How to reach the top of The Times Top 100

If you’re involved in graduate recruitment, you’ll know whether your organisation made it into The Times Top 100 Best Graduate Employers. We’re often asked by clients how important the rankings are, and how they can run effective campaigns to improve their position. So, we challenged our strategists to take a deep dive into the data from the past 27 years to help you decide whether it’s a game worth playing, and crucially, how you can win it.

How does The Times Top 100 actually work?

Understanding The Times Top 100 methodology is essential to understanding how to achieve a higher ranking. In the first ten day of February, The Times survey around 15,000 final year students – about 1.5 per cent of graduating students – from the top 30 U.K. universities. They are conducted in person by fellow students who are paid per response to ask one question, completely unprompted: Which employer do you think offers the best opportunities for graduates?

And that’s it. Students are not shown any prompts or lists of employers to help determine their answers. So, how do you get your employer brand to be front of mind when asked this question?

Who should care about The Times Top 100?

If you don’t already prioritise The Times Top 100, you may be wondering should we bother? It sounds like a lot of work.  Here are three reasons many top employers do invest in the Times

• It’s probably the most well-known list, topping Google search rankings for ‘Best U.K. Graduate Employers’. It’s used by university careers service teams and has additional sway on decision-influencers such as parents. This means it can drive a lot of reach and prestige.
• But those factors are more important for some employers than others. If you’re hiring a large volume of graduates at a scale like PwC, Deloitte or Teach First, then reach is very helpful.  But even if you only hire a large volume of graduates relative to the rest of your sector, the ranking can help set you apart. This is especially true if your competitors make the rankings, and your absence means you risk losing comparative prestige.
• And finally, if your organisation benefits from having graduates from the top 30 universities thinking you’re credible, then this is excellent brand advertising.

If you’re an organisation that doesn’t focus on graduate recruitment or struggle for volume of applications at all, then you don’t need to be up all night worrying about your ranking. The same goes for organisations hiring highly specialised skills, e.g. if you really need five Marine Biologists, there are smarter ways to find them.

How can you ‘win’ The Times Top 100?

It’s a big question and something we’ve helped a lot of clients with. But in our experience and by looking at the data, here are three tips to get you going. 

1. Align your campaign to the research process

When students are asked the question about the best grad employers, it’s not a matter of having the best programme or offers, it’s whether they think of your brand first. So, timing is everything.

The interviews take place in the first 10 days of February. That means you should align your marketing activities to that period even if your graduate applications are closed. You need to target the 30 universities where the research is conducted, even if you don’t hire there. Make sure your messaging is tailored to make candidates think of you when they’re asked that research question.

2. Be as visible as possible

This is ultimately a brand recall challenge. If you’re in the news, leverage it and create a PR campaign linking it to your graduate offer. Our research shows that when employers are in the news, whether for positive or negative reasons, there is often a corresponding increase in The Times 100 rank.

After Red Bull won back-to-back Formula One championships, they made the list when they only hired five summer interns. Arthur Anderson and Anderson Consulting were ranked 1^st and 2^nd in the rankings throughout the Enron Scandal. If you’re not in the news, try to make some. Ideally, not like Arthur Anderson. Ask your PR department to issue a press release about your graduate offering and find the most interesting angle to generate organic exposure.

3. Focus on the bigger picture over the details

Successful Times Top 100 campaigns don’t need to get into the details of your programme. Students can only pick one company. Sell the opportunity, not the programme, even if that’s not how you approach your broader marketing. Government agency programmes like Unlocked for Prisons, NGDP for Local Government, and Police: Now are the masters of this; focussing on what candidates become and often overachieving in the list as a result.

Shaping the future of Early Careers for 25 Years

From climbing The Times Top 100 to crafting standout campus experiences, we help brands connect with early talent – whether at university or even earlier in schools. No matter your goal, we’ll help you tell your story in a way that attracts the talent you need. Get in touch – hello@thirtythree.co.uk - we’d love to help.