A new list finds where graduates want to work – away from London.

Recruiters are always keen to stay on top of emerging workplace trends. So a new study of where graduate candidates want to work should be of particular interest.

Graduate recruitment can be especially challenging for talent managers and employers. University leavers are a significant section of the talent pool, but placing these candidates requires additional considerations. Often highly educated but lacking direct in-work experience, graduates are just embarking on their careers. And, for this reason, they often have very clearly defined goals for what, where and how they want to work.

Similarly, job location plays a massive part in hiring success and graduates are a mobile part of the labour market. Many will happily relocated for the right role. Others are actively seeking a job for the sole purpose of relocating to a specific destination.

A new study, carried out by hiring platform TalentPool, studied 100,000 graduates’ employment intentions. Because London is the top destination by such a a large margin, the capital was excluded from this particular study. It means that this data is valuable to those eager to understand the working intentions of graduates in the regions.

The survey finds that a good work-life balance is vital to attracting top talent. It means that places with an appealing nightlife such as Manchester and Bristol score highly. Historical and cultural offerings help Edinburgh and Oxford attract young professionals after graduation. And places with pleasant natural surroundings like Southampton and Brighton also perform well.

There is also a clear pattern favouring some of Britain’s top university towns, too. Perhaps students are positive about the places they already know, and wish to stay on in their city of study? This underlines the value of candidate acquisition schemes run in conjunction with universities themselves as an important part of graduate hiring.

So where do Britain’s graduates want to work? The most popular working destinations for graduates (outside the capital) were:

Bristol
Oxford
Brighton
Southampton
Birmingham
Liverpool
Leeds
Edinburgh
Manchester
Nottingham

The findings echo those of a joint PwC/DEMOS poll, which also found Bristol, Oxford and Edinburgh among the most popular cities for work-life balance.