So we have the “Best Companies” list, with Google on top. Then there are the top scholars in school, who pick, yes, Google. Universum’s respondents — they seem to like, you guessed it, Google.This is a good time for a wager that whoever’ll be at the top of a new list coming out today, this one from LinkedIn on the 10 most popular companies for students and recent grads, will rhyme with frugal.
LinkedIn didn’t do a survey. It did analysis, seeing who “follows” which company on LinkedIn, how many job-listing views there are, and which member profiles people view. You can question the criteria, as I have in some emails to LinkedIn as it was working on the list (“just because you view a profile,” I asked, “does it really mean you want a job?”). Then again, there are plenty of critiques of all “best of” lists, the granddaddy Fortune included.
That disclaimer behind us, here’s what LinkedIn came up with.
Top Global Employers Among Students and Recent Grads
- Accenture
- Microsoft
- IBM
- Deloitte
- HP
- PwC
- Ernst & Young
- Oracle
- Apple
For mid-size companies of around 1,000-10,000 employees, LinkedIn found the following companies most coveted:
- MTV
- ESPN
- Boston Consulting Group
- Groupon
- Edelman
- Salesforce
- Bain
- Conde Nast
Boston Consulting Group and Facebook appear on a lot of the top 10 lists, regardless of the country of origin of the LinkedIn user. Lululemon tops the Canadian list, and Burberry the leader in the UK.