The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2026-2027

Produced by High Fliers Research

TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS

The definitive guide to the leading employers recruiting graduates during 2026-2027.

HIGH FLIERS PUBLICATIONS LTD IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE TIMES

Published by High Fliers Publications Limited The Gridiron Building, 1 Pancras Square, London, N1C 4AG Telephone: 020 7428 9100 Web: www.Top100GraduateEmployers.com

Editor Martin Birchall Publisher Gill Thomas Production Coordinator Yeva Ryan Marketing, Social Media & Production Ellie Goodman Technical & Design Manager James Collins Portrait Photography Phil Ripley cityspacecreative.co.uk

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher of this book. The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers is based on research results from The UK Graduate Careers Survey 2026 , produced by High Fliers Research Ltd. The greatest care has been taken in compiling this book. However, no responsibility can be accepted by the publishers or compilers for the accuracy of the information presented. Where opinion is expressed it is that of the author or advertiser and does not necessarily coincide with the editorial views of High Fliers Publications Limited or The Times newspaper.

Printed and bound in Italy by L.E.G.O. S.p.A.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-9160401-7-5

Contents

Page

Foreword

Researching The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

Understanding the Graduate Job Market

Successful Graduate Job Hunting

Employer Entries

Page

A&O Shearman

52 Dentons

94 96 98

Mott MacDonald

136 138 140 142 144 146 148 150 152 154 156 158 160 162 164 166 168 170 172 174 176

AECOM

54 Deutsche Bank

Network Rail

Aldi AON Army

56 DLA Piper

Newton

58 Enterprise Mobility 60 Environment Agency

100 102 104 106 108 110 112

NHS P&G

AstraZeneca AtkinsRéalis

62 EY

Penguin

64 Goldman Sachs

Pfizer

Babcock

66 Google

Police Now

BAE Systems

68 Grant Thornton

PwC RAF

Barclays

70 HMRC

BCG

72 Hogan Lovells Cadwalader 114

Royal Navy

BlackRock Bloomberg

74 HSBC 76 IBM 78 KPMG 80 L’Oréal

116 118 120 122 124 126 128 130 132 134

RSM

Savills

Siemens

British Airways

Simmons & Simmons

Capgemini Civil Service

82 Latham & Watkins

Slaughter & May

84 Lidl

Teach First

Cli!ord Chance

86 Linklaters

Tesco

Clyde & Co

88 Lloyds Banking Group

Unilever

Crown Prosecution Service 90 Local Government

White & Case

Deloitte

92 M&S

WSP

TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS 3

Foreword By Martin Birchall Editor, The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

W elcome to the twenty-eighth edition of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers , your annual guide to the UK’s most prestigious and sought-after graduate employers. Andy Burnham’s return to Westminster heralded the arrival of the UK’s seventh Prime Minister in a decade, with the former Mayor of Greater Manchester promising his premiership would

For more than two and a half decades, The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers has tracked university students’ success in the graduate job market. This year’s research with new graduates from the ‘Class of 2026’ shows they have taken a more proactive approach to job-hunting than any previous year- group, but have struggled with the reduced number of graduate opportunities available and

the continuing economic uncertainty. Half began exploring their career options in their first year – almost as soon as they arrived at university – and

‘bring back hope’, something that has been in short supply for the nation’s employers over the past two years. Faced with substantial tax rises

a record 49 per cent completed an internship, vacation work or course placement with a graduate employer during their degree. By their final year at university, an unprecedented number of students took part in on-campus careers fairs, skills workshops and employers’ recruitment events.

and the increased employment costs introduced by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Government, business confidence has dropped sharply, recruitment has fallen, and more than a million young people are now ‘not in education, employment or training’, the worst figure since 2013.

“ The ‘Class of 2026’ have taken a more proactive approach to job-hunting than any previous year-group. ”

When it came to applying for jobs, those graduating in the summer of 2026 completed an average of twenty-four applications each, the most-ever and more than twice the number made by finalists just three years ago. Despite all this preparation and engagement with employers, the number of graduates from the ‘Class of 2026’ who received a definite job o!er before leaving university was the second-lowest ever – only the 2021 pandemic year led to a lower rate of graduate job o!ers.

Inevitably, this has had a significant impact on the graduate job market too. The country’s best- known employers hired a fifth fewer graduates than originally planned in 2024 – and reduced their graduate recruitment further in both 2025 and 2026. The number of entry-level vacancies available for new graduates has now been cut by more than a quarter over the past four years – and it seems likely that there will be even fewer opportunities in the year ahead.

TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS 5

Foreword

demand for their graduate programmes can be a di#cult one to navigate. The editorial features in this edition of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers explain how your university careers service can help you research your career options, prepare your graduate job applications, and get ready for employers’ selection processes. There are tips, advice and guidance on what employers are looking for, in-depth analysis of the current graduate job market, plus full details of graduate employers in more than fifteen di!erent industries and business sectors. Over 1.5 million copies of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers have now been produced since 1999, helping students and graduates at universities across the UK to research their career options and find their first graduate job. And during the past five years, more than 750,000 students and graduates have read the popular digital edition of the Top 100 that accompanies the print edition. Over a quarter of a century after its launch, The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers continues to provide the nation’s university-leavers with an unrivalled, independent assessment of the UK’s most highly-rated graduate employers.

