The 10 companies young people in Europe want to work for the most

They say that if you enjoy your job, you'll never have to work a day in your life. But only a handful of the brightest hopefuls will be able to fend off the competition and land their dream job with the world's most attractive employers.

Employer branding specialists Universum surveyed over 180,000 business, engineering, and IT students from Europe's 12 largest economies and put together an official ranking of the most desirable employers on the continent.

The majority of business students, who came from countries including the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, named Google as the company they would most like to work for, while L'Oreal and Microsoft ranked second and third, respectively. For Engineering and IT students, Google drops down to fourth place to make way for IBM, which is followed by Siemens and BMW Group.

Claudia Tattanelli, Universum's Global Director, told Business Insider via email what she thinks makes Google so attractive to job-seekers around the globe.

Tatanelli explained:

They [Google] were the first ones who really invented the concept of a true progressive working environment: flexible working environments, cool office spaces where you can really feel at home at work. There's free food, game rooms, no dress code and you can bring your pet to work."

If we look at their recruiting tagline: join us to do cool things that matter, it truly gives their future employees a sense of what the purpose of the company is - a real must when communicating to this generation.

The study also revealed that a work-life balance and the opportunity for international travel are key factors in Millenials choosing where they'd like to work, whilst being stuck in a career without development opportunities is their greatest fear.

See the full list below: