Why do newly graduated students choose to apply for jobs in small cities? : A Bachelor thesis exploring what newly graduated students consider being an attractive employer in a small city.

Background: Employer branding is a concept that describes a company's reputation as a work place. Working with the employer brand can help companies to attract talented employees and also retain them in the company. It is therefore important that companies understand what makes an employer attractive in order to appeal and retain employees. This is important especially for businesses that are located in small cities since it can be challenging for them to attract talent there. Urbanization has led to smaller areas being less populated and that graduated students are least prone to move to these areas. Thus, it is important to make smaller cities and areas more attractive to make the graduates move there. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is therefore to explore what factors graduated students consider attractive in an employer in a small city. Methodology: This thesis used a qualitative and deductive approach. In order to solve the purpose and answer the research question, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted through Zoom with a non-probability sampling that were chosen by the researchers. However, before conducting the interviews, the researchers did some theoretical research and discovered six factors that represented employer attractiveness (See Figure 1). These factors became the basis of the study and a foundation when constructing the questions for the interviews. Findings: The findings of this thesis showed that the factors that were most important; flexibility, salary, leadership, career possibilities, working culture and recruitment