As companies do more of their hiring online, their human resources departments are spending a lot of time thinking about how to appeal to job seekers across industry and geographic lines.
The business networking site LinkedIn, with more than 300 million users and a billion interactions with companies, has one of the largest data sets, and its yearly ranking of the most “in demand” companies in North America offers some useful insights on which companies succeed in advertising themselves as employers. The report uses LinkedIn’s data, including how often people view employee profiles, how members interact with company pages, and whether they share and like a company’s posts.
The rise of the tech industry is extremely visible in the rankings, taking up the first 5 spots. Google and Apple were ranked 1 and 2 for the second consecutive year. Finance is notably absent from the ranking, with Blackrock the only firm to crack the top 30. Goldman Sachs was ranked 49th.
Leading the pack are the companies that not only are growing rapidly and making interesting technology, but are hiring well beyond their original wheelhouse of computer science and engineers. These companies increasingly need expertise in sales and business, among other things, making them viable options for a broader group of jobseekers. Google’s reputation for spectacular perks and beautifully designed office spaces doesn’t hurt.
According to Adobe’s VP for talent selection, Jeff Vijungco, it’s not just about free lunch in an elegant cafeteria. The best work environments focus on leaders and putting the right people together. Adobe, which came in 24th in this year’s rankings, puts a lot of thought into hiring and developing leaders that have high emotional intelligence and empathy, he said.
We have a very rigorous interview and filtering process, and emphasize the strength of words,” Vijungco told Quartz. “We’re listening very acutely to the way people use words: Are they positive? Are they inclusive?”
The millennial generation in particular is more inclined to value a company that they think is trying to change the world, according to a Brookings Institution study. They’re also not big fans of banks.
Here were the top 30: