‘Big Four’ Ideal Employers for B-School Job-Seekers

The ‘Big Four’ accounting and professional services firms make up four of the top five most attractive employers, according to business school job-seekers responding to a 2010 survey.

The World’s Most Attractive Employers 2010 survey, conducted by the Swedish employer branding firm Universum found that while Google retained its first place ranking for the most attractive employer amongst business school students, the ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms took the next four places.

In the survey, which asked business school students which firms they would most like to be employed at after graduation, KPMG is ranked in second place, Ernst & Young third, PricewaterhouseCoopers fourth, while Deloitte comes in at fifth.

Michal Kalinowski, Universum’s CEO explains the findings: “We’re witnessing the auditing firms and FMCG companies re-conquering their talent group after a brief love-affair with the IT industry.

As the survey is based entirely on current business school student’s opinions, MBA job seekers should bear in mind that the results do not represent the views of current employees. Rather, they show the perceptions of global employers by people who are, or soon will be looking for work.

“Firms in the professional services need to attract top talent to be successful; the auditing firms are aware of the challenges and spend a lot of resources in talent attraction and employer branding,” explains Lovisa Öhnell, research and consulting director at Universum.

Accountancy and business school

However, as four of the top five companies are firms specializing in accounting and professional services, there is a clear attraction from business school students to follow careers in that industry.

Gavin Houlgate, UK director of communications at KPMG explains to TopMBA.com that “Accountancy firms now incorporate a wide range of skills and capabilities, and work at the highest levels with global organizations and governments in driving business strategy.

“If you look at the leading people in business around the world now, a very high percentage of them have trained with 'Big Four' accountancy firms, or have an accountancy qualification.”

US MBA recruitment

Another trend, which has been noted in other reports, such as the QS TopMBA Jobs and Salary Trends Report 2010 is the increased appeal of employers based in the USA, when compared to 2009.

“In the USA, 2010 MBA graduates have fared better than their 2009 counterparts, with MBA jobs increasing by 9% compared to 2009,” says Nunzio Quacquarelli of TopMBA.com, the author of the QS TopMBA report.

Meanwhile, in Universum’s report, the number of US firms (excluding multinationals such as the ‘Big Four’) appearing in the top 50 most attractive employers for business school students has increased from 20 to 24.

“It seems that despite the challenges to the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon capitalist model, the American corporations are increasingly the preferred destination for global top talent,” continues Kalinowski. “They are often perceived as the true international organizations, where nationality will not stand in your way to the top.”

For more information please sign up for our newsletter, or you can discuss this topic on our MBA forums.