Top undergraduate employers in UK, rated by students

Microsoft is the best rated employer for undergraduates, and the number of placements available in the UK is rising

Carly Minsky

September 15 2016

The best rated UK employer of undergraduates is Microsoft, knocking Bank of America Merrill Lynch off the top spot this year.

Microsoft moved up five places from last year, receiving reviews averaging 9.11 out of 10 from students who have taken placements or internships with the company.

More than 7,000 student reviews were used to compile the UK’s top 100 undergraduate employers by RateMyPlacement.co.uk.

Students evaluated their time with UK employers on how much responsibility they were given, whether they felt valued by colleagues, their impressions of the company in general, any training and development opportunities and the transferable skills they gained.

Lucy Saunders, university recruitment manager at Microsoft, said: “Being number one is both humbling and an honour for our UK intern programme at Microsoft. It means a lot to us that our very own, superb interns have benefited from a meaningful and impactful experience at Microsoft.

“Internally, our interns are extremely well regarded, and they never fail to make huge, positive impact to our UK business and beyond. Integral and core to our intern programme is the belief that our interns should be given as much opportunity as possible to make great impact during their time with us.”

In previous years, the top spots have been dominated by financial services firms, but Microsoft’s chart-topping showing this year marks a shift in favour of a number of different industries, including recruitment, professional services and law. Nonetheless, financial services companies continue to fill many places in the top 10.

A number of major organisations made the cut for the first time, including two pharmaceutical companies – Pfizer (97) and AstraZeneca (99). Other notable new entries include Transport for London (74), Virgin Media (92) and EDF Energy (100), as well as the consultancy and construction firm Mace Ltd (62).

There’s some good news for current and prospective undergraduates: the number of placements available to them at top 100 companies has increased by 32 per cent in the past four years, and the average salary for these schemes has risen by 7.3 per cent, slightly above inflation.

However, companies focusing on science, maths, engineering and technology bucked the trend by reducing the amount they pay undergraduate interns.

Top 100 UK employers of undergraduates

Rank 2016	Employer	Position 2014-2015
1	Microsoft	6
2	Bank of America Merrill Lynch	1
3	Grant Thornton	16
4	Warner Bros	3
5	Hays	38
6	Goldman Sachs Group	5
7	Morgan Stanley	4
8	Taylor Wessing	17
9	Credit Suisse	8
10	PricewaterhouseCoopers	18
11	Rothschild	24
12	HP	34
13	Ernst & Young	22
14	Cummins	52
15	Herbert Smith Freehills	43
16	Allen & Overy	68
17	J.P. Morgan	7
18	Pinsent Masons LLP	2
19	Barclays	9
20	American Express	51
21	KPMG	32
22	Enterprise Rent-A-Car	30
23	Nomura	55
24	Lubrizol	42
25	UBS	37
26	Bloomberg LP	69
27	L’Oreal	56
28	Citi	12
29	Hogan Lovells	23
30	Arup	33
31	Towers Watson	25
32	Deloitte	10
33	Rolls-Royce	70
34	Standard Life	26
35	BlackRock	46
36	Lidl	15
37	CMS UK	40
38	Nabarro	14
39	Jaguar Land Rover	73
40	Cancer Research UK	80
41	RPC	29
42	M&G Investments	27
43	Savills	11
44	Fidelity International	58
45	Aldi	45
46	National Grid	78
47	GlaxoSmithKline	35
48	Linklaters	20
49	Lloyds Banking Group	59
50	BP	36
51	JLL	60
52	BDO	28
53	Intel Corporation	19
54	ASOS	82
55	Walt Disney	63
56	Simmons & Simmons LLP	66
57	PageGroup	72
58	IBM	31
59	Shearman & Sterling LLP	N/A
60	HSBC	81
61	Tesco	86
62	Mace Ltd	N/A
63	Cushman & Wakefield	75
64	Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)	71
65	RBC Capital Markets	85
66	Volkswagen Group UK Ltd	90
67	Shoosmiths	53
68	Centrica	105
69	Metaswitch Networks	39
70	Atkins	64
71	Accenture	50
72	Schlumberger	57
73	Siemens	102
74	Transport for London	N/A
75	Network Rail	54
76	Teach First	98
77	Bank of England	44
78	RBS	13
79	Eaton	N/A
80	Unilever	61
81	SAP	65
82	Johnson & Johnson	95
83	Aon	100
84	BuroHappold Engineering	N/A
85	BAE Systems	103
86	Vauxhall	41
87	BMW Group	76
88	Allianz UK	87
89	3M	91
90	John Lewis Partnership	99
91	Imagination Technologies	N/A
92	Virgin Media	N/A
93	Santander	101
94	DSTL	96
95	Caterpillar	94
96	Costain	N/A
97	Pfizer	N/A
98	FAURECIA	N/A
99	AstraZeneca	N/A
100	EDF Energy	N/A