This discouraging and disappointing outcome is a reminder of just how much competition there is currently for graduate-level opportunities. Organisations featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers typically receive between 50 and 150 applications per graduate vacancy – and some of the most sought-after graduate programmes can attract double this number. The di#cult experiences faced by the ‘Class of 2026’ highlight that the students who are most- likely to be successful in the graduate job market are those who spend their time at university developing the key skills and experiences that graduate employers are looking for. Few, if any, of the country’s top employers recruit graduates because of their academic record – or the content of their university degree. Many have removed school and university results from their applications altogether and are instead relying on their own aptitude and psychometric tests and AI-assessed recorded interviews to determine applicants’ suitability for their graduate roles. This shift away from academic achievement to demonstrating the broad range of skills – from teamwork and leadership, to problem solving, critical thinking and resilience – that employers

Finding out about the Top 100 Graduate Employers

BY EMAIL

PRINT EDITION

DIGITAL EDITION

You’ll !nd the digital edition of the Top 100 on the of!cial Top 100 website, giving you access to the very latest information about the UK’s most sought-after graduate employers.. Get ready for your graduate job search with full details of employers’ forthcoming application deadlines. And register on the website to receive regular updates about the country’s top graduate employers. www.Top100GraduateEmployers.com

Each employer featured in this edition of the Top 100 has their own Employer Entry , providing details of graduate vacancies for 2027, minimum academic requirements, starting salaries, for new graduates, plus this year’s application deadlines.

Once you’ve registered with the Top 100 website, you’ll receive weekly email bulletins with news of the employers you’re interested in, details of their latest graduate vacancies, and their application deadlines.

6 TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS

Graduate Leadership and Management Development Programme Opportunities across the UK Accelerate your career progress, making meaningful change for millions of people. Developing future leaders and managers, the Fast Stream is open to talented graduates of all ages, cultures and backgrounds with any degree subject. With a variety of schemes spanning diverse professions, we’re increasingly offering more career opportunities in Scotland, Wales and across England. Whichever scheme you join, you’ll be a valued member of the Civil Service community. Gaining a breadth of experience across a range of placements and government departments, you’ll grow the skills, knowledge and networks needed to build your career in the Civil Service. And you’ll support the government to deliver its agenda, helping to improve life in every community. Discover more and apply, at faststream.gov.uk

SHAPE NATIONWIDE CHANGE

Your

Future.

To apply for 2027 graduate roles click here

Built

Together.

Starting your career comes with a lot of unknowns. More than most people will tell you.

New environments. New expectations. Not everything clicks straight away.

At Capgemini, you’re not figuring it out alone.

It comes together in the moments you share with others.

You’re part of a community of graduates, learning and growing alongside each other. A network that shares knowledge, a culture thats lifts each other up, and gives you the confidence to keep moving forward.

There’s guidance when you need it. Support when it counts. People around you who want to see you succeed.

The strongest careers aren’t built alone. They’re shaped by the people you build them with.

Make your future real. Together.

Researching The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers By Gill Thomas Publisher, High Fliers Publications

W hen the first edition of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers was published for the first time in 1999, there were an estimated five thousand employers, large and small, recruiting graduates from UK universities. The number of employers recruiting graduates has risen steadily since and for those due to leave university in 2026 and beyond, there are expected to be up to 200,000 graduate-level vacancies available annually.

at random to represent the full cross-section of finalists at their universities, not just those who had already confirmed their career plans and secured graduate employment. The question used to produce the Top 100 rankings was “Which employer do you think o!ers the best opportunities for graduates?”. The question was deliberately open-ended and

students were not shown a list of employers to choose from or prompted during the interview. The wide selection of answers given

Finding the ‘right’ graduate employer can often be a daunting prospect.

during the research shows that final year students used very di!erent criteria to decide which employer o!ered the best opportunities for graduates. Some evaluated employers based on the quality of the recruitment promotions they’d seen whilst at university – either

What basis can you use to evaluate such a large number of di!erent organisations and the employment opportunities they o!er for new graduates after university? The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers is compiled annually by the independent market

“ This is the seventh time the Civil Service – best known for its Fast Stream programme – has been named the UK’s leading graduate employer. ”

online or in-person – or their recent experiences during the application and graduate selection process. Other final year students focused on the ‘graduate employment o!er’ as their main guide – the quality of training and development an employer provides, the starting salary and remuneration package available, and the practical aspects of a first graduate job, such as its location or the likely working hours. Across the full survey sample, final year students

research company, High Fliers Research, through interviews with final year students at the country’s leading universities. This latest edition is based on research with 15,557 students who were due to graduate from universities across the UK in the summer of 2026. The research examined students’ experiences during their search for a first graduate job and asked them about their attitudes to employers. Final year undergraduates from the ‘Class of 2026’ who took part in the study were selected

TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS 11

Researching The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2026

2025

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

1 3 4 2 6 5 7 8

49 96 39 53 60 38 70 90 56 63 81 42 61 65 47 72 69 75 76 88

CIVIL SERVICE

TESCO

NHS

WSP

DELOITTE

FRESHFIELDS

PWC

UBS

JPMORGANCHASE

HSF KRAMER WHITE & CASE

BBC

HOGAN LOVELLS CADWALADER

GOOGLE

SAVILLS

15 11 10 18 12 19 16 20 13

GOLDMAN SACHS

IBM

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

LLOYDS BANKING GROUP

DLA PIPER

HSBC

NETWORK RAIL

ASTRAZENECA

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

KPMG

SHELL

GSK

ATKINSRÉALIS

BARCLAYS AMAZON

ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

M&S

TEACH FIRST

CAPGEMINI

L’ORÉAL

BDO RAF

14 24 17 23 21 26 36 33 35 29 40 22 37 25 30 27 45 44 48 57 31 32 52 54 43 28 46 62 34 41 68 64

