March 2009
Marching with This Year's
"Best Companies to Work For" Winners!
By
President of Workforce Associates
March 2009
Marching with This Year's
"Best Companies to Work For" Winners!
By
President of Workforce Associates
The Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For 2009 list was just released last month. It is a must-read publication for all job hunters and HR professionals to see how the most progressive companies are still actively recruiting and retaining their talented workforces--in spite of this tough economy and heavy competition.
This year, the Fortune list includes a wide variety of companies across the country, although many of them tend to be centered in the Northeast, Texas, and California. A new feature that Fortune has added is easy tabs to find these 100 best companies around the country. Or if you're interested, they also include tabs that spotlight the perks that these companies are offering.
As you might expect, health benefits still remain the top perk that new and current employees are looking for. Telecommuting, gay benefits, and sabbaticals are still offered widely.
Take a look at a sample of these human capital winners:
1) Financial companies: Edward Jones, Goldman Sachs, Robert Baird of MilwaukeeAnd, for the very first time, an educational institution has made it on this coveted list: Vanderbilt University, which is the only winner who provides extensive tuition assistance--understandably--as one of its major benefits,.and many more.
2) Hoteliers: Four Seasons Hotels, Marriott International, and Kimpton Hotels of San Francisco
3) Software and hardware leaders: NetApp; Google; Cisco, Adobe, Qualcomm, SAS, Intuit, eBay
4) Food operations businesses: Whole Foods Market, Wegmans Food Market, and Starbucks
5) Construction business: TD Industries of Dallas; PCL Construction Enterprises of Denver;
6) Health care leaders: Ohio Health, Methodist Hospital in Houston, King's Daughter Medical Center in Kentucky, Mayo Clinic, Lehigh Valley Hospital in Pennsylvania; Northwest Community Hospital in Chicago
7) Retailers: Nordstrom, Recreational Equipment (REI), Container Store, Zappos of Henderson, NV
8) Manufacturers: W.L. Gore of Delaware, General Mills, Mattel
9) Transportation and logistics guru: FedEx
10) Law firms and consulting companies: Boston Consulting Group, Bingham McCutchen
Check out all the hiring that's going on in these progressive firms, and, if you want a "quick and dirty" way to find current job openings through prominent job board scrapping technology, try this site.
Let's take a look at several of the newcomers on this Fortune list from the perspective of a job hunter. How sophisticated and simple are the career sections on their company Web sites? How well do they explain their missions and corporate cultures to a prospective employee? What do they do that's special to keep their best employees? Here's my impression of the three newcomers:
ZapposIn sum, it's not all gloom and doom out there, but you need to be even more creative in your job search. Read my baker's dozen list of ways to tap the hidden job market that I wrote about in January. I've had dozens of comments from folks that can be summarized as follows: "I had NO idea that there were so many resources, websites, and exciting places for career opportunities - even when the economy is so sour."
Zappos is a young, vibrant online seller of a countless variety of name brand shoes, handbags, and clothes of all sizes, colors, and shapes for men and women, with a growing inventory of houseware and eyewear to check out. It's a website to check occasionally, since they add inventory continuously and provide steep discounts on the spur of the moment.
The main location of Zappos is Henderson, Nevada just outside Las Vegas. A smaller second location is in Kentucky near Louisville. Check out their jobs link and you'll find out more about their Ten Core Values plus a video that describes their hiring process. Their corporate culture is not for those who want a dull salary position with a top-down structure.
NuStar Energy
NuStar Energy is headquartered in San Antonio, NuStar has operations in Texas and along seaports on the East coast. More than one thousand professionals provide transportation of energy around the world. Their mission includes extensive community service and funds for the homeless in communities that they serve. As you can imagine, there are lots of professional positions for those in the energy field, including many different kinds of engineers plus port managers and marine pilots.
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation is located in two cities in California. This website is worth your time, even if you don't have any expertise in animation! You can watch fun videos about a day in the life of a DreamWorks professional, plus snapshots of the campuses and fun environment plus the opportunity to meet stimulating outside experts who drop by. It certainly looks like a dream come true for creative folks!
Take online classes while you have some extra time. Read widely in your field. Read even more widely in the fast growing ones - especially health, education, and green jobs that the federal government is focusing on.
See you in sunny May! I can always be reached at jlommel@WorkforceAssociates.com
Jane M. Lommel, Ph.D.
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