The annual survey, carried out by employer branding company Universum, has shown that Ikea has taken first place as the company most economic students would want to work for, while Swedish clothing company mega-giant H&M took position three.

Meanwhile, most data and IT students believe that Google is the place to be when university days are over.

“First, students are attracted to the brand name, and secondly to global companies with global opportunities for developing,” said brand strategist Jacob Fant to Metro.

12,000 students were surveyed, and the results show that brand names are the biggest draw card.

“Ikea is playing in the same league as Apple and Google. And this is nothing less than the result of a fantastic business idea,” he said.

Business students stated they’d most like to work at Ikea, Google and H&M, according to the survey.

Technology students opted for Google first, followed by Ikea and Ericsson, and IT students listed Google in top spot too, followed by Microsoft and Ericsson.

Other Swedish companies featuring prominently in the lists were Swedbank, Vattenfall and Volvo.

Engineering company Pövry, Handelsbanken and McKinsey & Company were among the companies which reported the largest increase in interest from the previous year.

While Fant explained that it can be difficult for smaller companies to attract prospective students, the best advice for businesses is to just stick to what they’re doing.

“In this transparent world we live in today, people will find out about you, you don’t need to give yourself out to them. It’s all about going back to what makes you unique and being proud of it,” he told the paper.

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