A NEW REPORT has outlined the 100 companies in Ireland that Irish graduates most want to work for.
And the most popular companies are dominated by financial and professional service institutions with three entrants from that category in the top ten.
The most sought-after company for graduate employment in 2016 is accountancy group KPMG. The company has enjoyed something of a renaissance in fortunes as far as the survey is concerned – last year it stood at 14 in the rankings.
Google, last year’s top dog, has slipped to number 3, with Apple dropping eight spots to 20.
Both Bank of Ireland (15) and AIB (33) have enjoyed healthy leaps of 14 and 13 places respectively.
State broadcaster RTÉ meanwhile drops five places to 13.
The tenth annual GradIreland survey took into account the opinions of 7,460 Irish students, 46.6% of them male, and 53.4% female.
The overall top ten is:
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A further 161 companies and their rankings can be viewed in the report proper here.
Sectors and salary
Some sectors are experiencing a notable jump in popularity according to the survey, with the public sector in particular seeing a rise in recruitment levels after several years of stagnation.
Slightly more women than men were surveyed in most of the sectors considered. The trend is particularly noticeable in the legal, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), and public sector categories, while IT, engineering, and online retail services buck the trend with far more male respondents than female.
Overall, employers are hiring significantly more graduates in 2016 than in any of the last four years.
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The average salary paid across sectors to graduate employees at present is €28,332, up slightly on the 2015 figure of €28,297. Overall, graduate salaries are on the rise, employers said.
The highest average starting salaries in 2015 meanwhile were in the legal, management consulting, and IT sectors with starting figures of €38,500, €31,000, and €30,000 being seen.
The greatest proportion of jobs seen in 2015 meanwhile were in the accountancy, engineering and IT sectors with 28.7%, 14.4%, and 10.8% of the proportion of total jobs being seen in those categories.
Click here to register for free entry to the GradIreland Graduate Careers Fair in Dublin’s RDS on 5 October, which features a wide range of employers, postgrad providers and startups, and a host of seminars and discussions on all areas of career planning.
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