For the third time in a row, the NHS was voted by undergraduates as the most popular graduate employer in a survey of nearly 30,000 undergraduates conducted by international research firm trendence – the trendence Graduate Barometer 2014.

The recent release of the ranked list of the 300 most popular employers and throughout the UK, graduate recruitment professionals will be finding out their positions in the list compared to previous years. At a time when public sector recruitment is falling, undergraduates have stated their wishes clearly with many of them attracted by the high-quality graduate schemes offered by the NHS.

The top ten employers in 2014, as voted for by students, are:

NHS Graduate Schemes

BBC

Google

GlaxoSmithKline

Microsoft

PwC

Unilever

Jaguar Land Rover

John Lewis Partnership

Rolls-Royce

Some highlights

Jaguar Land Rover, John Lewis Partnership and Rolls-Royce entered the top ten this year, from positions outside in 2013. Biggest riser in the top 100 was Mars, up 50 places from 2013. The top three ranked Law firms, Allen & Overy, Linklaters and Clifford Chance, saw their popularity increase significantly in 2013. Although many banks fell slightly or stayed the same in the rankings, HSBC rose to 28^th position from 47^th in 2013.

The huge student survey that creates the 300 rankings, the trendence Graduate Barometer, is not just a measure of popularity, it creates a sophisticated research product that allows recruiters to benchmark themselves against competitors, to understand how undergraduates choose employers and what they want from their careers. Undergraduates will discover the list of the 300 most popular employers, as well as their ranking by sector, when The Guardian UK300 is published in September and 100,000 copies are distributed to leading universities.

Alexandra Kong, UK Research and Data Manager at trendence, says: “The UK’s undergraduates have spoken in their thousands and once again, the NHS has been voted the most popular employer. But it’s just as important for recruiters to understand the reasons why students favour one employer over another and, critically, how they measure up against the competition with targeted subject groups at targeted universities. The trendence Graduate Barometer gives recruiters the information they need to plan and implement successful recruitment strategies.