The definition of an ‘ideal employer” is very different for South African graduates compared with their European and North American counterparts, according to a new survey.
Conducted by Magnet Communication, the survey reveals that graduates from Europe and the United States select companies such as Apple and Google as their ideal employers even though these companies recruit very few graduates.
South Africa’s market-savvy commerce graduates, on the other hand, appear to opt for those companies that advertise themselves as employers of choice, including banks such as Absa and Standard, and auditing firms such as KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte.
According to the survey these companies, in turn, are reaping the rewards by attracting the ‘cream of the crop” of South Africa’s finest.
More than 15 000 respondents from South Africa’s 23 public universities participated in the survey, which was independently conducted last year. The main objective of the survey is to collect information on career expectations and priorities of graduates in South Africa.
In the eyes of the graduates, an ideal employer would provide a graduate employee with opportunities to reach his/her main career goal: to work internationally.
Other attractive employer qualities include competitive compensation and flexible working hours.
Magnet employer branding consultant Taryn Smuts says a performance-related bonus is a more important ingredient in a commerce graduate’s salary package than in those of humanities, science and engineering graduates. Furthermore, healthcare benefits are the number one element across all disciplines.
In terms of salary expectations, a commerce graduate expects to earn an average starting annual salary of R150 700 before taxes. When deciding on their ideal employers, graduates primarily look for confidence-inspiring management and financial strength.
High ethical standards and a dynamic organisation are most important to white respondents. Black respondents find multicultural employees and equality between the sexes to be more important. The survey also reveals that females expect to earn R25 800 less than males.
Companies that are not considered ideal employers are those that don’t pay enough attention to the expectations of today’s graduates and don’t focus enough resources on their employer brand.
‘They do not communicate what differentiates them from their competitors. Survey trends show how companies that work with their employer brand are active on campus and have efficient recruitment programmes to climb up the ideal employer ranks,” explains Smuts.