Universum, an employer branding agency, released its ranking of which places engineering students most hope to work for.
Students were asked to select their five ideal employers, but they could choose less than that.
20.6% of them said Lockheed Martin, and 20.2% said SpaceX, putting these companies at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the new ranking.
A lot of engineering students are dreaming of working at companies in the aerospace and defense industry, such as Lockheed Martin.
Universum, an employer branding agency, publishes a list of where students wish to work. Students from different universities were asked to "choose the five employers you most want to work for," or what the agency considers their "ideal employers." The survey period for the US survey was from September 2022 to March 2023, which included this question and others.
According to this year's results, 20.6% of engineering students said Lockheed Martin is one of the places they most want to work for. With the highest share of students saying that, that put the employer at the No. 1 spot for the engineering ranking. It moved up three spots, after 17.4% of engineering students chose it as an ideal employer for themselves last year.
According to how Universum classified employers, three places in the aerospace and defense industry ranked as the top three this year, based on the share of engineering students who named it as a place they most want to work for.
Apple, General Motors, Toyota, and the Department of Defense were all part of this year's top 20 and all didn't move from their rank last year. Meanwhile, some companies did move down while others moved up. Among the top 20, Mercedes-Benz Group moved up the most, soaring from No. 44 to No. 20. Roughly 5% of engineering students view it as one of their ideal employers.
Below are the top 20 on the engineering student list. We included below the industries for each employer, as noted by Universum. The percentages below are of the share of engineering students who named that employer as an one of their ideal places to work.
20. Mercedes-Benz Group: 4.70% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 44
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Up 24
Industry: Automotive
19. Amazon: 4.99% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 16
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Down 3
Industry: E-commerce
18. Lego: 5.08% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 21
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Up 3
Industry: Retail
17. Department of Defense: 5.68% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 17
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: No change
Industry: Military/policing/security
16. GE - General Electric: 6.11% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 18
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Up 2
Industry: Manufacturing
15. Intel: 6.25% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 20
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Up 5
Industry: Computer hardware
14. Ford Motor Company: 6.36% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 13
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Down 1
Industry: Automotive
13. Boston Dynamics: 6.73% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 15
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Up 2
Industry: Manufacturing
12. Toyota: 6.97% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 12
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: No change
Industry: Automotive
11. General Motors: 7.20% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 11
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: No change
Industry: Automotive
10. Microsoft: 7.47% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 8
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Down 2
Industry: Computer software and technology
9. Raytheon Technologies: 8.66% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 10
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Up 1
Industry: Aerospace and defense
8. Google: 9.63% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 7
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Down 1
Industry: Internet content and information
7. Northrop Grumman: 9.74% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 9
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Up 2
Industry: Aerospace and defense
6. Apple: 10.71% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 6
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: No change
Industry: Consumer electronics and household appliances
5. Tesla: 14.24% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 2
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Down 3
Industry: Automotive
4. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): 15.78% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 3
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Down 1
Industry: Public sector and governmental agencies
3. Boeing: 16.67% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 5
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Up 2
Industry: Aerospace and defense
2. SpaceX: 20.20% of engineering students
Rank in 2022: 1
Change in rank, 2022 to 2023: Down 1
Industry: Aerospace and defense
1. Lockheed Martin: 20.60% of engineering students