Citibank Ranked as Employer of Choice by Graduates in Singapore

Citibank has been ranked as the number one employer graduates want to work for in Singapore, beating all other banks and companies.

Entry-level university graduates in Singapore overwhelmingly prefer to look for employment in the banking and finance sector and have chosen Citibank as their “Employer of Choice,” according to a comprehensive online survey of entry-level graduates by JobsFactory, the country’s leading campus recruitment specialist.

“We are pleased to hear that young graduates in Singapore consider Citibank the Employer of Choice. It is certainly an encouraging endorsement of our continuous efforts to build a dynamic and stimulating environment where our people are empowered to achieve their best,” says Mr. Aditya Mittal, Citibank Singapore’s Human Resources Director.

The 2007 JobsFactory Employers of Choice Survey, with 2,835 respondents across the three main local universities, is currently the most comprehensive and largest university graduate-focused survey on the topic of careers in Singapore. The respondents were from the graduating classes of 2005 – 2009 from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU).

Citibank leads the overall rankings for most popular private sector employer. Credit Suisse First Boston is in second spot and Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, and Chase are tied in third position.

The Banking and Finance sector is the clear favorite with entry-level graduates as seven out of the top ten preferred employers are financial institutions. This sector is also popular with engineering and other non-business studies graduates. “An interesting finding from this survey is that even among engineering graduates, there is considerable interest in the banking and finance sector,” said Ms. Huang Shao-Ning, Managing Director, JobsFactory.

As for what makes an employer of choice, the respondents cited “good career growth and opportunities” and “values its people” as the top two criteria. This was followed by “attractive pay, bonuses and other monetary compensation.” From this finding, it is evident that while compensation is important, most graduates take a wider view of their career development and overall working environment.

Comments Mr. Mittal, “The needs of Gen Y employees are very different from the Baby Boomers and the Gen X. The Baby Boomers were born into austerity and only subsequently came into prosperity, while the Gen Y have only seen prosperity. As a corollary, they have many more choices and a high level of desire for change, mobility and accelerated growth. Citibank can fulfill these needs with our dynamic, employee friendly culture and significant global presence. We promise our employees the career of a lifetime and constantly endeavor to live up to their expectations. Our company has a strong corporate culture based on meritocracy, bias for action and a desire to excel and innovate continuously for the client. I often hear from headhunters that you can take an employee out of Citi but you can never take Citi out of an employee.”