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Where do college grads most want to work? Goldman Sachs (GS)? Bank of America (BAC)? Nope. The Walt Disney Co.(DIS), according to a new survey.
In the annual poll of undergrads by Philadelphia-based Universum Communications, Disney headed a list of the most desirable companies to work for. Other top places to work include Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Computer (AAPL) and, believe it or not, the FBI. (See tables below.)
LAID-BACK. The survey of 37,000 members of the class of 2006 indicated that there's more to life than the corner office. They listed work-life balance as their first priority and named companies known for their employee-friendly vibe as favorite employers. Other top priorities cited by undergrads were the pursuit of further education, a sound financial base, and contributing to society.
The laid-back culture of many tech companies is a reflection of the desires of this new generation, said Universum CEO Claudia Tattanelli. "The Google effect will happen more and more," she predicts. The companies that will succeed in procuring young talent, says Tattanelli, are those who are best able to accommodate the needs of young people.
The Universum ranking of ideal employers is based on students' selection of their five top picks from 189 companies that were frequently mentioned by students in the previous annual survey. The research company releases results for all undergraduate majors and also breaks out the preferences of liberal arts, engineering, science, and business majors.
FAVORITE BRANDS. The lists provide a glimpse into the generational preferences, economic influences, and general "buzz factor" that contributes to a company's reputation as an employer. And undergraduate business majors, for the most part, followed suit with their counterparts studying other subjects. Disney was ranked both the top company overall and for undergraduate business majors, and it was the only company to make the top 10 on every list. "It's such a strong brand. It's always had a place in the hearts of a lot of people," says Tattanelli. She notes that Disney's ownership of Pixar, known for a culture of innovation, is also a key selling point. Companies such as eBay (EBAY), Amazon (AMZN), and Virgin also cracked the top 50 on the business majors' list.
But there were some noticeable differences between the business and other majors. The Big Four accounting firms dropped an average of almost 16 spots with all undergraduates after a particularly impressive showing in 2005, when all were in the top 15. Not surprisingly, accounting and i-banking fared better with business undergrads than with the overall population. Those kinds of companies comprised 50% of the top10 list for business undergraduates, while the two industries didn't make an appearance on the overall ranking's top 10 list.
Big-name businesses are appealing because of the future they can afford their employees. "I really wanted to work for a large company. You can't beat the opportunities," says John Morley, an accounting major who recently graduated from the Marriott School at Brigham Young University. "Right out of college, you really need to go for the best you can get because it sets you up for life." Morley is an associate consultant at Bain & Co. in its Dallas office.
As the "Google culture" catches on, more business students are looking at technology companies. Students say the tech industry offers other advantages as well. Aki Balogh, a junior at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, will be interning in marketing at Microsoft this summer and hopes to make a career in the tech sector. "The industry is something that has a high profit margin, so the companies I want to work for have a lot of financial resources," says Balogh.
B-schoolers, boosting the FBI from No. 20 to No. 10, seem to be intrigued by government agencies, too. (On the overall undergrad list, the CIA and the U.S. State Dept. ranked in the top 5, along with the FBI) . A well-known brand could partially account for the appeal of the governmental sector, which has recently been glamorized by such television shows as 24 and Alias. "[The shows have] highlighted a possibility in the government they never saw before," says Tatanelli. A government job also offers the chance to serve the greater good, another trait often associated with the current generation of grads.
SOCIAL CONSCIENCE.The 27% of undergrads who listed "contributing to society" as one of their top three career goals is a particularly telling statistic, considering this focus on community wasn't even on the radar a year ago. Universum added "contributing to society" to survey options for top career goals only after hundreds of students pencilled it in on the 2005 survey. As social entrepreneurship becomes more popular, business students are seeing this mindset presented in the classroom and in the corporate world.
Ethics courses and discussions might also be making a difference (see BW, 5/8/06, "Giving Back is an Expectation") Nearly 40% of undergrads in the survey chose high ethical standards as the most significant factor when determining what company to work for, whereas the financial strength of a company only received 26% of the vote. Money might not make the world go round after all -- at least not for the soon-to-graduate.
Gerdes is a reporter for BusinessWeek in New York. BusinessWeek Online Project Assistant Julie Gordon contributed to this report.
IDEAL EMPLOYERS FOR ALL UNDERGRADUATES
Company
2006 Rank
2006 %
2005 Rank
Walt Disney
1
11.2%
17
Google
2
9.1%
152*
U.S. Department of State
3
8.5%
36
Federal Bureau of Investigation
4
8.0%
10
Central Intelligence Agency
5
7.6%
9
Microsoft
6
6.7%
8
Apple Computer
7
6.4%
13
Johnson & Johnson
8
6.2%
5
BMW
9
5.8%
1
Sony
10
5.4%
34
PricewaterhouseCoopers
11
5.3%
2
Nike
12
5.2%
22
Mayo Clinic
13
5.0%
50
Procter & Gamble
14
4.7%
32
Pfizer
15
4.7%
26
Ernst & Young
16
4.5%
3
Boeing
17
4.5%
4
Lockheed Martin Corporation
18
4.5%
16
Coca-Cola
19
4.3%
7
Starbucks
20
4.0%
181*
Merrill Lynch
21
4.0%
11
IBM
22
4.0%
12
Goldman Sachs
23
4.0%
18
Deloitte
24
4.0%
6
General Electric
25
3.9%
20
National Security Agency
26
3.8%
47
L'OrŽal
27
3.7%
31
Amazon.com
28
3.7%
24
Bank of America
29
3.7%
19
Gap Inc.
