New salary expectations, job security, flexibility and life balance, these seem to be the conditions that young executives are imposing on recruiters today, in the aftermath of a health crisis that has upset work habits.
Faced with these new expectations, certain sectors are doing well to become the favorites of these employees in high demand.
The new 2022 study from the Universum Institute (*) offers a ranking of the favorite employers of young executives in France for the year 2022. When luxury appears at the top of the ranking for its attractive salaries and the image it conveys, other sectors such as agri-food are no longer really popular.
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Luxury and aeronautics at the top
“
Compared to 2021, in terms of progression, it is the luxury and aeronautics brands that are the big winners in this ranking
,” begins Aurélie Robertet, director of Universum France-Benelux.
With 20% more executives recruited compared to 2021, the end of the crisis is undeniably favorable to the large luxury groups, whose many management positions are particularly popular among business graduates.
Thus, LVMH, Hermès and L'Oreal have no trouble occupying the top 5 of the ranking - made up of 100 companies - alongside Google and Decathlon, while Chanel occupies sixth place.
Other big winners, the auditing and consulting sectors, whose financial dimension is no longer in doubt among young executives graduating from
Evolution since 2019 of the top 5 favorite companies of young executives from business studies Universum
Other companies are gradually recovering from two difficult years linked to the crisis and are attracting managers again.
Air France and Club Med continue their recovery with six places gained compared to 2021, to occupy 8th and 10th places respectively.
The engineers, on the other hand, remain faithful to the aeronautics sector.
Even if the sector plunged during the crisis, it no longer seems to be shunned by young executives from engineering schools, for whom Airbus, Thales and Dassault Aviation (**) are among the top 5 of their companies favorites.
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Some sectors, on the other hand, are suffering from declining attractiveness due to the health crisis but also to the war in Ukraine.
This is for example the case of the food industry, a sector already in crisis for several years which tries to attract these young executives, whose expectations have changed.
Marketing positions are often shunned.
“
The product around the food industry is much decried, while tech makes people dream more with its innovative and creative products.
In addition, the agri-food sector is not particularly associated with attractive compensation packages, which remain the main criterion for choosing executives.
“says Aurélie Robertet.
A sector in difficulty therefore, which would have recruited 10% fewer executives this year compared to 2021. Energy is also dropping out, very affected by the war in Ukraine which no longer attracts employees.
Evolution since 2019 of the top 5 favorite companies of young executives from engineering studies Universum
Transformed expectations
The way in which companies manage to attract young executives is mainly influenced by their new expectations.
According to the study, the competitive salary remains, since 2019, the first criterion when choosing a new employer.
Remuneration packages, career prospects within the company, prestige, these criteria have clearly taken over compared to the year 2021. "
In a period of recovery, the candidate is in a position of strength and therefore more demanding
" , says Aurélie Robertet.
To meet these demands, large groups are the big favourites.
“
They convey an image of stability, a professional reference as well as a prestige, which can be valued on a CV
“, she adds.
In terms of expatriation, careers abroad, large groups are also better able to offer these opportunities.
Beyond compensation, the study notes that executives also seek to evolve in a pleasant and flexible environment that will offer them a good balance in life.
In the aftermath of the health crisis which has highlighted the use of telework, many of them are in fact demanding an adapted working environment, which the smallest companies are more likely to accept.
“
SMEs are generally perceived as being more committed, offering more variety of missions and conveying a better image in terms of life balance.
They attract on these aspects
, ”concludes Aurélie Robertet.
*To carry out this study, Universum collected data from 9,994 executives with an average age of 30 between October 2021 and May 2022. 4,162 respondents came from business schools, 4,423 from engineering schools and 1,378 other sectors. In its questionnaire, Universum asks the respondent to quote from a list of companies he knows, those for which he could work and those for which he intends to apply.
(**) The Dassault group owns Le Figaro
