The top companies young Malaysians want to work for

For the first time, the dream companies of Malaysian students have been revealed.

The inaugural Malaysia Top 100 IDEAL Employers survey by Universum ranked Petronas as the top company Malaysian business, engineering and natural sciences students wanted to work for, while those studying humanities chose Google as their preferred employer.

The 11,000 university students surveyed also shared their salary expectations upon graduation, which averaged at RM 3,258 per month.

READ MORE:  The best companies for pay and perks

Those in business had the lowest expectations at RM3,307 while law students expected the highest pay at RM3,667.

The students also highlighted the importance of work-life balance once they hit the workforce - 65% said it is their most important career goal, followed by the desire to "be secure or stable in my job" (50%).

"Undergraduates in Malaysia share similar aspirations with their global counterparts, who also view work-life balance as their most important career goal," Rachele Focardi, SVP of employer branding and talent strategy for Universum APAC, said.

"However, like Generation Y talent in other developing economies in Southeast Asia, local undergraduates are still hugely drawn to remuneration and advancement opportunities, especially ‘high future earnings’. Nonetheless, we expect this to change very soon as the economy progresses and talent would then consider salary as a hygiene factor."

The report also had good news for local companies. A majority of students found local employers to be more ideal than foreign ones, with 90% of the top 10 ideal employers for business and humanities students being homegrown organisations.

Malaysian Generation Y students were also found to posses less job hopping intent, as 40% would like to spend five years or more with their first employer, and only 7% are planning to spend a year or less.

READ MORE: The 10 best companies for leadership in Asia

Here are the top 10 employers according to student cohorts:

Business1. PETRONAS2. Bank Negara Malaysia3. Google4. AirAsia5. Malaysia Airlines6. Sime Darby7. Lembaga Tabung Haji8. Maybank9. CIMB Group10. Bursa Malaysia

Engineering1. PETRONAS2. Shell3. Sime Darby4. Schlumberger5. Google6. SapuraKencana Petroleum7. ExxonMobil8. Malaysia Airlines9. Intel10. Microsoft

Humanities1. Google2. Astro3. Malaysia Airlines4. PETRONAS5. Karangkraf6. Sime Darby7. Lembaga Tabung Haji8. Bank Negara Malaysia9. RTM10. Samsung

Natural Sciences1. PETRONAS2. Sime Darby3. Shell4. Nestle5. Bank Negara Malaysia6. Google7. Lembaga Tabung Haji8. Schlumberger9. Dutch Lady10. Malaysia Airlines

Do you want to become an employer of choice for young Malaysian talent? Join us on July 10th at Employer Branding APAC 2014, a must-attend conference produced by Human Resources and Universum. 

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