Internships and companies: the ChooseMyCompany ranking

The job-hunting platform ChooseMyCompany just released its 8^th annual survey HappyIndexTrainees ranking companies where students had their best pre-professional experience as interns. About 37,000 students in internship or work-study course in over 700 companies answered a series of questions at the end of their mission. Four well-known companies, Decathlon, EDF and BNP Paribas (tie with Cap Gemini), lead the first steps of the podium in the categories of companies employing more than 1,000 interns per year.

ChooseMyCompany is a job-hunting platform that has been releasing various rankings for over ten years. Rankings target training courses and job market opportunities that allow “companies and school to develop”. Among the various rankings is the HappyIndexTrainees survey, targeting the first work experiences in a company, a ranking that wakes every year a lot of interest among students looking to apply and complete an internship (or a work-study course).

Diversity and originality of labelled companies

For more readability, ChooseMyCompany has introduced several filters in its ranking, and the first is the number of interns that may be taken in companies. The HappyTrainees label is awarded to professional structures providing a good professional stepping stone, which is a good opportunity to present an overview of the most iconic French organisations, but also more discrete small companies and dynamic start-ups. To be noted that two additional filters allow to choose or cross-reference companies by region or industry.

Large companies

In the category of large companies, i. e. those that can employ over 1,000 interns (or alternates in work-study programme), the leading group wasn’t much of a surprise compared to last year. Decathlon (retail/sports equipment), EDF (energy/environment) and BNP Paribas (banking/insurance), tied with Cap Gemini (consulting firm), take over the podium. 

Similarly, in the industry of large and well-known companies having employed 500 to 1,000 interns, we find Michelin (tyres/automotive equipment) for the 3^rd year running, followed by Danone (dairy/food products) and Schneider Electric France (energy/environment).

Medium-sized companies

In the category of companies hosting less than 100 students per year, La Française des jeux (gambling and bets), tied with Heineken (beverages/liquids), and L'Occitane Group (cosmetics), tied with SAP Digital Manufacturing, form the top quartet.

Small companies and start-ups

Among the companies employing between 1 and 20 interns per year, the majority are start-ups from the tech industry. These include specialised companies such as Pay&Co, Ogury, Samdoc, Arondor, Synetis etc. The same profile of companies, with the addition of small banking or insurance groups, can be found for the entities employing less than 50 interns.

A methodology based entirely on student responses

To design this ranking of the “best companies for an internship”, ChooseMyCompany assigns a score that values the best performance. This performance, the platform stresses, “must be reliable and representative” and therefore “the participation rate is strongly taken into account”.

It is the interns who answer the survey, either spontaneously on the website or through a questionnaire proposed by the employer. The questionnaire, consisting of 18 questions, makes it possible to calculate two values, the participation rate and, above all, the recommendation rate, assessed through the fundamental statement “I would recommend my company to a friend to do an internship there”. About 37,000 intern and work-study students in more than 700 companies gave their opinion at the end of their assignment to evaluate professional progress, the work environment, motivation, management, pride and pleasure at work!

To know more: 

- Check out the ChooseMyCompany rankings

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