Most attractive professions and companies - This is where Germany's talents work

In times of a shortage of skilled workers, more and more companies are competing for the best applicants on the job market. A new study by "candidate select" (CASE) has now evaluated which industries have been able to assert themselves in the competition for high-performing talent.

To do this, the Bonn-based CV analysis tech company examined more than 1.5 million public employee profiles and created a list that shows where the smartest university graduates work.

The biotech and healthcare sector performs best. Companies such as Novartis, Wacker Chemie and Biontech are represented in the upper area. Merck and Bayer are in the middle, the Fresenius Group at the bottom end of the ranking.

The consulting industry with well-known names such as the Boston Consulting Group or McKinsey follows in second place. The third place is taken by the IT industry with companies such as HP and Nokia. Corporations such as Google, SAP and Oracle form the midfield. This is followed by mechanical engineering with OHB and Osram in the top places, ahead of Airbus, the Carl Zeiss Group and Siemens.

The key German industry, the car manufacturer, only manages sixth place. BMW is among the top 10 here, brands such as Audi and Daimler land in the middle. Opel occupies one of the last places.

At the bottom of the industry comparison of the highest-performing workers are retail, tourism and finally media and marketing.

In order to be able to validly compare the performance levels of employees, the study includes other criteria in addition to the type and level of educational qualifications. For example, it is recorded how hard the grades are in individual departments and at certain universities. "The grade itself says little about the actual quality of an educational qualification," says Philipp Seegers, CASE founder and CEO.

In addition, the study includes cognitive performance and personality tests of 385,000 surveyed students. The evaluation is based on a total of 659 selected companies.

Guido Friebel, Professor of Management and Microeconomics at the University of Frankfurt, welcomes the analysis of the CASE study in principle. "For a long time, many have wondered how meaningful grades and degrees actually are in themselves". The approach of making grades from different departments and universities easier to compare is important.

In the USA, such algorithm-based data comparisons are much more advanced. For German employees and companies, such studies provide a lot of useful information to better orient themselves on the job market.

For CASE boss Philipp Seegers, the results are not only meaningful for recruiters: For employees, the question is: "Do I want to measure myself against the best or do I prefer a less performance-oriented environment?" If that doesn't motivate you or if you don't want to compete, have the opportunity to be or become one of the best in other areas.

With less competition, faster advancement and career opportunities could also be realizable. Because the pay is particularly good in the STEM sectors such as biotech, IT and engineering, the competition for applicants and the demand for qualifications is also the highest here.

For example, employees in poorly performing occupational fields such as media and marketing are less efficient. The degree is also less important. Seegers says: "Skills such as creativity and language talent may play a much greater role."

On the other hand, not every company intends to hire the best qualified workforce. And companies that want to do better, believes Seegers, then have to tweak their own recruiting process and make more attractive offers.

The makers is the WELT career podcast. In the six-part special “Quoten-Frauen?!” the business journalists Inga Michler and Anja Ettel portray the powerful women who are fighting their way to the top of the Dax corporations.