THE BEST PLACE TO WORK

Google Is No. 1 on List Of Desired Employers

One in four young professionals wants to work at Google Inc., according to a survey by Universum, a consulting firm that helps companies improve their attractiveness to prospective employees.
Nearly 25% of survey respondents picked Google, almost twice as many as chose Apple Inc., which ranked second. Walt Disney Co., the U.S. State Department and Amazon.com Inc. rounded out the top five. (more after the break)


To conduct the survey, Universum asked 10,306 young professionals—defined as college graduates with one to eight years of work experience—to pick as many as five ideal employers out of a list of 150. Respondents also could write in companies not on the list. The top write-in was Facebook Inc., followed by the Department of Homeland Security and the United Nations.
Young professionals generally want to work at companies that the professionals like as consumers, said Kasia Do, a project manager for Universum. Such people also appear to be drawn to companies that seem financially strong and can offer job stability, Ms. Do said.
Google, in particular, has tailored the image it projects to potential employees, said John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University.
The company regularly hosts open houses and tech-related talks in areas where it wants to recruit, said Yolanda Mangolini, director of outreach programs for Google. "It's incredibly powerful and helps them imagine themselves at Google," she said. The company also runs blogs, Twitter feeds and YouTube channels that try to show what it's like to work there, she said.
Government agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, also ranked in the top 10. That might be in part because the federal government hasn't laid off as many employees as the private sector has, Ms. Do said.
Plus, "Those government agencies can articulate a reason for being that gives employees a sense of purpose," said Jon Picoult of brand consultant Watermark Consulting. "For young people looking to make a difference in the world, they have a good story to tell."
While the top 10 on the list featured several high-tech companies, few young professionals likely have the skills to win jobs at such employers. According to the Education Department, the top majors for the class of 2008 were business, health sciences and social sciences and history. About nine times as many people majored in business in the class of 2008 as majored in computer science.