Microsoft Canada has been recognized as the most attractive employer brand in Canada for the second consecutive year, according to Randstad Canada’s 2018 employer brand research.

The top employer brands were determined through an impartial survey conducted by Randstad Employer Brand Research. Survey participants ranked companies based on 10 key factors including salary and benefits, job security and job content. Here are the top five employer brands in Canada for 2018:

1. Microsoft Canada
2. CAE Inc.
3. Pratt & Whitney Canada
4. Canadian Solar Inc.
5. Air Canada

“This impressive list of strong and admired organizations paints a very telling picture: how important building a strong employer brand is when you want to attract much sought-after talent, especially in the STEM fields,” said Randstad Canada CEO Marc-Étienne Julien. “These organizations have successfully developed a compelling value proposition that resonates with Canadian job seekers, especially the younger ones.”

Although salary and compensation remains the most important criteria when choosing a potential employer for all respondents combined, other factors come into play for the younger generations. Salary and benefits scored 65% for age group 25 to 44 as opposed to 55% for the 18 to 24 age group. Good training, giving back to society and diversity and inclusion are also more important to the younger generation than other age groups.

Microsoft, Canadian Solar and Pratt and Whitney all scored the highest when it comes to offering interesting job content. The top three companies scored high on factors that are key to the younger generation: career progression (Microsoft), giving back to society (Canadian Solar), and use of the latest in technology (Microsoft and Canadian Solar).

The Randstad Employer Brand Research surveyed more than 175,000 respondents on 5,755 companies in 30 countries. The research was conducted by Randstad’s international research partner Kantar TNS and respondents for the 2018 research were polled in November and December 2017.