The Stepstone Group
Student Talent Survey 2024: Generation Z starts their careers motivated and ready to perform

Press release

Student Talent Survey 2024: Generation Z starts their careers motivated and ready to perform

• Universum data disproves stereotypical idea of a less ambitious Generation Z 
• Working from home becomes more important with increasing age
• Female students expect an average salary of around 10,000 euros less per year than their male counterparts when starting a career 
• Porsche and the BMW Group are becoming more attractive, while the other major automotive companies and suppliers are dropping in the rankings 

BERLIN/DUESSELDORF, July 16th 2024 – Performance-related aspects are very important for students when choosing an employer. These include a variety of work tasks, recognition of performance, prestige and market success. This is the result of a survey conducted by Universum, an employer branding consultancy part of The Stepstone Group. For the Universum Student Talent Survey, 30,575 students across Germany were asked between September 2023 and April 2024 what is most important to them in their job and future careers*.

Performance instead of work-life balance

As most of the students surveyed belong to Generation Z, the study provides an indication of how ambitious this age group is. For example, the 16 to 21 and 22 to 25-year-olds ranked variety of assignments in 3rd and 4th place in the list of characteristics that make employers attractive.

“However, a comparison with the results of Universum’s professional survey suggests that it is less important which generation talents belong to. Rather, the stage of life seems to determine their career preferences and aspirations – and therefore also what makes companies attractive employers. Different topics are relevant when studying or starting a career than when starting a family,” says David Falzon, Country Manager for Germany at Universum, summarizing the results.

The desire for a variety of assignments becomes less important with increasing age (ranked 7th among 26 to 29-year-olds and 10th among 30 to 39-year-olds). It then becomes more important again for the age groups 40 to 55 (rank 7) and over 56 (rank 4). A similar trend can be seen for the topics of recognizing performance (meritocracy), prestige and market success.

“Take a deep breath after university? Not at all. Highly educated young people start their careers motivated and with high performance expectations, as the Universum study shows. Employers who want to attract young, qualified talent need to realize that this performance does not come naturally. They need an attractive employer brand that can be linked to the values, wishes and goals of young people. Companies that create an appropriate match will have great advantages in the competition for the few young talents in the era of talent shortage. It is important to set the right course today,” says Dr. Tobias Zimmermann, Labor Market Expert at The Stepstone Group. 

In contrast, the promotion of work-life balance is least important for younger people (16 to 21-year-olds: 14th place). The topic only becomes more important with increasing age (22 to 25-year-olds: 7th place, 26 to 29-year-olds: 4th place). The 30 to 39-year-olds place the greatest value on work-life balance (3rd place). After that, work-life balance loses importance again (40 to 55-year-olds: 6th place, over 56-year-olds: 22nd place). A friendly working environment, on the other hand, remains similarly important for all age groups (5th to 8th place).

“We see that performance-related topics generally only become less important in the middle of the working life, i.e. in a phase of life in which family life presumably becomes more important for many talented people,” says Benedikt Strobel, who is in charge of the student survey at Universum.
 

Working from home becomes more important with increasing age

The Universum data contradicts the common perception that remote work is particularly popular with Generation Z: on average, students in the age groups including Generation Z between 16 and 29 would like their future employer to allow them to work from home for 2.5 days. This puts them slightly below the professionals: 30 to 39-year-olds and 40 to 55-year-olds would like 3 home office days.

The age groups belonging to Generation Z are also at the lower end of the scale when it comes to how important it is for an employer to offer the possibility of working from home: For 35 percent of 16 to 21-year-olds and just under 48 percent of 22 to 25-year-olds, working from home is important or very important. For 26 to 29-year-olds, the figure is only slightly higher at 54%. By contrast, it is much more important for professionals: In the 30 to 39 age group, 65 percent state that the availability of a home office is important or very important to them. Among 40 to 55-year-olds, the figure is 62 percent.
 

