The 50 Best Workplaces for Recent College Graduates

These companies stand apart by offering a level playing field and ample opportunity for advancement—and they enjoy competitive advantages.

May 24, 2016 (San Francisco, Calif.) – New college graduates have a lot at stake in their first post-university jobs. The organizations they join offer the chance for them to hone their hard-earned skills while exploring how they can make the most of their abilities in the years ahead.

Likewise, businesses adding to their ranks must help graduates find their place in a company's culture to keep them engaged and progressing toward their full potential. With that in mind, research and consulting firm Great Place to Work® is excited to announce the country's 50 Best Workplaces for Recent College Graduates with Fortune magazine. This first-of-its-kind ranking analyzed responses from hundreds of thousands of employee surveys, along with companies' job prospects for recent grads, to identify the most welcoming environments for the next generation of talent.

"There's no substitute for frequent, constructive feedback from managers – particularly for new employees," said Kim Peters, Executive Vice President of Great Place to Work®. "The best workplaces offer recent graduates the opportunity to explore their new skills while providing a transparent path for career advancement. And it turns out great cultures for new grads lead to competitive advantages overall, including a more collaborative, committed workforce."

Engineering and environmental science firm Engeo led the list, with consulting firm ALKU ranking second, followed by planning and design firm Kimley-Horn. Click here to see all 50 winners. These companies set themselves apart with their thorough professional development, fair promotion practices, equitable pay and a sense of purpose among their employees. For example:

• In addition to assigning new hires a "go-to guy/gal" to help them adjust to life at the company, Engeo gives recent grads the chance to explore new teams and assignments through an exchange program among its 11 offices.

• Team members at ALKU take part in weekly skills development meetings where they share their strengths and encourage each other to pursue new professional challenges.

• Kimley-Horn offers new graduates genuine buy-in from day one, with profit sharing and a two-to-one company match for 401(k) contributions available to all full-time employees.

• AgileThought, a custom software consultancy, uses small, innovation-focused groups to incorporate employees in program development. They give team members the chance to freely share ideas and take ownership of the business strategies they work on.

These companies and the other Best Workplaces for Recent College Graduates surpassed some 600 other organizations Certified by Great Place to Work® when it comes to features most relevant to people beginning their careers. And these companies enjoy a number of competitive advantages compared to their peers:

• Employees at businesses on the list were substantially more likely to say they can count on colleagues to cooperate and were more likely to report that their colleagues are willing to give extra when needed to get the job done, compared to people at peer companies.

• The winning organizations reported 26 percent growth in their payrolls over a one-year period, compared to 21 percent among Great Place to Work®-certified companies that didn't make the list.

• The winners were also less likely to lose employees, reporting 9 percent voluntary turnover among full-time team members, compared to 12 percent at peer companies.

The Best Workplaces for Recent College Graduates also stood above the rest for employees' survey responses related to their leadership. Roughly nine in 10 employees at the winning companies agreed their managers are approachable, make expectations clear and keep people informed about important changes.

The Best Workplaces for Recent College Graduates is one of a series of rankings by Great Place to Work® and Fortune based upon employee survey feedback from Great Place to Work®-certified organizations.

About The Best Workplaces for Recent College Graduates

The Best Workplaces for Recent College Graduates is a "best of the best" ranking. The winners come from the universe of companies who are certified this year by Great Place to Work® as great workplaces and have published Great Place to Work Reviews, meaning they are serious about creating a great workplace and comfortable with transparency. To create this list, Great Place to Work® surveyed employees at these companies, who answered a detailed questionnaire considering everything from the meaning behind their work, to their development opportunities and whether they receive a fair share of the company's profits.

The workplaces that appear on this list are not only actively hiring college graduates - they also have great cultures. To create the rankings, we considered employees' survey feedback on the workplace experiences that matter to recent graduates, as well as the company's job growth and the extent to which they hire recent college graduates. These three elements result in a total score for each company, with those companies receiving the highest scores earning a place on the list.

About Great Place to Work®

Great Place to Work® is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through proprietary assessment tools, advisory services and certification programs, including Best Workplaces lists and workplace reviews, Great Place to Work® provides the benchmarks, framework and expertise needed to create, sustain and recognize outstanding workplace cultures. In the United States, Great Place to Work® produces the annual Fortune "100 Best Companies to Work For®" list and a series of Great Place to Work® Best Workplaces lists, including lists for millennials, women, diversity, small and medium companies and over a half dozen different industries.

Follow Great Place to Work® online at greatplacetowork.com and on Twitter at @GPTW_US.

Contact: Ann Nadeau, Chief Marketing Officer, Great Place to Work®
Phone: (+1) 415-844-2500
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