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“High future earnings”, “a friendly work environment” and “secure employment” are the top three employer attributes highly rated by Taiwan's university students.
TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), Google and Apple consistently ranked among the top five employers by business/commerce, engineering/IT and natural sciences students, according to the latest annual global talent survey 2022 by Universum.
For engineering/IT students, the top five ideal employers are consistent with last year’s results, except for a slight reshuffling of positions. Computer hardware firms dominated the top 50 ideal employers' list for engineering/IT students, with United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) up 14 places, Phison Electronics Corp. up 13 places, and GIGABYTE up 12 places in the ranking. HTC Corporation, a consumer electronics company, also jumped 32 places in the ideal employer rankings, making its way into the top 50 this year.
The rankings of business/commerce students’ top 50 ideal employers from the banking industry increased generally, with J.P. Morgan taking the lead with a jump of 25 places, followed by Morgan Stanley’s increase by 14 places, landing these companies into the top 20 ideal employers. Dcard from the internet content and information industry was ranked number three by business/commerce students, despite being its first entry into the top employer ranking.
Meanwhile, business/commerce students’ preference for e-commerce companies dropped. E-commerce companies that slipped in the ideal employer rankings include Amazon (-23 places), Pinkoi (-15 places), Alibaba (-12 places) and Shopee (-3 places).
Natural sciences students named Academia Sinica as the most favourite employer. Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE Group) from the manufacturing industry surged in ranking by 48 positions, making its way into the top 20 ideal employers while Chang Chun Group from the chemical industry was boosted up by 54 positions into the top 50.
Top 10 ideal employer rankings 2022 among Taiwan's university students:
Business/commerce students
- Apple
- Dcard
- TSMC
- LINE
- Microsoft
- EVA Air
- STARLUX
- Evergreen Marine
- The Eslite Spectrum Corporation
Engineering/IT students
- TSMC
- MediaTek
- Apple
- Microsoft
- ASML
- Academia Sinica
- Intel Taiwan
- Industrial Technology Research Institute
- Foxconn
Natural sciences students
- Academia Sinica
- TSMC
- Apple
- Grape King Bio
- MediaTek
- Johnson & Johnson Taiwan
- Yung Shin Pharmaceutical
- Microsoft
- ASML
Top five attributes for students picking an employer:
- High future earnings
- A friendly work environment
- Secure employment
- Good reference for future career
- Professional training and development
The study also showed that 70% of the students surveyed are interested in remote work opportunities. When it comes to main concern related to remote work, 38% of students cited “isolation and missing out on social connection with co-workers” – a common topic that companies and human resources worldwide are trying to tackle.
Gender gap in salary continues
The survey also found that Taiwan university students expect an average annual salary of TW$689,805 (TW$57,484 monthly), which is 21% higher than the previous year. There is also an apparent difference between male and female students’ expectations on salary. Male students expect an annual salary of TW$876,747 (TW$73,062 monthly), which is 36% higher than female students’ expectation (TW$564,902 annually /TW$47,075 monthly).
Mike Parsons, Managing Director APAC for Universum, said the continued gender gap is "surprising and disappointing", and "employers will need to play a bigger role" to bridge the gender pay gap.
In terms of disciplines, engineering/IT students have relatively higher pay expectations (TW$872,924 annually and TW$72,744 monthly), seeing that electronic components and ICT products are a huge powerhouse of Taiwan’s economy. Natural sciences students’ average annual expected salary stands at TW$728,795 (TW$60,733 monthly) and business/commerce students are looking for TW$574,325 annually (TW$47,860 monthly).
Parsons concluded: "To attract the best talent in the market, it is important for employers to have a clear understanding of the priorities of those talent, including understanding their own brand image and how it stacks up to their talent competitors."
The results of Universum 2022 Global Talent Research – Taiwan Edition are based on the answers of more than 7,200 students from 36 universities in Taiwan, collected from November 2021 to August 2022. The research sets out to track the career aspirations and preferences of Taiwan’s future talent pool.
Image / Shutterstock
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