Top undergraduate employers in UK, rated by students

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