Yoh‚ our students and grads only want government jobs

South African university students and graduates in skilled professions are seriously keen to land a job in government and its parastatals‚ despite decades of governance scandals.

This is apparent from the latest Universum Most Attractive Employer Rankings‚ compiled worldwide each year.

South Africa’s legal students‚ in selecting their future place of work‚ chose the Department of Justice and Correctional Services first‚ followed by Legal Aid South Africa. The National Prosecuting Authority was in fourth place and private firms Webber Wentzel Attorneys third and Adams & Adams fifth.

Engineering and technology students favour jobs at Eskom‚ Sasol and Transnet over Google and the BMW Group.

Natural sciences students similarly choose the research opportunities provided by government-linked entities over corporates. In the top five desirable places to work are the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)‚ Department of Agriculture‚ Forestry and Fisheries‚ the Department of Science and Technology‚ Department of Health and the National Health Laboratory Service.

Business and commerce students are angling for positions at the SA Revenue Service‚ the Reserve Bank and Transnet‚ followed by Deloitte and Investec. Disgraced auditors KPMG are in sixth place.

Eight of the top ten places to work for arts and humanities students are in government too. The top three are the department of higher education and training‚ followed by the SABC and home affairs department. Other popular government-linked jobs are perceived to be at the international relations department‚ SA Airways‚ Transnet‚ City of Johannesburg and SARS.

This is not dissimilar for professionals in the field‚ who chose the education and international affairs department in first and third place‚ with a job at Google only coming in second place.

Google did take first place for business/commerce professionals‚ followed by SA Breweries and Investec‚ before the reappearance of the Reserve Bank and SARS.

See the 2018 and previous rankings here.