CLIFFORD CHANCE

LINKLATERS

ROYAL NAVY

71 NEW

MCKINSEY & COMPANY

ARM AON

72 73 74

59 77 95

BAE SYSTEMS

ARUP

MOTT MACDONALD

ROLLS-ROYCE

CLYDE & CO

75 NEW 76 NEW

A&O SHEARMAN BRITISH ARMY

META

TIKTOK

JANE STREET

ACCENTURE

78 NEW

BCG

BANK OF ENGLAND BRITISH AIRWAYS

79 80 81

50 84 67

PFIZER

UNILEVER

AECOM

BLACKROCK

TFL

82 NEW

SLAUGHTER AND MAY MORGAN STANLEY

LVMH

83 84 85

94 51 58

REVOLUT

ALDI

ITV

APPLE AIRBUS

BANK OF AMERICA

86 NEW

DENTONS

87 88 89 90 91 92 93

71 79 78 80 82 91 98

MICROSOFT

BLOOMBERG

JLR

DEUTSCHE BANK FORVIS MAZARS GRANT THORNTON

P&G

NEWTON

NATWEST GROUP

CITI EDF

SKY

BABCOCK

94 NEW 95 NEW

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE

SIEMENS

RSM BNY

LATHAM & WATKINS

97 NEW

POLICE NOW

ROCHE HMRC DIAGEO

98 99

83 97

LIDL

BAIN & COMPANY

100 NEW

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

SIMMONS & SIMMONS

Source High Fliers Research 15,557 final year students leaving UK universities in the summer of 2026 were asked the open-ended question “Which employer do you think o!ers the best opportunities for graduates?” during interviews for The UK Graduate Careers Survey 2026

12 TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS

Rail have also moved up at least twenty places in this year’s rankings. ITV has had the most significant fall of the year, dropping thirty-three places after being the highest new entry in 51st place in 2025. British Airways is down twenty-nine places to this year’s 79th place and the Bank of America has dropped back twenty- seven places. Consulting & technology company Accenture – a former number one in the Top 100 – has fallen twenty-two places to 77th place, its lowest-ever ranking. There are ten employers that are new or re- entries in this year’s Top 100 , the highest being for semiconductor and software company Arm which returns in 71st place. Two well-known technology companies, Meta – owner of Facebook , WhatsApp and Instagram – and TikTok are re-entries in 75th and 76th places respectively. Accounting & professional services firm RSM and the Bank of England also return to this year’s rankings. LVMH, the luxury goods company behind brands like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Moet & Chandon champagne, makes its Top 100 debut in 82nd place. And there are new entries for law firm Dentons, the Crown Prosecution Service, and pharmaceuticals company Roche. Among the graduate employers leaving the rankings in 2026 is BT which had appeared in the Top 100 in each of the previous twenty-seven years and had formerly been ranked within the top twenty. Other employers leaving the rankings this year include law firms CMS and Baker McKenzie, banking group Santander, energy company Scottish Power, Vodafone, the Wellcome charitable foundation, and two employers that were new entries in last year’s Top 100 – defence & aerospace company Lockheed Martin and knowledge consultants Alphasights. Since the original edition of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers was published more than a quarter of a century ago, just three organisations have made it to number one in the rankings. Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) held on to the top spot for the first four years, beginning in 1999, and its success heralded a huge surge in popularity for careers in consulting. At its peak in 2001, almost one in six graduates applied for jobs in the sector. In the year before the firm changed its name from Andersen Consulting to Accenture, it astutely introduced a new graduate package that included a £28,500 starting salary (a sky-high

named over 1,500 di!erent organisations, from well-known national and international organisations to small and medium-sized regional and local employers. The responses were analysed and the one hundred organisations that were named most often make up The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers for 2026. The Civil Service – best-known for its prestigious Fast Stream programme – remains at number one for the second year running. This is the seventh time it has been named as the UK’s leading graduate employer and a total of 6.4 per cent of final year students from the ‘Class of 2026’ voted for the Civil Service. The NHS is in second place, its highest ranking for four years, and accounting & professional services firm Deloitte returns to the top three, overtaking rival firm PwC for the first time in the twenty-eight year history of the Top 100 . The firm holds the unsurpassed record of being voted number one seventeen times since 1999, but has dropped down to fourth place this year. JPMorganChase moves up for the fourth year running, this time to fifth place, the highest-ever position for an investment bank in Top 100 . The BBC slips back one place, just ahead of accounting & professional services firm EY which remain in seventh and eighth places respectively. Goldman Sachs climbs to ninth place, its highest position for eighteen years. And having risen up the rankings five years running – from 40th place in 2021 – the Lloyds Banking Group has now reached the top ten for the first time. AstraZeneca, the pharmaceuticals & vaccine company, moves up six places to 12th place, its best ranking so far, and both GSK and Amazon climb elsewhere within the top twenty. After jumping into last year’s top ten, consumer goods company L’Oréal falls back to 18th place. And in a very close result, law firm Cli!ord Chance is ranked just ahead of legal rivals Linklaters, which climbs to 20th place. Global trading company Jane Street moves up for the fourth year running to 27th place, having joined the Top 100 in 70th place in 2022. Within the new Top 100 , the year’s highest climbers are led by engineering consultants WSP, which has rebounded forty-four places to 52nd place, after dropping to 96th place in 2025. Savills, the only property company in the Top 100 , has jumped over thirty places to 58th place, its best position yet. Law firm Clyde & Co and Network

TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS 13

Taking the first step… Right now, you’re exploring options for what direction to take as you start your career. We have opportunities in a wide range of business areas from Audit and Assurance to Technology, Tax Consulting and much more. Choosing your path isn’t always easy. Our aim is to make things simpler for you – whether that means you end up joining us, or pursuing another great opportunity. Here’s a snapshot of our programmes, and a few free resources to help get started. Spring into Deloitte On this two-day course, you’ll meet inspirational people through business activities, skills sessions and networking opportunities to gain an insight into what working in professional services really looks like.

