trendence survey

January 6, 2017, by Laura Estrop

What Do Want From Your Career?

By Thomas McCann, Marketing Executive for Trendence

Whether you are at an early stage in your degree or you are closer to graduating, the chances are that you have spent some time considering your future career and what life will look like after leaving university. In the 2015/16 academic year, trendence carried out some research into this by looking at the thoughts and opinions of over 52,000 students from across the UK, here is what we found.

‘Good career prospects’ still an important factor for students

For the second year in a row good careers prospects as been highlighted as most desired attribute that students at the University of Nottingham want from a future employer. This was closely followed by attributes such as good work-life balance and personal development.

When looking at how the expectations of students change during their time at university it was found that as they entered their final year, other attributes then grew in importance such as having a high level of personal responsibility, whilst attributes such as the status & prestige of the organisation fell in importance.

Careers fairs a popular choice when engaging with employers

When assessing how students in the UK wanted to engage with employers, meeting them at careers fairs came out as one of the top options with close to 60% saying they like to use this method. Guest lectures and on-campus careers workshops also came out as popular options for students, showing that face-to-face interaction remains a great way to meet  with and learn about prospective employers.

Changes in employer rankings

Through the research we identify the top 300 most attractive employers to students in the UK. The rankings for this are based on student awareness of employers, and whether they are planning to actively make an application to the employer on graduating.

In our overall rankings this year, the biggest climber was British Airways which climbed from number 24 in 2015 to number 6 in 2016. Furthermore we also saw significant climbs in the rankings from the NHS and Teach First.

Tell us what’s important to you and be in with a chance to win £100 Netflix vouchers

Each year we conduct our survey to find out more about the current perceptions of students and what can be done to help them get the job they want after graduating. The data from the survey is used to create the publication The Guardian UK300 and this lists the most attractive employers to students as well as giving advice and information on find work.

We would really appreciate if you could help us by taking part in the survey this year and by doing so you would also be in with a chance of winning some great prizes (£100 of Netflix given away each week, £500 of Amazon vouchers at end of survey). The survey takes around 15 minutes to complete, is completely anonymous and you can even do it on your phone. Take it today by clicking here.

If you are currently considering your future career and would like to speak to one of our careers advisers for some advice or information, you can book an appointment today.

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