Best Employer 2017: Audi is top among graduates

“Audi’s transformation into a digital car company is taking great steps forward,” stated Stephan Meier, Head of International and Top Management Human Resources. “Talented young people appreciate the opportunity to play an active part in shaping this dynamic era.” Current topics include creating a pioneering digital architecture for the Audi models, the company itself and its new areas of business. Young graduates can also help to further develop the worldwide digital factories of the Audi Group with their expertise. “It has never been more exciting to start working at Audi,” continued Meier. “Digitalization and electrification are topics of the future that offer great scope for individual ideas.”

Audi has occupied top positions in the rankings of German university graduates for many years. Students assess German employers in terms of the attractiveness factors of work assignments, salary, development possibilities, security and good work‑life balance. Audi is the preferred employer according to the Universum ranking above all for next‑generation engineers. For the ninth time in succession, they have selected the company as the winner of all sectors. Economists see the brand with the Four Rings in an excellent second place in both the trendence and the Universum surveys.

IT specialists once again place Audi in the top-ten best employers in both rankings. IT graduates see the automobile manufacturer in seventh place in the trendence survey and in fifth place in the Universum survey. “IT experts have a crucial role to play for the mobility of the future,” said Stephan Meier. “In our Audi family, they find the best conditions to fully develop their creative potential.”

That includes flat hierarchies and flexible working conditions such as mobile working from home. Furthermore, Audi encourages ideas with innovative forms of work such as design thinking, bar camps, agile think tanks and e-learning. The possibility to work on projects across national borders and company departments is also popular. Early this year, Audi already took first place among the automobile manufacturers in the “Best Employer 2017” ranking of Germany’s FOCUS magazine. Internationally, the company has won awards as Top Employer 2017 in Belgium, Hungary, Italy and Japan. Amongst the most important target groups in Mexico, Universum has found that Audi is regarded as the best automobile manufacturer and has moved up to fourth place in the general ranking of all industries.

Young academics have great opportunities at the company. For example, approximately 2,000 students undergo an internship each year, allowing them to gain early insights into the Audi world. In addition, students come into contact with the brand through dissertations or doctoral theses. And the automobile manufacturer offers international trainee programs and specialist training programs with attractive components in the company’s various departments and at its international locations. As of this winter semester, the new dual courses for master’s degrees start in cooperation with the Technical University of Ingolstadt and the Technical University of Munich. Interested persons can find information on entry possibilities at www.audi.de/karriere. The career portal recently won a special prize, the “trendence Employer Branding Award 2017,” for its user‑friendliness. In addition, trendence awarded Audi a prize in the category “Best Social Media Impact.”

*More than 40,000 students were polled for the Universum survey and approximately 50,000 students at universities in Germany for the trendence survey.