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Scan the QR code or visit Deloitte.co.uk/earlycareers to find out more and apply.

Researching The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

PwC’s reign as the UK’s leading graduate employer represented a real renaissance for the entire accounting & professional services sector. Twenty years ago, a career in accountancy was often regarded as a safe, traditional employment choice, whereas today’s profession is viewed in a very di!erent light. The training required to become a chartered accountant is now seen as a prized business qualification, and the sector’s leading firms are regularly described as ‘dynamic’ and ‘international’ by undergraduates looking for their first job after university – and continue to dominate the annual graduate employer rankings. Sixteen years after first reaching number one, the Civil Service returned to the top spot in 2019. It has remained there for six of the past eight years, despite PwC regaining the number one position in the Top 100 rankings in 2023 and 2024. A total of 247 di!erent organisations have now appeared within The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers since its inception, and thirty-three of these graduate employers hold the inspiring

figure for graduates in 2000) and a much-talked- about £10,000 bonus, helping to assure the firm’s popularity, irrespective of its corporate branding. In 2003, after two dismal years in graduate recruitment when vacancies for university-leavers dropped by more than a fifth following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the Civil Service was named the UK’s leading graduate employer. Just twelve months later it was displaced by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting and professional services firm formed from the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand in 1998. At the time, the firm was the largest private sector recruiter of graduates, with an intake in 2004 of more than a thousand trainees. Now known simply as PwC, the firm remained at number one for an impressive fifteen years, increasing its share of the student vote from 5 per cent in 2004 to more than 10 per cent in 2007, and fighting o! the sti!est of competition from rivals Deloitte in 2008, when just seven votes separated the two employers.

Number Ones, Movers & Shakers in the Top 100

NUMBER ONES

2001 EUROPEAN COMMISSION (UP 36 PLACES) HIGHEST CLIMBING EMPLOYERS 1999 SCHLUMBERGER (UP 13 PLACES) 2000 CAPITAL ONE (UP 32 PLACES) HIGHEST CLIMBING EMPLOYERS 2004 J.P. MORGAN (UP 29 PLACES) 2005 TEACH FIRST (UP 22 PLACES) 2006 GOOGLE (UP 32 PLACES) 2007 PFIZER (UP 30 PLACES) 2009 CADBURY (UP 48 PLACES) 2010 ASDA (UP 41 PLACES) 2011 CENTRICA (UP 41 PLACES) 2012 NESTLÉ (UP 44 PLACES) 2008 CO-OPERATIVE GROUP (UP 39 PLACES) 2014 TRANSPORT FOR LONDON (UP 36 PLACES) 2015 DIAGEO, NEWTON (UP 43 PLACES) 2016 BANK OF ENGLAND (UP 34 PLACES) 2017 CANCER RESEARCH UK (UP 38 PLACES) 2013 DFID (UP 40 PLACES) 2002 WPP (UP 36 PLACES) 2003 ROLLS-ROYCE (UP 37 PLACES)

HIGHEST NEW ENTRIES

NUMBER ONES 1999 ANDERSEN CONSULTING 2000 ANDERSEN CONSULTING

1999 PFIZER (31st)

2001 MARCONI (36th) 2002 GUINNESS UDV (44th) 2000 MORGAN STANLEY (34th)

2001 ACCENTURE 2002 ACCENTURE 2003 CIVIL SERVICE

2003 ASDA (40th)

2004 PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS 2005 PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS 2006 PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS 2007 PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS 2008 PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS 2009 PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS 2010 PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

2004 BAKER & MCKENZIE (61st)

2005 PENGUIN (70th) 2006 FUJITSU (81st)

2007 BDO STOY HAYWARD (74th)

2008 SKY (76th)

2009 BDO STOY HAYWARD (68th) 2010 SAATCHI & SAATCHI (49th)

2011 PWC 2012 PWC 2013 PWC 2014 PWC 2015 PWC 2016 PWC 2017 PWC 2018 PWC

2011 APPLE (53rd)

2012 EUROPEAN COMMISSION (56th)

2013 SIEMENS (70th) 2014 FRONTLINE (76th) 2015 DANONE (66th) 2016 SANTANDER (63rd) 2017 DYSON (52nd) 2018 ASOS (52nd) 2019 UNLOCKED (49th) 2020 CHANNEL FOUR (77th) 2022 BMW GROUP (66th) 2023 DLA PIPER (51st) 2021 BDO (49th)

