The three most attractive employers are pharma companies Krka and Lek and pharma wholesaler Kemofarmacija, showed the survey, presented at the managers' conference in Portorož last night.

The trio is followed by the Danish-owned heating valves maker Danfoss Trata, exhaust pipe maker Akrapovič, energy company Petrol, power producer HSE and the Heineken-owned brewery Pivovarna Laško Union.

The top ten of the 100 large companies assessed by job seekers is rounded off by car dealership Porsche Slovenija and worker-owned electric motors maker Domel.

The most appealing industries among Slovenia's biggest companies remain pharmaceuticals, followed by telecommunications (A1 in 12th and Telekom Slovenije in 14th) and energy.

The survey, conducted by Ninamedia for Competo and Stratkom, showed that the most important factors for job seekers are that the job is interesting and that it offers career development prospects.

Employers in Slovenia received the lowest marks for inter-personal relationships, but scored highest in terms of the interesting nature of work and the company's reputation.

The survey showed that the larger the company the worse the personal relationships and the less appealing the earnings.

Headhunting competition is increasingly fierce with projections showing that Slovenia will be the world's ninth oldest country by 2030. The country is expected to reach zero employment with between 50,000 and 60,000 as early as 2019.

"Slovenia has globally attractive companies which get offers from talents from around the world. We also have companies that virtually no one will work for," said Dejan Verčič of communication group Stratkom.

He said the appeal was linked to the development of the economy and community where Slovenia is more attractive than Croatia and less than Hungary.

Meanwhile, Slovenia is not very good at taking advantage of its friendly natural and living environment and its lifestyle, which Verčič described as a mix Germanic orderliness with Mediterranean ease.

Matic Vošnjak, director and partner at headhunting firm Competo, said that Slovenia's economy was attractive but that there was still much room for improvement.