Insights from Universum's World's Most Attractive Survey 2014. www.universumglobal.com/wmae For many firms that span the globe, multiple markets, or even just several regions within a country, attracting the unique workforces at each company location can be a major determinant of their growth. To download the full ebook and be on your way to ranking among the world's best, visit www.universumglobal.com/wmae

1. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 1
Building a Global Employer Brand
INSIGHTS FROM THE WORLD’S MOST ATTRACTIVE EMPLOYER SURVEY 2014

2. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 2
For many firms that span the globe, multiple markets, or
even just several regions within a country, attracting the
unique workforces at each company location can be a
major determinant of their growth.
TO SUCCEED AT THIS, ORGANIZATIONS NEED TO BE STRATEGIC AND INTENTIONAL IN
APPROACHING GLOBAL DIVERSITY. WHAT MAKES EMPLOYERS ATTRACTIVE TO PROSPECTIVE
TALENT IN A FOREIGN MARKET? TO WHAT EXTENT DO GLOBAL ORGANIZATIONS NEED TO
“LOCALIZE” THEIR EMPLOYER BRANDS? WHERE CAN FIRMS FIND OPPORTUNITIES TO TAKE
ADVANTAGE OF SIMILARITIES, AND WHEN IS IT CRUCIAL FOR THEM TO DIFFERENTIATE?
HOME
INTRODUCTION
SIMILARITIES AND
DIFFERENCES
IN STUDENT
PREFERENCES
ACROSS MARKETS
GETTING THE
WORD OUT:
COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL USAGE
ACROSS MARKETS
THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

3. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 3
Universum surveyed students about
career motivations and workplace
preferences in more than 30 countries
in 2014, including the 12 countries with
the largest gross domestic products
(GDPs). Based on these data and our
own expertise, we are helping employers
attract their target talent and evolve
with a diverse world.
This paper looks beyond the World’s
Most Attractive Employer rankings
and examines the broader preferences
stated by the survey respondents
in the “G12” countries — which
aspects of employers and jobs they
find the most appealing, which they
do not find particularly important
or attractive, and how they most
commonly learn about employers
and jobs. Since the data represent
students from across the world,
particular attention is paid to differences
and similarities across countries.
1. The preferences of students in
Western countries tend to be
relatively similar to each other,
while the preferences of students in
Asia and Russia tend to vary more
widely. Accordingly, firms seeking to
attract talent across the globe need
to customize their employer value
propositions more heavily in Asia
and Russia.
2. The means by which students
learn about potential employers
vary widely by market. Social
media has “taken off” in some
countries, but not others, and
students use in-person channels
such as informational interviews
to greater or lesser degrees across
countries. Just as knowing how
preferences vary can help employers
tailor their messages, knowing
how channel usage varies can help
determine a strategy for delivering
those messages.
3. The firms that will attract the best
talent in the coming years will
be learning organizations, where
professional development, training,
and mentoring are “baked in” to the
company’s culture.
4. Students world-wide have come
to expect creative, dynamic work
environments where ideas are
traded freely amongst colleagues.
Firms that have these environments
— not “look alike” dynamism, but
the real thing — clearly have an
advantage in attracting talent.
Those that don’t will need to either
adapt their cultures, or make the
case for why prospective recruits
should choose them despite not
possessing this core attractor.
THIS IS WHERE DATA-DRIVEN
EMPLOYER BRANDING COMES IN.
OUR ANALYSIS OF THE DATA LED US TO FOUR KEY CONCLUSIONS: HOME
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OUTSTRIPPING
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A FINAL WORD
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APPENDIX A

4. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 4
Similarities and differences in
student preferences across markets
HOME
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THE LEARNING
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SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
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THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

5. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 5
The Universum Student Survey
asks students to state their
preferences for employer attributes
via a two-level framework. At the
highest level are four key drivers
of employer attractiveness: the
employer’s Reputation & Image,
its Job Characteristics, its People &
Culture, and finally its Remuneration
& Advancement Opportunities.
We ask survey respondents to
divide 100 points among these
four drivers. This gives us a view
of the overall importance of each
driver. FIGURE 1 shows the average
importance allocated to each driver
by business students in each of the
G12 countries, with a global average
that’s weighted by the GDPs of the
respective countries. FIGURE 2
displays the equivalent data for
engineering students.
Students in developing
countries place higher
emphasis on Remuneration
& Advancement
Across the G12 countries,
respondents in both business and
engineering allocated the most
importance to Remuneration &
Advancement. The global averages
are skewed, however, by the high
importance placed on this driver
by students in China, Japan, India,
and Russia. Looking at the data
for business students, for example,
Remuneration & Advancement is
less important to respondents in the
USA and Australia than the People
& Culture of the organization, and
it’s less important to Italian, French,
and British respondents than
the Job Characteristics. Similarly,
engineering students in seven of the
12 markets placed more importance
on the Job Characteristics, with only
the Asian, Russian, and Brazilian
students finding Remuneration the
most important.
This pattern becomes clearer
when comparing the level of
importance placed by respondents
on Remuneration & Advancement
with the per-capita GDPs of the
countries. FIGURE 3 shows the
relationship for the business
respondents, and FIGURE 4 shows
the relationship for the engineering
respondents. While there are
outliers on the plots, the general
relationship is that students in
still-developing nations are more
focused on this driver than those in
developed nations. (The slopes of
the regression lines on the graphs
are statistically significant at the
10% level.)
Firms that attempt to attract talent
globally, then, should differentiate
their employer value propositions in
developing markets, placing higher
emphasis on career advancement
opportunities and the pecuniary
benefits of working for them.
To be paid in yen or rupees:
differences in what types of
remuneration are preferred
To what degree, though, should this
tailoring be localized to individual
markets? For example, do the types
of Remuneration & Advancement
Opportunities that appeal to the
HOME
INTRODUCTION
SIMILARITIES AND
DIFFERENCES
IN STUDENT
PREFERENCES
ACROSS MARKETS
GETTING THE
WORD OUT:
COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL USAGE
ACROSS MARKETS
THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

6. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 6
typical Indian engineering
student also appeal to her
Chinese counterpart?
To answer that question, we look
to the second level of Universum’s
employer attractiveness framework.
This consists of ten attributes within
each of the four drivers, for a total
of 40 attributes. (See Appendix A
for a full listing of the 40 attributes.)
Within each driver, we ask survey
respondents to choose three
attributes that they consider most
important. We then weight the
percentage of respondents choosing
each attribute as important by the
overall importance assigned to the
umbrella driver in the previously-described
100 points exercise.
The results give us a fine-grained
understanding of which aspects
of Remuneration & Advancement
Opportunities are most important
to students. TABLE 1 shows the
results from business respondents
in the four non-Western countries
we examined. (The results for
engineering respondents, not shown
here, were similar.)
Notably, “high future earnings”
was among the top preferences
across all the markets, except
China, where it was subordinate
to the base salary and three
“softer” career advancement
aspects. Indian students prioritize
“high future earnings” together
with “rapid promotion” and
“leadership opportunities.” Russian
students, by contrast, are far more
concerned with financial benefits
like base and future earnings, as
well as opportunities to earn a
“performance-related bonus.” What
seems like a great opportunity to
a management trainee in Mumbai
may be perceived as insufficiently
lucrative in Moscow.
For some organizations, it will make
the most sense to simply tweak
which aspects of the employer
value proposition are emphasized
in each market. For instance, a
global organization’s recruiters
might prepare to talk more about
the resume-building aspects of
their rotational programs in India
and Japan, and more about base
compensation in Russia and China.
In other cases, however, it may
be necessary to adapt to local
preferences by altering recruiting
programs, or even re-structuring
the way employees in a market are
compensated. For example, firms
that don’t have rotational programs
are probably at a disadvantage in
India, and may consider creating
one just for that market. Likewise,
bonuses specifically for the Russian
market may help a firm become
competitive there.
HOME
INTRODUCTION
SIMILARITIES AND
DIFFERENCES
IN STUDENT
PREFERENCES
ACROSS MARKETS
GETTING THE
WORD OUT:
COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL USAGE
ACROSS MARKETS
THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

7. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 7
Looking beyond remuneration:
a general metric for the
required degree of localization
of an employer brand
These differences and similarities
in student preferences go beyond
financial and career advancement
opportunities, of course. Looking
across all 40 attributes, it is
possible to compare the importance
placed on each attribute by survey
respondents in one country with
that of their counterparts in
another country.
For example, each point on
FIGURE 5 corresponds to one of the
40 attributes; the horizontal axis
indicates the importance placed
on them by business respondents
in Australia, while the vertical
axis indicates the importance to
their Canadian counterparts. Not
surprisingly, given their shared
cultural heritage and level of
economic development, these
students have a lot in common
— they agree about what’s
important, as evidenced by
the linear relationship. By
comparison, FIGURE 6 shows
the equivalent, but much looser,
relationship for attribute importance
between Australian and Japanese
business students.
Across the G12 countries, there are
66 two-way pairings of countries.
While making visual comparisons
of 66 scatter plots would be
cumbersome and overwhelming, we
can boil each of those relationships
down to a single metric. The
square of the Pearson correlation
coefficient (R-squared) for each
country pair can be interpreted
as how much of the variation in
importance across the 40 attributes
in Country A can be explained by
their importance in Country B. This
does not offer any insight into how
the preferences differ, but it does
give an at-a-glance metric of the
extent of the differences and the
relative amount of brand localization
required to resolve them.
TABLE 2 gives the R-squared metrics
for each of the 66 pairs across the
G12, based on the responses from
business respondents. A simple
way to approach the table is to
think that, if an employer value
proposition is 100% optimized for
Australia, then it is probably around
80% optimized for Canada, but only
20% of the way there in Japan.
In general, the table shows that
the United Kingdom, USA, Canada,
and Australia share a great deal in
common. Germany, France, and
Italy have a middling degree of
commonality with each other, and in
many cases share more in common
with the United Kingdom or its
former colonies than they do with
each other. The Asian countries and
Russia, however, tend to share very
little in common with the Western
nations, and not a great deal in
common with each other.
Understanding differences in
students’ preferences across
markets, then, can help employers
tailor their messaging and make
them more attractive globally.
Localizing the employer value
proposition, however, is only half
of the story. Firms also need to
localize the channels they use to
communicate.
HOME
INTRODUCTION
SIMILARITIES AND
DIFFERENCES
IN STUDENT
PREFERENCES
ACROSS MARKETS
GETTING THE
WORD OUT:
COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL USAGE
ACROSS MARKETS
THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

8. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 8
FIGURE 1
OVERALL IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYER
ATTRIBUTE CATEGORIES
Business undergraduates, G12 countries, 2014
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RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A
Australia 21.6%
26.5% 26.2%
25.5% 27.0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Employer reputation & image
Job characteristics
People & culture
Remuneration & Advancement Opportunities
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Russia
UK
US
22.5%
21.0%
22.2%
19.8%
18.8%
23.1%
20.4%
21.2%
20.0%
23.6%
21.8%
25.7%
25.0%
25.5%
24.2%
27.5%
27.6%
24.9%
26.9%
25.2%
24.8%
26.1%
25.1%
26.4%
23.8%
26.0%
25.3%
21.8%
26.1%
23.1%
22.6%
24.8%
26.6%
27.1%
29.8%
26.8%
28.4%
30.3%
26.6%
30.5%
32.5%
25.5%
26.5%
RETURN

9. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 9
FIGURE 2
OVERALL IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYER
ATTRIBUTE CATEGORIES
Engineering and IT undergraduates,
G12 countries, 2014
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THE LEARNING
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RECRUITS’ DESIRE
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PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A
Australia 21.0%
27.0% 23.5%
24.6% 27.0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Employer reputation & image
Job characteristics
People & culture
Remuneration & Advancement Opportunities
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Russia
UK
US
22.1%
20.5%
22.3%
18.8%
18.4%
22.9%
20.4%
21.0%
19.8%
23.6%
20.8%
28.6%
26.3%
27.9%
24.4%
28.1%
28.3%
25.4%
27.1%
26.3%
24.6%
26.8%
27.4%
25.4%
23.4%
27.4%
25.1%
22.8%
25.9%
23.1%
22.3%
24.8%
25.4%
26.2%
29.9%
25.8%
28.1%
29.0%
26.6%
29.5%
33.2%
24.8%
26.5%
RETURN

10. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 10
FIGURE 3
GDP PER CAPITA VS. % IMPORTANCE ON
REMUNERATION & ADVANCEMENT
Business students
34%
RUSSIA
JAPAN
GERMANY
CANADA
US
AUSTRALIA
FRANCE
UK
ITALY
CHINA
INDIA
BRAZIL
% IMPORTANCE ALLOCATED TO REMUNERATION & ADVANCEMENT
GDP IN 2013 (PER CAPITA)
32%
30%
28%
26%
24%
22%
$0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000% $60,000
HOME
INTRODUCTION
SIMILARITIES AND
DIFFERENCES
IN STUDENT
PREFERENCES
ACROSS MARKETS
GETTING THE
WORD OUT:
COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL USAGE
ACROSS MARKETS
THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A
RETURN

11. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 11
FIGURE 4
GDP PER CAPITA VS. % IMPORTANCE ON
REMUNERATION & ADVANCEMENT
Engineering students
34%
RUSSIA
JAPAN
GERMANY
CANADA US
AUSTRALIA
FRANCE
UK
ITALY
CHINA
INDIA
BRAZIL
% IMPORTANCE ALLOCATED TO REMUNERATION & ADVANCEMENT
GDP IN 2013 (PER CAPITA)
32%
30%
28%
26%
24%
22%
$0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000% $60,000
HOME
INTRODUCTION
SIMILARITIES AND
DIFFERENCES
IN STUDENT
PREFERENCES
ACROSS MARKETS
GETTING THE
WORD OUT:
COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL USAGE
ACROSS MARKETS
THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A
RETURN

12. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 12
TABLE 1
WEIGHTED PERCENTAGE OF BUSINESS
RESPONDENTS SELECTING REMUNERATION &
ADVANCEMENT ASPECTS AS IMPORTANT TO
THEM, SELECT COUNTRIES, 2014
RETURN
CHINA INDIA JAPAN RUSSIA G12 AVERAGE*
High future earnings 39.6% 44.4% 45.5% 68.4% 47.2%
Good reference for future career 47.8 36.0 41.6 29.1 41.2
Leadership opportunities 33.6 48.3 39.5 34.8 41.0
Clear path for advancement 40.1 32.4 36.8 38.0 39.8
Competitive base salary 47.0 36.0 31.7 52.0 39.7
Competitive benefits 39.4 36.6 34.9 32.7 30.0
Sponsorship of future education 31.9 27.9 33.3 29.4 27.2
Rapid promotion 26.0 44.4 38.8 39.7 24.4
Performance-related bonus 28.1 37.0 35.9 40.7 24.3
Overtime pay/compensation 23.9 25.5 31.8 22.2 18.7
*G12 averages include eight Western countries not shown on table.
Averages are weighted by the GDPs of the individual countries.
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ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
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A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

13. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 13
FIGURE 5
IMPORTANCE PLACED BY BUSINESS
STUDENTS ON 40 EMPLOYER ATTRIBUTES
Australia and Canada
RETURN
60.0
IMPORTANCE IN CANADA
IMPORTANCE IN AUSTRALIA
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0
0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0
Employer reputation & image
Job characteristics
People & culture
Remuneration & Advancement
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ACROSS MARKETS
GETTING THE
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COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL USAGE
ACROSS MARKETS
THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

14. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 14
FIGURE 6
IMPORTANCE PLACED BY BUSINESS
STUDENTS ON 40 EMPLOYER ATTRIBUTES
Australia and Japan
RETURN
60.0
IMPORTANCE IN JAPAN
IMPORTANCE IN AUSTRALIA
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0
0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0
Employer reputation & image
Job characteristics
People & culture
Remuneration & Advancement
HOME
INTRODUCTION
SIMILARITIES AND
DIFFERENCES
IN STUDENT
PREFERENCES
ACROSS MARKETS
GETTING THE
WORD OUT:
COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL USAGE
ACROSS MARKETS
THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

15. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 15
TABLE 2
RELATIVE EXTENT TO WHICH BUSINESS
STUDENTS SHARE PREFERENCES ACROSS G12
MARKETS (R-SQUARED METRICS)
RETURN
AUST BRAZIL CANADA CHINA FRANCE GERMANY INDIA ITALY JAPAN RUSSIA UK US
AUST 100%
BRAZIL 57% 100%
CANADA 80% 49% 100%
CHINA 25% 40% 43% 100%
FRANCE 49% 26% 62% 31% 100%
GERMANY 55% 29% 70% 40% 63% 100%
INDIA 28% 32% 38% 46% 30% 24% 100%
ITALY 59% 63% 61% 35% 49% 47% 22% 100%
JAPAN 20% 25% 41% 47% 28% 40% 49% 34% 100%
RUSSIA 25% 24% 42% 39% 24% 39% 47% 29% 43% 100%
UK 74% 57% 84% 37% 71% 58% 34% 67% 28% 35% 100%
US 77% 49% 92% 36% 49% 62% 28% 59% 33% 33% 79% 100%
HOME
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ACROSS MARKETS
GETTING THE
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COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL USAGE
ACROSS MARKETS
THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

16. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 16
Getting the word out: communication
channel usage across markets
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GETTING THE
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THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

17. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 17
In addition to asking respondents
to the Universum Student Survey
about their preferences, we also
ask which communication channels
they use to look for information
about employers.
Across the G12 markets, the
average student uses between
seven and eight channels for this
purpose, with the average engineer
using slightly fewer sources of
information than the average
business student (see FIGURE 7).
Notably, Chinese students tend
to get their information from
fewer channels than the G12
average — the typical Chinese
business student employs only
4.7 channels, while the average
Chinese engineering student uses
5.6. In fact, they are less likely
than their peers in other countries
to use any of the 27 channels we
ask about on the survey. They are
especially less likely than students
in other markets to use employer
websites or social media, two of the
most common channels globally.
(See TABLE 3 for the percentages
of business respondents in each
country using the specific channels
discussed here.)
This “communications gap” in
China stems from a combination of
factors. Relatively low access the
internet and social media, coupled
with a still-nascent understanding
of employer branding strategies and
recruiting tactics on the part of both
students and employers, have left
students less likely to learn about
employers online. In the meantime,
the sheer size of the country
makes it difficult for employers
to fill this gap through in-person
communications such as on-campus
presentations. (Russia appears to
be a similar in both regards, though
the effect is less pronounced.)
On the other end of the spectrum,
Indian students learn about
employers through almost twice as
many channels as their G12 peers
—13.2 for business students, and
12.9 for engineers. They are twice
as likely to report having conducted
an informational interview, and
HOME
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ACROSS MARKETS
GETTING THE
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COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL USAGE
ACROSS MARKETS
THE LEARNING
ORGANIZATION:
SATISFYING
RECRUITS’ DESIRE
TO DEVELOP
PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

18. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 18
almost twice as likely to say
they attended an employer
presentation. However, it is not just
in-person channels they use more.
They are more likely to use online
means as well.
Dialog expected: social media
usage to learn about employers
Indian students are highly active on
social media: a greater proportion
of them than the respondents in
any other G12 nation tell us that
they’ve used “social networks /
communities” or “professional
networks / communities” to learn
about employers. Other countries
that appear to be leading the way
on adoption of social media for
recruiting include Australia, Canada,
and Brazil. By contrast, France,
Japan, and China have relatively low
adoption levels.
Building an effective recruiting
presence on social media requires a
great deal of persistence and active
engagement. Students expect these
channels to be used for dialogs
with employers, not as alternative
ways of reading content that’s
already on the employers’ web
sites. Understanding which target
markets have high adoption rates
can help firms make sound decisions
about where to concentrate their
resources, allowing them to build
presences that will reach, and
resonate with, a wide range of
potential recruits.
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OUTSTRIPPING
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A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

19. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 19
FIGURE 7
AVERAGE NUMBER OF
COMMUNICATION CHANNELS USED
TO LEARN ABOUT EMPLOYERS
G12 markets, 2013
RETURN
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0
Australia
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Russia
UK
US
Business
Engineering
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A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

20. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 20
TABLE 3
PERCENTAGE OF BUSINESS
RESPONDENTS USING SELECTED
COMMUNICATION CHANNELS TO LEARN
ABOUT EMPLOYERS, G12 MARKETS, 2014.
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APPENDIX A
EMPLOYER
WEBSITES
CAREER FAIRS SOCIAL
NETWORKS/
COMMUNITIES
EMPLOYER
PRESENTATIONS
ON CAMPUS
PROFESSIONAL
NETWORKS/
COMMUNITIES
JOB BOARDS CAREER
GUIDANCE
WEBSITES
INFORMATIONAL
INTERVIEWS
LIVE WEBINARS
WITH
EMPLOYERS
AUSTRALIA 60% 40% 54% 26% 37% 35% 35% 15% 9%
BRAZIL 40% 21% 49% 26% 35% 21% 33% 16% 10%
CANADA 65% 56% 47% 47% 37% 46% 32% 33% 10%
CHINA 24% 34% 17% 29% 15% 28% 20% 17% 9%
FRANCE 78% 42% 36% 38% 39% 41% 25% 11% 5%
GERMANY 67% 49% 44% 34% 44% 52% 44% 19% 9%
INDIA 69% 54% 55% 61% 55% 47% 53% 45% 38%
ITALY 55% 27% 43% 26% 25% 35% 36% 16% 6%
JAPAN 67% 31% 24% 34% 20% 17% 27% 14% 16%
RUSSIA 45% 28% 40% 27% 32% 20% 22% 17% 8%
UK 67% 55% 49% 37% 37% 31% 44% 17% 10%
US 63% 60% 48% 45% 43% 34% 34% 23% 9%
G12 AVERAGE* 56 45 39 37 34 33 31 20 10
*G12 average is GDP-weighted average of the 12 countries shown.

21. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 21
The learning organization: satisfying
recruits’ desire to develop professionally
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APPENDIX A

22. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 22
Up until this point, we’ve focused
on differences that require firms
to localize their employer brands
and their recruitment
communications. But how are
students’ preferences similar
across markets? Can there be such
a thing as a globally appealing
employer value proposition?
Regardless of their location, field
of study, or preferred industry,
students consistently tell us that
they want to continue learning
after graduation. They want to
join organizations that will train
them, foster their professional
development, and set them on a
path along which they can grow
their careers. “Professional training
and development,” “leadership
opportunities,” and “leaders
who support my development”
are among the most preferred
attributes across the G12 markets
(see TABLE 4).
While these attributes have long
been among students’ favorites,
they have gained even more
importance over the last three years
(see FIGURE 8 ). Employers that can
credibly offer training, mentoring,
and professional development as
part of the core experience for their
entry-level employees will have a
strong advantage in attracting the
next generation of talent.
Notably, “sponsorship of future
education” is trending in the
opposite direction, with students
finding it less important than they
did previously. Indeed, tuition
reimbursement benefits are a very
low priority for students. This
may indicate that, as employers
become less likely to offer this
benefit, students’ expectations have
diminished. But it may also indicate
that students expect to grow into
their career roles through on-the-job
training and mentoring.
In certain markets — particularly
France and the United Kingdom —
opportunities for international travel
or temporary relocation are seen
as highly attractive, and part of the
standard career path for would-be
managers. (In India and Brazil, on
the other hand, these opportunities
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APPENDIX A

23. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 23
are highly desired by students,
but rarely given.) Multinational
organizations that want to recruit
in those markets can satisfy those
ambitions by setting up rotations to
other offices as part of their training
and development programs.
The breadth of attributes related
to training and development points
to the fact that firms have many
levers they can adjust in building a
program. Organizations that want
to build such programs need to
decide which skills are to be taught
and fostered, whether employee
rotations are involved, the roles of
managers and other employees
as coaches and mentors. These
choices are usually made with a
view toward the firm’s talent
needs — which skills are needed
and which positions need to be
filled or retained.
Those objectives are, of course,
valid. What our survey data reveal,
however, is that program design also
affects the firm’s competitiveness in
recruiting. Developing a world-class
training course for analysts doesn’t
just ensure that one’s analysts are
well-trained; it also makes it easier
to recruit them in the first place.
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A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

24. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 24
TABLE 4
IMPORTANCE OF ATTRIBUTES RELATED
TO TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT,
G12 MARKETS, 2014
RETURN
PROFESSIONAL
TRAINING &
DEVELOPMENT
LEADERS WHO
SUPPORT MY
DEVELOPMENT
Color-coding indicates that the attribute is among the
most highly preferred of the 40 attributes for…
LEADERSHIP
OPPORTUNITIES
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR INTL. TRAVEL/
RELOCATION
SPONSORSHIP OF
FUTURE EDUCATION
AUSTRALIA
BRAZIL
CANADA
CHINA
FRANCE
GERMANY
INDIA
ITALY
JAPAN
RUSSIA
UK
US
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APPENDIX A
Business
Engineering
Both

25. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 25
FIGURE 8
CHANGE IN IMPORTANCE OF
SELECTED EMPLOYER ATTRIBUTES
G12 GDP-weighted averages,
2014 vs. 2012
(Positive numbers / to the
right indicates increasing
importance over time)
RETURN
Leaders who will support my development
Professional training and development
Clear path for advancement
Leadership opportunities
Opportunities for international travel/relocation
Sponsorship of future education
6.0% 4.0% 2.0% 0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0%
Engineering
Business
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APPENDIX A

26. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 26
The new work environment:
expectations outstripping reality
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A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

27. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 27
Beyond the almost-universal
desire for training and development,
the other major commonality in
students’ preferences is the desire
for a new kind of workplace. The
bar has been set by Google,
Facebook, and other innovative
firms for what we call on the
Universum Student Survey “a
creative and dynamic workplace.”
The pattern for these company
cultures was cut in Silicon Valley, but
business and engineering recruits
alike now desire them, across the
globe. Among engineers across the
G12 markets, this is now the single
most important of the 40 employer
attributes. It’s their number one
preference in Canada, the United
Kingdom, and the United States,
and it’s in their top ten preferences
for almost every other G12 market.
(The exception is Russia, where
engineers highly value “a friendly
work environment,” but place
creativity and dynamism much
further down their list of priorities.)
To a lesser extent, business
students are also keen on creative
and dynamic environments — it’s
the fourth-most important attribute
for them across the G12 markets.
Compared to engineers, however,
there is much greater variation
from country to country in just
how important it is. What is clear,
however, is that the expectation that
work environments will facilitate
the exchange of ideas and rapid
decision-making is not limited to
students who plan to work in the
technology sector.
While this expectation has become
widespread, however, students see
lots of room for improvement on
what employers actually deliver.
Among the data we collect on the
Universum Student Survey are
respondents’ indications of whether
they believe a company to have
this type of work environment. Of
the 72 multinational organizations
included in the World’s Most
Attractive Employers rankings for
engineering, the average level of
association with this attribute was
only 55%. (The level of association
is based on the percentage of
engineering respondents in each
of the 12 countries who said they
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OUTSTRIPPING
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A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A

28. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 28
believe that a given firm has this
type of work environment.) Only
two of the companies were more
than 70% associated with creative
environments, and only 14 more
were more than 60% associated.
Indeed, there’s a great deal of
variation by industry in how
students perceive firms’ work
environments. FIGURE 9 shows the
range of associations by engineering
respondents by industry. (As
guideposts for reading the plot, the
least-associated firm was a bank
that was 39% associated with this
trait, while the most-associated
was a software firm that was
80% associated.)
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A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A
As can be seen on the plot, most
industries have a wide range of
association levels. The only industry
where every company is above
the 55% average is heavy industry.
Similarly, the only completely below-average
industry is banking. While
many companies are making strides
at making their work environments
more open, there are entire
industries where every firm could
stand to improve.

29. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 29
FIGURE 9
VARIETY OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS’
APPRAISALS OF WHETHER
COMPANIES HAVE “CREATIVE AND
DYNAMIC WORK ENVIRONMENTS”
Bars show range from least-associated
company in industry to the
most-associated company
RETURN
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RECRUITS’ DESIRE
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PROFESSIONALLY
THE NEW WORK
ENVIRONMENT:
EXPECTATIONS
OUTSTRIPPING
REALITY
A FINAL WORD
OF CAUTION
APPENDIX A
90%
% OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS ASSOCIATING
INDUSTRY
75%
60%
45%
0
Automotive Banking &
Financial
Services
Computers,
Software,
and
Electronics
Consumer
Goods &
Retail
Energy Heavy
Industry
Pharma &
Biotech
Professional
Services

30. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 30
A final word of caution
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APPENDIX A

31. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 31
This paper was intended as an
exploration of high-level trends in
the data that were used to
construct the World’s Most
Attractive Employer rankings.
We hope that these findings help
inform firms’ talent attraction and
retention strategies, as well as the
employer branding efforts that
support those strategies.
That said, as a final word of caution,
these findings are solely based
on broad populations of students
in the 12 countries examined.
Employers seeking to recruit in
other countries, or even within a
smaller region within one of the
countries discussed, should keep
in mind that student preferences
and goals are often influenced by
local conditions that may not be
apparent at first. The first step in
any employer branding effort should
be to understand the market and
the brand, and successful firms are
cautious about assuming too much
about how transferable findings are
from one geography to another.
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APPENDIX A

32. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 32
Appendix A: The Universum Drivers of Employer Attractiveness HOME
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APPENDIX A
EMPLOYER REPUTATION & IMAGE
The attributes of the employer as an organisation
• Attractive/exciting products and services
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Environmental sustainability
• Ethical standards
• Fast-growing/entrepreneurial
• Financial strength
• Innovation
• Inspiring management
• Market success
• Prestige
REMUNERATION & ADVANCEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
The monetary compensation and other benefits,
now and in the future
• Clear path for advancement
• Competitive base salary
• Competitive benefits
• Good reference for future career
• High future earnings
• Leadership opportunities
• Overtime pay/compensation
• Performance-related bonus
• Rapid promotion
• Sponsorship of future education
PEOPLE & CULTURE
The social environment and attributes of the workplace
• A creative and dynamic work environment
• A friendly work environment
• Acceptance towards minorities
• Enabling me to integrate personal interests in my schedule
• Interaction with international clients and colleagues
• Leaders who will support my development
• Recognising performance (meritocracy)
• Recruiting only the best talent
• Respect for its people
• Support for gender equality
JOB CHARACTERISTICS
The contents and demands of the job, including
the learning opportunities provided by the job
• Challenging work
• Client interaction
• Control over my number of working hours
• Flexible working conditions
• High level of responsibility
• Opportunities for international travel/relocation
• Professional training and development
• Secure employment
• Team-oriented work
• Variety of assignments
HARD SOFT
EXTRINSIC INTRINSIC

33. BUILDING A GLOBAL EMPLOYER BRAND 33