2019 POLICE NOW (UP 43 PLACES) 2018 MCDONALD’S (UP 30 PLACES)

2021 CIVIL SERVICE 2020 CIVIL SERVICE 2019 CIVIL SERVICE 2022 CIVIL SERVICE

2021 CHARITYWORKS (UP 45 PLACES) 2022 JAGUAR LAND ROVER (UP 30 PLACES) 2020 DLA PIPER/WHITE & CASE (UP 32 PLACES)

2023 PWC 2024 PWC

2026 WSP (UP 44 PLACES) 2025 SIEMENS (UP 30 PLACES) 2023 UNLOCKED (UP 45 PLACES) 2024 BLACKROCK (UP 42 PLACES)

2024 ITV (46th)

2026 CIVIL SERVICE 2025 CIVIL SERVICE

2025 ENVIRONMENT AGENCY (46th)

2026 ARM (71st)

Source High Fliers Research

TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS 15

Researching The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover holds the record for being the fastest-moving employer in the Top 100 , after leaping more than seventy places in just five years, between 2009 and 2014. Other well-known graduate employers haven’t been so successful. British Airways ranked in 6th place in 1999 but dropped out of the Top 100 a decade later, and Ford, which was once rated as high as 11th, disappeared out of the list in 2006 after cancelling its graduate recruitment programme two years previously. Sainsbury’s last appeared in the top twenty in 2004 but left the Top 100 a decade ago and hasn’t been ranked since. More recent high-ranking casualties include the John Lewis Partnership which – having been 9th in 2003 – tumbled out of the Top 100 in 2020, and Boots, the pharmacy and health retailer that had appeared in 10th place in the inaugural edition of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers , disappeared completely from the rankings in

record of being ranked within the Top 100 in all twenty-seven editions since 1999. The most consistent performers have been PwC, the Civil Service, the BBC and KPMG, each of which have never been lower than 15th place in the league table. The NHS has also had a formidable record, appearing in every top ten since 2003, while EY (formerly Ernst & Young) has remained within the top twenty throughout the past twenty- eight years. And investment bank Goldman Sachs has been ranked in the top quarter of the Top 100 every year from 1999 onwards. Retailer Tesco is the highest-climbing employer within the Top 100 , having risen eighty-eight places in its first thirteen years in the rankings, reaching 12th place in 2012. Google is another graduate employer that made very rapid progress during its early years in the Top 100 rankings, jumping over eighty places in a decade, to reach the top three for the first time in 2015. But car

Winners & Losers in the Top 100

EMPLOYERS CLIMBING HIGHEST

6th (1999) 7th (1999) 9th (2000) 9th (2013) 10th (1999) 11th (1999) 14th (2000) 17th (2002) 18th (2003) 19th (1999) 11th (2006) 22nd (2001) 27th (2004) 27th (2000) 26th (2018) 100th (1999) 85th (2005) 89th (2009) 94th (2013) 81st (2015) 87th (2009) 65th (2002) 96th (2007) 90th (2018) 63rd (2003) 87th (2009) 81st (1999) 94th (2004) 90th (2001) 76th (2014) HIGHEST RANKING NEW ENTRY RANKING

HIGHEST RANKING

TESCO GOOGLE NEWTON AMAZON LIDL

12th (2012) 3rd (2015) 13th (2017) 19th (2019) 10th (2022) 16th (2014) 33rd (2010) 28th (2021) 2nd (2014) 27th (2012) 23rd (2005) 37th (2009) 36th (2022) 26th (2018)

JAGUAR LAND ROVER

ALDI

2nd (2015-2016)

MI5 – THE SECURITY SERVICE

POLICE NOW TEACH FIRST

APPLE

DEUTSCHE BANK

ATKINS

SLAUGHTER AND MAY

FRONTLINE

EMPLOYERS FALLING FURTHEST

LOWEST RANKING

BRITISH AIRWAYS MARKS & SPENCER

Not ranked (2010, 2011, 2017, 2019-2022)

Not ranked (2021-2022) Not ranked (2025) Not ranked (FROM 2020) Not ranked (FROM 2021) Not ranked (FROM 2006) Not ranked (2026) Not ranked (2018) Not ranked (FROM 2016) Not ranked (FROM 2021)

MARS

JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP

BOOTS FORD

UBS

SAINSBURY’S EXXONMOBIL

SHELL

90th (2021)

THOMSON REUTERS

Not ranked (2009-2012, FROM 2014)

FRONTLINE

Not ranked (2024)

BANK OF AMERICA

Not ranked (FROM 2018) Not ranked (FROM 2017-2020)

Source High Fliers Research ASDA

16 TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS

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Researching The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

One of the most spectacular ascendancies in the Top 100 has been the rise of discount retailer Aldi, which joined the list in 65th place in 2002, rose to 3rd place in 2009 and was ranked in 2nd place in both 2015 and 2016. Teach First, the first of five inspirational schemes launched to bring top university graduates into di!erent aspects of public service, did similarly well. It appeared as a new entry in 63rd place in 2003, before climbing the rankings every year for a decade and reaching 2nd place in the Top 100 in 2014. Consulting firm Newton is another impressive climber, having jumped more than seventy places from 94th place in 2013 to reach the top twenty for the first time six years later.

2021. ExxonMobil, the oil & energy company that was a top twenty employer in the original Top 100 , has also been unranked since 2021. Retailer Marks & Spencer, which was in 7th place in the Top 100 in 1999, dropped out of the rankings altogether in 2022. And telecommunications and technology company BT, which was 14th in 2000 and appeared in the top quarter of the rankings a total of six times, left the Top 100 this year. More than thirty graduate employers – including Nokia, Maersk, the Home O#ce, Cable & Wireless, United Biscuits, Nationwide, the Met O#ce and Mercedes – have the dubious record of having only been ranked in the Top 100 once during the last twenty-eight years. And former engineering & telecommunications company Marconi had the unusual distinction of being one of the highest- ever new entries, in 36th place in 2001, only to vanish from the list entirely the following year.

The Covid pandemic had a very significant impact on the annual rankings, and a fifth of the employers that appeared in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers in 2020 – the final rankings Employers Ranked from 1999-2026 in the Top 100

MOST CONSISTENT EMPLOYERS

HIGHEST RANKING

4th (2026) 8th (2011) 14th (1999) 13th (2026) 20th (2001) 25th (1999) 29th (1999) 30th (2001) 49th (2015) 35th (2006) 33rd (2008) 48th (2008) 57th (2005) 58th (1999) 60th (2001) 45th (2003) 59th (2000) 54th (2021) 56th (2001) 53rd (2024) 59th (2026) 68th (2002) 91st (2023) 96th (2018) 85th (2018) 77th (2026) 90th (2021) 100th (1999) LOWEST RANKING 22nd (2002-2003) 45th (2007, 2012) 39th (2022, 2026) 27th (1999, 2002) 88th (2013, 2025)

PWC

1st (2004-2018, 2023-2024) 1st (2003, 2019-2022, 2025-2026) 5th (2005-2007, 2024-2025) 3rd (2006-2008, 2011-2012)

CIVIL SERVICE

BBC

KPMG

GSK

10th (2017-2018) 6th (2021-2024)

EY (FORMERLY ERNST & YOUNG)

GOLDMAN SACHS

5th (2001) 6th (2003) 2nd (2022) 22nd (2026) 9th (2024) 7th (2002) 2nd (2013) 14th (2025) 17th (2025)

HSBC

NHS

BARCLAYS UNILEVER

BAE SYSTEMS

DELOITTE

CLIFFORD CHANCE McKINSEY & COMPANY

A&O SHEARMAN (FORMERLY ALLEN & OVERY)

24th (2010, 2024) 4th (1999-2001) 21st (2004-2005)

PROCTER & GAMBLE

MICROSOFT

ARUP

21st (2025) 5th (2026) 19th (2021) 4th (2003) 13th (2000) 10th (2026) 15th (2019) 35th (2010) 30th (2008) 23rd (2005) 9th (2025)

JPMORGANCHASE

LINKLATERS

14th (2003-2004)

LLOYDS BANKING GROUP

IBM

BRITISH ARMY ROLLS-ROYCE ROYAL NAVY

CITI

DEUTSCHE BANK

L’ORÉAL

ACCENTURE

1st (1999-2002) 11th (2006) 12th (2012)

SHELL

Source High Fliers Research TESCO

18 TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS

It’s where you want to be, not have to be At HSBC we give you the support you need step by step, to grow and grow. Apply now at hsbc.com/careers

Researching The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

employers that di!erent generations of students and recent graduates have aspired to join after leaving university – and these latest results provide a unique insight into how the ‘Class of 2026’ rated the country’s leading graduate employers.

before the onset of the pandemic – were no longer ranked two years later. Together, the twenty-eight annual editions of The Times Top 100 Graduates Employers have produced a definitive record of the graduate

The UK’s Number 1 Graduate Employer 2026

B eing named number one again in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers is a real testament to what today’s graduates think of working in the Civil Service and the careers we o!er. The Fast Stream is our long established leadership and management development programme. It equips talented individuals with the knowledge, skills, experience and networks to build a meaningful career and operate e!ectively across the Civil Service. Fast Streamers are given opportunities to work across Government, in a range of roles aligned to a profession. They gain a real understanding of the citizens and communities that individual departments serve and how they interconnect with each other. They are placed in the majority of Civil Service departments, from the Department for Education, Ministry of Justice and Department for Environment, Food & Rural A!airs – to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development O#ce and the Ministry of Defence. They typically benefit from three separate postings during the programme, to help them build a breadth of knowledge and experiences. Attracting more regional talent is one of our top priorities, bringing the Civil Service closer to the communities it serves, supporting our ambition to have at least 50% of Fast Streamers in roles outside of London by 2030. There are several routes into the Fast Stream, but most graduates make a direct application in their final year of studies or after graduating from university. There is also a Summer Internship Programme for penultimate year and final year students from lower socio- economic backgrounds. This is a two-month placement within a Civil Service department – and for interns that show high potential, it includes an opportunity to progress to the later assessment phases for the Fast Stream.

“

Beaulah Chadwick, Head of Civil Service Fast Stream

We know there’s no such thing as a typical Fast Streamer and we want people with a wide variety of skills and experiences to join us. We look for applicants who have strong leadership potential and are passionate about making a di!erence to the communities we serve. The recruitment and selection process for the Fast Stream is very competitive and includes an initial application, a series of online tests and then the Fast Stream Assessment Centre. For most schemes, there is also an additional round of Final Selection Boards. The key to success is being well-prepared, having a good understanding of what the Civil Service does, and being able to demonstrate your commitment to working in public service. The Civil Service exists to serve the Government of the day and it’s our job to advise impartially and deliver its policies e!ectively. Quite rightly, the country has very high expectations of us. We are proud of the important role that the Fast Stream plays in this.

”

20 TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS

It’s not who you are. It’s what you will become.

The NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme (GMTS) offers you a fast track to becoming a non-clinical senior leader in an organisation that can positively impact 57 million people - beginning a life changing journey for you.

