"We were really keen to build an award that recognises the effort an employer puts into graduate recruitment," says Cathy Hyde, head of future talent at Bernard Hodes and sponsors of the graduate employer of the year award. "Employers actually have to show why they are a good employer and the panel has checked whether they are living up to the promises they make to graduates."
Six categories were judged by an expert panel of graduate recruiters, agencies and careers advisers, and included two new awards showcasing excellent diversity recruitment practices, which was picked up by DLA Piper UK and innovation on campus - won by npower.
"It is becoming more difficult to target the best graduates and employers are having to be increasingly creative," says Paul Sissons, UK chief executive of specialist careers publisher GTI, which organised the awards, now in their fourth year. "One of the main motivations behind these awards was to showcase this creative work and bring all the different elements of graduate recruitment - employers, publishers and careers advisers - together."
Goldman Sachs was again voted the most popular employer in the banking sector, while Google and Atkins won in the IT and communications and construction categories respectively.
