Top Employers for School & College Leavers 2014-15 Awards Winners and Rankings Revealed

22 May 2014

Thinking about doing an apprenticeship or school leaver programme instead of the university? Well then, you have to check this out! The winners of the Top Employers for School & College Leavers Awards for 2014-15 were announced last night! So who has the best schemes around for school leavers? And who’s ranked highest in the Top Employers for School & College Leavers Rankings?

On Wednesday 21 May 2014 the AllAboutSchoolLeavers.co.uk team cracked out their suits and cocktail dresses once again to celebrate the achievements of the top employers for school and college leavers in the UK – and to hand out awards to those at the top of the pile.

The evening saw a great turnout from representatives and school and college leavers from the finalist firms. Everyone gathered at the awards’ sponsor BDO’s fabulous Baker Street offices to hear the results.

The awards bumped up to a grand total of 19 categories for this, its second year, compared to eight last year. This really does reflect how things are progressing in the realm of school leaver programmes and apprenticeships: as the opportunities and excitement grow, it was very much necessary to cover a wider variety of all of this achievement in the school and college leaver market.

And the winner is…

Jaguar Land Rover clinched the biggest win of the evening, receiving the title of Top Employer for School & College Leavers 2014-15. They also walked away with Best Advanced Apprenticeship and Top Employer for School & College Leavers – Level 2 or 3.

Other winners on the evening included Big Four firm EY, who bagged Best Sponsored Degree, Best School Leaver Programme and Best Use of Social Media in a School & College Leaver Recruitment Campaign; and Fujitsu, who took away Best for Job Satisfaction – Level 4 or Above, Best Higher Apprenticeship, and Top Employer for School & College Leavers – Level 4 or Above.

Melissa Calleja from Pret A Manger was awarded School or College Leaver of the Year. The judges admired her performance on her programme, noting how she had overcome shyness to excel, and her outstanding attendance to customer service.

So, without further ado, here’s a full list of those golden results:

Best School & College Leaver Website

Winner, IMB

Runner-up, Capgemini

Best Use of Social Media in a School & College Leaver Recruitment Campaign

Winner, EY

Runner-up, IBM

Best for Job Satisfaction – Level 2 or 3

Winner, NG Bailey

Runner-up, Jaguar Land Rover

Best for Job Satisfaction – Level 4 or Above

Winner, Fujitsu

Runner-up, Laing O’Rourke

Best Level of Support – Level 2 or 3

Winner, Nomura

Runner-up, Jaguar Land Rover

Best Level of Support – Level 4 or Above

Winner, BDO

Runner-up, Aecom

Best for Career Progression – Level 2 or 3

Winner, Alstom

Runner-up, Nomura

Best for Career Progression – Level 4 or Above

Winner, Virgin Media

Runner-up, Fujitsu

Best Training – Level 2 or 3

Winner, Nomura

Runner-up, Visa Europe

Best Training – Level 4 or Above

Winner, BDO

Runner-up, EY

School or College Leaver of the Year

Winner, Melissa Calleja

Runner-up, Pret A Manger

Best Intermediate Apprenticeship

Winner, NG Bailey

Runner-up, Lloyds Banking Group

Best Advanced Apprenticeship

Winner, Jaguar Land Rover

Runner-up, Fidelity Worldwide Investment

Best Higher Apprenticeship

Winner, Fujitsu

Runner-up, DHL

Best Sponsored Degree

Winner, EY

Runner-up, Aecom

Best School Leaver Programme

Winner, EY

Runner-up BDO

Top Employer for School & College Leavers – Level 2 or 3

Winner, Jaguar Land Rover

Runner-up, Nomura

Top Employer for School & College Leavers – Level 4 or Above

Winner, Fujitsu

Runner-up, DHL

Top Employer for School & College Leavers 2014-15

Winner, Jaguar Land Rover

Runner-up, EY

16 of the 19 awards were awarded based on employee satisfaction surveys undertaken by employees currently undertaking school leaver programmes, Higher Apprenticeships and sponsored degree programmes in the UK.

The participants were asked questions on a variety of topics including: job satisfaction, skills development, training, career progression, salary, benefits, company culture, level of responsibility, working environment, team relationship and work-life balance. The winners were derived from an average score and percentage for each organisation. An important distinction was made between schemes for candidates with Level 2 qualifications (GCSEs, Standard Grades and equivalent) and those programmes for candidates with Level 3 qualifications (A-Levels, International Baccalaureate and equivalent).

In addition, an expert and impartial judging panel chose the winners of Best School & College Leaver Recruitment Website, Best Use of Social Media in a School & College Leaver Recruitment Campaign and The School and College Leaver of The Year. The panel consisted of:

Greg Thompson, Education Liaison Coordinator, Financial & Legal Skills Partnership
Teresa Frith, Senior Skills Policy Manager, Association of Colleges
David Field, Managing Director, Training Synergy
Oliver Palmer, The Independent
Niel McLean, ‎Head of Education, e-skills UK.

The overall rankings for the Top Employers for School & College Leavers 2014-15 appeared on Thursday 22 May 2014 in an eight-page supplement in The Independent newspaper too, featuring all 42 of this year’s participants. The top 10 for all categories are:

Jaguar Land Rover
EY
BDO
Nomura
PwC
Fidelity Worldwide Investment
Fujitsu
Boots UK
NG Bailey
Gordons LLP

Massive congratulations to all of this year’s winners, and a big thank you to BDO for sponsoring and hosting the event!

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