Start your leadership journey with the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme (GMTS) – and help shape the future of healthcare in your community. With placements across England, funded postgraduate education, and a starting salary of £31,267, GMTS offers a unique opportunity to make a real difference. The GMTS is more than a graduate scheme – it’s a launchpad for future leaders in the NHS, the UK’s largest and most trusted public service. Ranked 2nd in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, GMTS offers a structured, 2–2.5 year programme combining real-world NHS placements, postgraduate education, and expert mentoring. As a GMTS trainee, you’ll be at the forefront of the NHS’s transformation, helping to deliver the three major shifts outlined in the 10 Year Health Plan: moving care closer to home, harnessing digital innovation, and prioritising prevention over treatment. Whether you’re improving access to services in underserved communities, shaping data-driven policy, or leading inclusive workforce initiatives, your work will directly impact the health and wellbeing of people where you live. Applications open 23rd September. Register your interest now at graduates.nhs.uk and take the first step toward a career that matters.

nhsgraduatescheme

NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme (GMTS)

Start your journey here

www.graduates.nhs.uk

Understanding the Graduate Job Market By Martin Birchall Managing Director, High Fliers Research

S ince the first edition of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers was published in 1999, the number of graduate vacancies on o!er to university-leavers has increased in sixteen of the past twenty-seven years. Graduate recruitment reached its highest- ever level in 2022, with almost twice as many opportunities available at the country’s top

jobs were cut or left unfilled from a planned intake of more than 40,000 new graduates during this period. A record fifty-nine of the employers featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers reduced their graduate hiring in 2009 alone. Although the graduate job market bounced back successfully in 2010, with an annual increase in vacancies of more than 12 per cent, it took a further

five years for graduate recruitment to return to the pre-recession peak recorded in 2007. The uncertainty that followed

employers, compared to vacancies at the beginning of the new millennium. But this sustained period of growth in graduate jobs has been punctuated

Britain’s referendum vote to leave the European Union in 2016 saw graduate vacancies dip again in 2017. But growth returned a year later and by 2019 entry-level recruitment was up by 43 per cent compared to the number of vacancies available in 2009 – the low point in graduate recruitment during the economic crisis – and had been expected to rise even higher in 2020. But the start of the Covid pandemic in March 2020 forced the UK’s top employers to pause or re-evaluate their graduate recruitment and many were unable to continue with that year’s planned annual intake of university-leavers. Graduate recruitment was cut in thirteen out of fifteen industries and business sectors, most noticeably at major engineering & industrial companies and accounting & professional services firms, where

by five significant downturns. The latest four-year slump in recruitment means that vacancies for new graduates in 2027 are expected to be at their lowest level for sixteen years.

“ The number of graduate jobs at the country’s top employers has now fallen by more than a quarter since 2022. ”

In the two years following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, the worsening economic outlook prompted employers in the UK to reduce their entry-level vacancies by over 15 per cent. Graduate recruitment recovered in 2004 and vacancies for university-leavers grew at between 10 and 12 per cent annually over the next three years, before the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 heralded the worst recession in the UK since the Second World War. Graduate vacancies at the country’s top employers plunged by an extraordinary 23 per cent in less than 18 months – and almost 10,000

TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS 25

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Understanding the Graduate Job Market

dramatically as the year progressed. The number of graduates recruited dropped by 14.6 per cent year- on-year – the largest annual fall since 2009 – and an even bigger reduction than during the Covid pandemic. In all, the UK’s leading employers took on 6,000 fewer graduates than they had originally expected to in 2024. Following the election, employer confidence has continued to worsen, with graduate recruitment decreasing by a further 5.1 per cent in 2025 and another 0.5 per cent in 2026. At the start of the 2026-2027 recruitment season, employers in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers are predicting that they will have a total of 22,640 graduate vacancies for autumn 2027 start dates. This represents another disappointing cut in graduate recruitment – this time by 2.7 per cent year-on-year – and is an unprecedented fifth consecutive annual reduction in entry- level vacancies. The number of graduate jobs at the country’s top employers has now fallen by more than a quarter since 2022, taking graduate recruitment back to a level last recorded in 2010. Graduate recruitment is predicted to fall in ten out of fifteen key industries and business sectors in the next 12 months, with the biggest

over 700 planned vacancies were left unfilled. The final number of graduates recruited by employers featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers in 2020 was 12.3 per cent lower than in 2019. Recruitment began to bounce back in 2021 with a substantial 9.4 per cent rise in entry-level vacancies – the ‘V-shaped’ pandemic recovery in the graduate job market largely mirroring the recovery in the wider economy. This strong growth gathered pace the following year when graduate vacancies increased in all fifteen industries and business sectors represented in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers . The total number of graduate jobs available jumped by 14.5 per cent in 2022, the largest-ever year-on-year rise in recruitment at the UK’s leading employers. The 2023 graduate recruitment season began optimistically, with many of the country’s top employers expecting to match their bumper intake from the previous year. But as the year progressed, fears of a possible recession in the UK grew and graduate recruitment was cut back by 6.4 per cent, compared with 2022. With a General Election looming, the economic uncertainty increased substantially in 2024 and employers downgraded their recruitment targets