Salary gap begins during studies: Women expect significantly lower salaries than their male peers

An attractive basic salary and a high future earnings are among the top attributes in all of the main fields of study that make companies attractive to students as future employers. However, when it comes to specific amounts, women and men differ significantly: women expect an annual salary 18%, around 10,000 euros less than their male counterparts. Although there are differences between the individual subject areas of Business, Engineering, IT and Natural Sciences, the trend remains the same. For example, the salary expectations of female Business students who would like to enter the banking sector are 16 percent and 9,901 euros less than those of their male counterparts.

At the same time, gender pay equality is very important to women. This attribute is ranked 12th on their list of characteristics that make employers attractive. For men, on the other hand, gender pay equality is ranked 40th and is therefore least important to them.
 

Which companies are the most attractive employers for students?

Compared to the previous year, the top 5 rankings in Business, Engineering, IT and Natural Sciences are relatively stable. This is shown by the Universum rankings of the most attractive employers in 2024, with the top position in all four subject areas remaining unchanged. For Natural Science students, all five companies retain their places in the top 5. The BMW Group made the biggest leap in Engineering, moving up three places, up to second place.

The students’ top 5 employers at a glance:

What does Porsche better?

The major automotive companies continue to dominate the top places in the rankings for Business and Engineering students. Nonetheless, it has been observed for several years that they, like the automotive suppliers, have been losing percentage points – with two exceptions: BMW Group and Porsche, who in particular have been able to significantly increase their attractiveness. Porsche is the biggest winner in all four specialist areas in the current rankings. The car manufacturer improved most significantly in the field of economics with 4 percentage points. In contrast, Mercedes, Audi and Volkswagen lost percentage points in this year’s results.

“The results reflect the difficulties in the transformation to sustainable mobility. At the same time, it impressively demonstrates the importance of a strong employer brand and, above all, how important it is to really put this into practice. Those who are known for the topics that students value have a decisive advantage in terms of attractiveness,” says David Falzon.

Porsche and the BMW Group manage to do just that: they are associated above average with the career preferences that are important to students. For example, 63 percent of students from the fields of Engineering, IT and Natural Sciences associate Porsche with attractive and exciting products and services, while the figure for the BMW Group is 58 percent. In general, 52 percent of students associate the automotive industry with this topic. 63 percent expect an attractive base salary at Porsche and 64 percent at the BMW Group, in contrast to 56 percent in the automotive industry in general.

*About the Universum Student Survey 2024 in Germany

For the Universum Student Survey 2024, a total of 30,575 students at 236 universities in Germany were surveyed between September 2023 and April 2024. On this basis, Universum compiled the employer rankings for various fields of study: Business, Engineering, IT/Computer Science, Natural Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, Law and Medicine/Health. Among other things, the respondents provided information on the companies they would like to work for, the criteria they use to evaluate employers, their salary expectations and their long-term career goals. More information on the Talent Survey and rankings can be found at: https://universumglobal.com/de/rankings/germany/business/#getthereport

About Universum
Universum, part of The Stepstone Group, is a global leader in employer branding. With over 35 years of valuable experience in employer branding, we have established ourselves in 60 markets worldwide and are present in 14 countries. Our surveys of students and professionals provide recruiters with unique information on what young talent is looking for in companies. Our data-driven and meaningful results are trusted by 2,000 clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, as well as global media partners who publish our annual rankings and trend reports.

For more information: www.universumglobal.com/de    

Press contact:

Universum Deutschland 

David Falzon / Country Manager Germany / Mobil: +49 172 456 44 67/ E-Mail: david.falzon@universumglobal.com

Anke Schölzel / PR Consultant Germany (external) / Mobil: +49 160 75 55 887 / E-Mail: anke.schoelzel@universumglobal.com

About The Stepstone Group
The Stepstone Group is a leading global digital recruitment platform that connects companies with the right talent and helps people find the right job. AI-driven job marketplaces and programmatic-powered marketing solutions connect more than 130 million job applications with around 140,000 employers every year. In 2023, The Stepstone Group generated revenue of around €1 billion. The Stepstone Group operates in more than 30 countries – including Stepstone in Germany, Appcast in the USA and Totaljobs in the UK. The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany and employs around 4,000 people worldwide. For more information: www.thestepstonegroup.com/en/

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