Methodology

Canada's Top Campus Employer Rankings are based on an annual survey of university and college students from across Canada.  Between February and April 2011 we surveyed over 20,000 students on 130 campuses (see the complete list of respondents’ schools here). 90% of those surveyed were attending university while the other 10% were attending colleges, CEGEPs, or technical institutes.  Further profile details about the respondents are below.

The survey was conducted exclusively online and promoted primarily via direct email and, in some cases, via web links on university or college websites. More than 50 post-secondary institutions actively helped promote the survey via email. 

Based on our extensive knowledge of the campus employment market and our experience conducting the survey over the past 6 years, a list of 160 of the most active and popular employers of students was developed. This list included employers proposed for the list by students themselves in each of our past 5 annual surveys. Each year, the list is edited based on student responses.

From the list, students are first asked, “Which of these employers would you consider working for?” There is no minimum or maximum requirement for how many they select. Students can also choose to add additional employers to the list and select those. Next, students are presented with the list of employers they have chosen and asked to pick their top 5 (or fewer). 

The employer that is selected most frequently as a “top 5” by students becomes the number one ranked employer. The second most frequently selected employer is ranked as number two, and so on. 

Students' "votes" for employers may be based on experiences working for these organizations, participation in the hiring process, interactions on campus, impressions of the organizations' brands, or many other factors. Employers can do a lot to improve students' impressions of their organizations, but they cannot directly alter the ranking results in any way.