30
3.4%
48
Time Warner Inc.
31
3.3%
170
Target
32
3.3%
46
Anheuser-Busch
33
3.2%
23
Intel
34
3.1%
38
JPMorgan Investment Bank
35
3.1%
-
3M
36
3.0%
21
KPMG
37
3.0%
14
Morgan Stanley
38
3.0%
25
Hilton Hotels Corporation
39
3.0%
172*
American Airlines
40
2.8%
37
GlaxoSmithKline
41
2.8%
49
Virgin
42
2.7%
-
Toyota
43
2.7%
57
Merck
44
2.6%
56
Electronic Arts
45
2.6%
178*
JPMorgan Chase
46
2.5%
15
Citigroup
47
2.5%
29
Dell
48
2.4%
28
PepsiCo
49
2.3%
27
General Motors
50
2.2%
33
Southwest Airlines
51
2.2%
53
Marriott
52
2.2%
54
eBay
53
2.2%
-
Abbott
54
2.1%
43
Yahoo!
55
2.0%
86
American Express
56
2.0%
30
McKinsey & Company
57
2.0%
66
ExxonMobil
58
1.9%
44
Lilly (Eli Lilly and Company)
59
1.9%
87
Ford Motor Company
60
1.8%
42
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
61
1.8%
177*
NestlŽ
62
1.7%
77
McGraw-Hill Companies
63
1.7%
-
Raytheon
64
1.7%
73
The Boston Consulting Group
65
1.6%
82
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
66
1.6%
-
Adobe Systems
67
1.6%
62
Accenture
68
1.6%
39
Shell Oil Company
69
1.6%
71
Genentech
70
1.6%
171*
The Hershey Company
71
1.6%
60
DuPont
72
1.5%
67
Best Buy
73
1.5%
41
Hewlett-Packard
74
1.5%
51
U.S. Customs Border Protection
75
1.5%
59
Northrop Grumman Corporation
76
1.5%
65
Deutsche Bank
77
1.4%
45
Bain & Company
78
1.4%
63
AMD
79
1.4%
186*
Honda R&D Americas
80
1.4%
79
Kraft Foods
81
1.4%
81
Bayer
82
1.4%
-
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
83
1.4%
117
DaimlerChrysler
84
1.4%
74
Lehman Brothers
85
1.4%
76
Wachovia Corporation
86
1.3%
83
Caterpillar
87
1.3%
182*
General Mills
88
1.3%
61
Fidelity Investments
89
1.2%
70
Wal-Mart Stores
90
1.2%
35
UBS Investment Bank
91
1.2%
92
Rolls-Royce North America
92
1.2%
95
Limited Brands
93
1.2%
-
Harrah's Entertainment
94
1.2%
-
Texas Instruments Incorporated
95
1.2%
-
Bristol-Myers Squibb
96
1.2%
64
Siemens
97
1.2%
40
Bose Corporation
98
1.1%
78
Motorola
99
1.1%
80
Dow Chemical
100
1.1%
108
IDEAL EMPLOYERS FOR UNDERGRAD BUSINESS MAJORS
Company
Rank
%
Rank
Walt Disney
1
14.0%
15
PricewaterhouseCoopers
2
10.7%
1
Ernst & Young
3
9.0%
2
Google
4
8.3%
153*
Deloitte
5
7.8%
3
Nike
6
7.0%
14
Merrill Lynch
7
6.9%
7
Goldman Sachs
8
6.8%
9
Apple Computer
9
6.6%
19
Federal Bureau of Investigation
10
6.6%
20
BMW
11
6.3%
4
KPMG
12
6.2%
5
Coca-Cola
13
6.2%
6
U.S. Department of State
14
6.1%
37
Sony
15
5.9%
34
Bank of America
16
5.8%
10
Microsoft
17
5.8%
17
Procter & Gamble
18
5.7%
22
JPMorgan Investment Bank
19
5.6%
-
Central Intelligence Agency
20
5.4%
27
Johnson & Johnson
21
5.4%
11
Starbucks
22
5.3%
177*
Morgan Stanley
23
5.2%
12
Target
24
4.7%
41
Hilton Hotels Corporation
25
4.6%
164*
L'OrŽal
26
4.6%
28
Gap Inc.
27
4.5%
39
Time Warner Inc.
28
4.5%
169
Citigroup
29
4.5%
13
JPMorgan Chase
30
4.3%
8
Anheuser-Busch
31
4.3%
16
Amazon.com
32
3.8%
31
Virgin
33
3.4%
-
Marriott
34
3.4%
38
PepsiCo
35
3.2%
25
American Express
36
3.2%
18
General Electric
37
2.9%
26
Southwest Airlines
38
2.8%
44
McKinsey & Company
39
2.8%
51
American Airlines
40
2.8%
36
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
41
2.7%
-
IBM
42
2.7%
24
3M
43
2.6%
23
Electronic Arts
44
2.6%
184*
National Security Agency
45
2.5%
73
Dell
46
2.5%
30
Lehman Brothers
47
2.4%
48
eBay
48
2.4%
-
Boeing
49
2.4%
21
Fidelity Investments
50
2.3%
45
Gerdes is a reporter for BusinessWeek in New York.
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