity to spend their whole career with one company (up from 53% last year to 57% this year). Donald and co-author Eric Meerkamper, President of DECODE, note that job security has nothing to do with a lack of desire in young people to advance in their careers. On a practical level it is about paying off debt and planning for their futures. On another level it is about a desire for loyalty and building a strong community for life, both very important issues for today’s graduates.
Giving new graduates what they are looking for in an employer - good income, work-life balance, secure employment, creativity and innovation in their careers - forms the greatest challenge facing employers who are also faced with an impending labour shortage.
“An increase in confidence about the job market is partly due to the upswing in the economy,” says Meerkamper, “but it is also due to the fact that these young people know they are about to become very important to the workforce. Employers need to understand what this generation wants and will have to adapt in order to attract them and keep them. But those changes – like flexible work hours and a healthier workplace – will ultimately be good for everyone.”
Several Canadian companies are already preparing for the coming changes, which includes gaining a better understanding of the hiring market, through resources like this report. Will Christensen, National Campus Lead, Talent Acquisition with Deloitte, firmly believes in the value of this research. He states: “Understanding our target market is the key to better workforce planning. It is very competitive out there and it is only going to get more competitive as the need for talent increases with the changes in the demographics of our workforce that we expect to see in the next few years. Companies need to understand this generation and how to hire them.”
The report also analyzed the interests of female versus male students as well as the different career goals for several diversity groups. Terry Peach, Manager Organization and Staffing with GE Canada, notes the value of this type of analysis: “With an increasingly diverse population coming out of post-secondary we need this information to be able to design our recruitment and retention programs more effectively to better fit today’s graduates,” he says. “We need to understand who we are hiring, how to hire them better and how to keep them for the long-term. The companies who do that now will come out on top in the future.”
The Canada’s Top Campus Employers Report was launched in 2004 and is conducted annually by Brainstorm Strategy Group Inc. and DECODE. The rankings also feature six sub-groups that list the top 25 employers as rated by students in liberal arts, engineering, information technology, natural sciences, undergraduate business, and MBA programs.
Further details about Canada’s Top Campus Employers and the full rankings are available at www.TopCampusEmployers.ca
(Source: Career Canada)