diff --git a/Classes/Domain/Model/JobApplication.php b/Classes/Domain/Model/JobApplication.php
index d9873857ce2f8c178e8fa199706c5e2631450b7b..b707d21bad7dd0d405e21f30e53a52a20c9db48c 100644
--- a/Classes/Domain/Model/JobApplication.php
+++ b/Classes/Domain/Model/JobApplication.php
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ class JobApplication extends AbstractEntity {
 	/**
 	 * @param Company $company
 	 */
-	public function setCompany(Company $company) {
+	public function setCompany(Company $company = NULL) {
 		$this->company = $company;
 	}
 
diff --git a/Resources/Private/Templates/Joblist/ApplyForm.html b/Resources/Private/Templates/Joblist/ApplyForm.html
index d2aae792cfeb7fddebaa8da8b183c44f140866ab..8246a53969a9082784d6721f102b52a7027eb1b9 100644
--- a/Resources/Private/Templates/Joblist/ApplyForm.html
+++ b/Resources/Private/Templates/Joblist/ApplyForm.html
@@ -61,10 +61,16 @@
 				<f:then>
 					<div class="form-group">
 						<label for="apply-company"><f:translate key="frontend.apply.company" /></label>
-						<f:form.select class="form-control" property="company" id="apply-company" multiple="0" size="1"
-							optionValueField="uid" optionLabelField="name" options="{companies}"
-						/>
-						<f:form.validationResults for="applyData.location">
+						<label for="apply-company"><f:translate key="frontend.apply.company" /></label>
+						<f:form.select property="company" multiple="0" size="1"
+							id="apply-company"
+							class="form-control"
+							options="{companies}"
+							optionLabelField="city"
+							optionValueField="uid"
+							prependOptionLabel="{f:translate(key:'frontend.apply.country.empty')}" />
+
+						<f:form.validationResults for="applyData.company">
 							<ul class="sg-jobs-validation-error parsley-errors-list filled">
 								<f:for each="{validationResults.errors}" as="error">
 									<li class="parsley-required">{error.message}</li>