How Graduate Vacancies have Changed 2001-2026

p 14.5%

q 6.4%

p 6.2%

p 4.3%

p 1.6%

p 10.1%

p 7.9%

p 9.4%

p 10.8%

q 5.1%

p 2.5%

p 3.3%

q 4.9%

p 12.6%

p 10.9%

q 12.3%

q 14.6%

q 0.5%

q 6.7%

p 2.8%

q 0.8%

p 0.5%

q 6.5%

q 17.8%

q 8.3%

Source High Fliers Research 2001

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

2026 2024 2025

TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS 27

Understanding the Graduate Job Market

employer featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers this year. Other very substantial individual graduate recruiters include Teach First, the well-respected programme that recruits graduates to teach in schools in low-income communities around the UK, which has over 1,000 places available in 2027. And the accounting & professional services firms PwC, Deloitte and EY are each aiming to recruit 1,000 new graduate trainees in the year ahead. More than half of Top 100 employers have vacancies for graduates in technology and finance, two fifths have opportunities in engineering, and at least a quarter are recruiting for human resources

drops expected in the public sector, at media organisations, employers in the banking & finance sector, and investment banks & fund managers. Although vacancies at the accounting & professional services firms featured in the Top 100 are expected to increase in the year ahead, it remains one of the hardest-hit sectors in this current downturn in graduate recruitment. Having hired almost 6,500 graduates in 2023, there are expected to be just 4,625 trainee places available in the sector in 2027. The car & van rental company Enterprise Mobility is o!ering 1,100 graduate vacancies in 2027, the highest recruitment target of any

Graduate Vacancies & Starting Salaries in 2027

GRADUATE VACANCIES

1,000 vacancies or more

11%

500-999 vacancies

17%

250-499 vacancies

30%

100-249 vacancies

13%

50-99 vacancies

23%

1-49 vacancies

No vacancies

STARTING SALARIES

£60,000 or more

19%

£50,000-£59,999

14%

£40,000-£49,999

19%

£35,000-£39,999

32%

£30,000-£34,999

Less than £30,000

Percentage of Top 100 employers

Source High Fliers Research

28 TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS

MAKE

Opportunities at Enterprise Mobility give you hands-on experience and the space to discover what you’re capable of. Join the team and turn your ambition into a lasting career. Click here to learn more. THAT BRING OUT YOUR BEST

Understanding the Graduate Job Market

graduate pay available at the leading investment banks & fund managers (a median of £60,000), City and international law firms (£56,000) and consulting firms (£50,000). Over a quarter of the employers featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers now o!er starting salaries of £50,000 or more for their new recruits. The most enticing salaries publicised within this edition are at law firms White & Case and Latham & Watkins, which are o!ering their new trainees starting salaries of £62,000 and £60,000 respectively in 2027. Away from the legal sector, retailer Aldi continues to pay a sector-leading graduate salary of £52,000, and consulting firm Newton is o!ering a starting salary of £48,000. Two-fifths of the UK’s leading employers recruit graduates year-round, or in di!erent phases during the year, and will accept applications throughout the 2026-2027 recruitment season until all their vacancies are filled. For employers with an annual application deadline, most are in November or December, although a limited number have October or post-Christmas deadlines for their graduate programmes.

roles, general management positions, sales jobs and trainee consultants. One in six of country’s top graduate employers are looking for new recruits to work in marketing or have entry-level roles in science, research & development. There are fewer graduate jobs available in retailing or in more specialist areas, such as logistics & supply chain, property, purchasing and the media. Four-fifths of Top 100 employers have graduate vacancies in London in 2027, and two-thirds have posts available elsewhere in the south east of England. Three-quarters of graduate employers have roles in the north west of England, and more than half are looking for graduates to work in the south west, the Midlands, East Anglia, Yorkshire and the north east. Half are recruiting for graduate positions in Scotland, but Wales and Northern Ireland have the fewest employers with vacancies this year. Graduate starting salaries at The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers changed little between 2012 and 2021, increasing by just £1,000 in this nine-year period to a median of £30,000. But this went up to £32,000 in 2022, the first annual boost in starting salaries for seven years. And it has continued rising since – to £33,500 in 2023, £34,000 in 2024, and £35,000 in 2025 and 2026. Starting salaries are expected to remain at a similar level in 2027, with the most generous

In today’s highly-competitive graduate job market, this means that there’s every incentive to apply early for the range of vacancies available at The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers in 2027. Graduate Vacancies at Top 100 Employers in 2027

2026

GRADUATE VACANCIES IN 2027

% CHANGE IN 2027

% CHANGE IN 2026

MEDIAN STARTING SALARY IN 2027

p 5.0% q 8.0% q 4.0% q 6.6% q 10.1% q 0.3% p 7.1% p 5.3% q 11.3% q 24.7% q 3.6% q 8.8% q 9.7% p 20.0% p 8.1%

q 0.4% q 6.0% q 6.1% q 1.7% q 7.9% q 1.4% p 6.2% q 17.0% p 0.6% q 9.3% q 15.7% q 13.6% q 7.9% NO CHANGE q 3.6%

1. 1 ACCOUNTANCY & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FIRMS 4,625

£32,000 £31,500 £32,000 £60,000 £36,000 £40,000 £35,900 £35,000 £56,000 £29,000 £39,500 £50,000 £35,000 £28,500 £33,600

2. 2 PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYERS

3,355 3,176 2,210 1,770 1,520 1,350

3. 3 ENGINEERING & INDUSTRIAL COMPANIES 4. 4 INVESTMENT BANKS & FUND MANAGERS 5. 5 BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

6. 7 TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES

7. 6 ARMED FORCES

8. 8 RETAILERS 9. 10 LAW FIRMS

959 832 653 325 310 215 120

10. 9 MEDIA ORGANISATIONS 11. 11 OIL & ENERGY COMPANIES

12. 12 CONSULTING FIRMS

13. 13 CONSUMER GOODS MANUFACTURERS

14. 14 PROPERTY COMPANIES

15. 15 CHEMICAL & PHARMACEUTICALS COMPANIES

Source High Fliers Research

30 TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS

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