Methodology

 

The aim of the Top Graduate Employers list is to recognise those organisations which provide the most positive experience for their new graduates as determined by the graduates themselves.

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The Top Graduate Employers lists were determined based on responses captured in the 2025 AAGE Graduate Survey conducted across November and December 2024.



The survey received just over 4,100 responses from current graduates who joined their employer’s graduate program in 2024 and have up to 12 months experience with this organisation.



The survey is completed anonymously, and graduates are asked to rate their employer on around 31 different categories including:



• Orientation or induction program

• Training and development program

• Quality of work

• Career progression

• Support and guidance from supervisor, manager and HR

• Access to mentoring and networking

• Compensation and benefits

• Work/life balance

• The opportunity for community involvement

• Company culture



All the individual responses from graduates at a particular employer are combined and used to determine an overall average rating for that organisation. This same process is followed for each separate employer to produce an overall average rating for each organisation based on the responses of its own graduates. Employers have been ranked in one of three lists of 25 based on their intake size, enabling improved comparability and usability.

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The overall average ratings are grouped by intake size and then compared and ranked to produce three lists being:

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• Top 25 Graduate Employers (Small: Less than 20 graduate intake)

• Top 25 Graduate Employers (Medium: 21-70 graduate intake)

• Top 25 Graduate Employers (Large: 71+ graduate intake)

 

A total of 75 employers are featured across these three lists and are the Top Graduate Employers for 2025.

 

This analysis of responses from graduates provides a comprehensive measurement of each employer's performance across a broad range of criteria. 

 

The use of overall average ratings (subject to a minimum number of responses) and lists categorised by intake size, results in fair and objective lists and enables improved comparability and usability. 



The Top Graduate Employer lists do not include every employer that is actively recruiting in the Australian market. Some employers did not participate in the 2025 AAGE Graduate Survey and therefore we have no data to determine a rating. Other employers did participate in this survey but did not have a sufficiently high response rate or decided to opt out of consideration for the list.

 

The survey is conducted by the Australian Association of Graduate Employers (AAGE), the peak industry body for the graduate recruitment and development market.​