Your 2009 Most Desirable Employers

Recently we tweeted (ugh!) about the NRC being named in American University's ISPII survey as "the best place to work in the Federal Government." Thanks to TweetDeck and Twitter user kangkang for pointing us to another job satisfaction survey (published in BusinessWeek a few weeks back): Universum's annual poll of American college students and their top-100 ideal employers.

Little surprise among the top three companies: Google, Disney and Apple. The prominence of the State Department, the FBI and NASA, however, was eye-catching. As was the DOE, unranked in 2008, coming in at #22.

Some public-sector newcomers such as the Energy Dept. (No. 22) also appear to be on students' radar for the first time. Why the jump in popularity? "One thing that has helped is the message from the current Administration," says George Waldmann, director of the Employment Solutions Div. "Science and innovation is definitely a priority, and I think that has helped us in the marketing of our employment opportunities. [The Energy Dept.] is more visible."

The full list of "Most Desirable Employers," complete with their previous rankings, can be seen here.

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