Best Places to Launch a Career

Accountants used to be spoofed as bean counters—dutiful, middle-aged, gray-suited men with considerable analytical expertise but little charisma. That was during the good times. After their uninspiring performances in the corporate scandals of recent years, accounting seemed like a profession without much of a future, and the firms certainly no place to launch a career. Scratch that. This year accountants became sexy. Accounting firms dominated BusinessWeek's second annual ranking of the best companies for new college graduates: Deloitte & Touche is No. 1, followed by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young. The last of the Big Four, KPMG, moved up four spots, to No. 11.

Why did the accounting firms do so well? Enormous demand. Across industries, there is a mad scramble to recruit the best and brightest of a new generation, the much-maligned, heavily scrutinized Gen Y. Nowhere is the pressure more intense than in the Big Four. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has so greatly increased the need for their services that the firms are facing an epic talent shortage.

That has put them in an unusual position: They are among the first to rethink how to recruit college grads, keep them happy on the job, or just keep them at all. Ernst & Young uses Facebook to let prospective employees talk freely with real ones. Deloitte will show a rap video about office life—made by interns—to give students a realistic view of the company. And PwC requires some bosses to get a second opinion on their evaluations of new hires to make sure the feedback is clear enough, the goals ambitious enough for kids who are uncomfortable with ambiguity. Welcome to the post-millennial world.

The Google Effect

Our ranking is based on three extensive surveys: of career services directors at U.S. colleges, the employers they identify as the best for new graduates, and college students themselves. This year we were able to examine the records of many more companies, which allowed us to expand our list of employers from 55 to 95 and broaden our view of the corporate landscape. Several newcomers, including PwC, IBM, and Microsoft, eclipsed last year's favorites. Walt Disney had been No. 1; this year it fell to No. 7. Last year's No. 2, Lockheed Martin, slipped to No. 9.

There were a number of surprises beyond the rise of the accounting firms. Only nine companies in the top 50 last year offered starting salaries of at least $55,000. This year twice that many pay big money; among them are the brand-name tech companies, where, thanks to the Google effect, first-year salaries now average $60,000 to $65,000 (and that's before bonuses). We also saw the three pharmaceutical companies surveyed last year fall in the rankings. Merck & Co. (MRK) (No. 49), which was in the news because of its problems with Vioxx, did poorly in the student poll.

The Top Ten Best Places to Launch a Career

*For the full list of the 95 Best Places to Launch a Career, go to BusinessWeek.

Our survey shows how some of the smartest employers are starting to deal with a new generation that expects a very different workplace from the one of their parents. The intense desire to hire young graduates is prompted by the retirement of the boomers, of course, but also the dead certainty among executives that their success marketing to youthful consumers depends on the insights of IM-ing, YouTube-watching twentysomethings who are often heralded for their tech savvy, if not much else.

The employers that did best in our ranking recognize that they have to accommodate this new generation. Many of them are trying to appeal to Gen Y by making themselves more transparent, flexible, responsive, even nurturing. Their initiatives range from the conventional (more vacation) to the questionable (a faux sitcom about office life).

So who are these people? Officially, this generation comprises the 78 million born between 1982 and 2000 who began entering the workforce three years ago. They are supposed to be the hothouse kids: praised and coddled from infancy and watched over by their parents well into adulthood. As employees, they are said to have high expectations and demand meaningful work, constructive feedback, and positions of influence within their organizations. In other words, they want a seat at the table, or they'll walk. "It is crucial for us to meet the students partway," says Ernst & Young's director of campus recruitment, Dan Black. "If you don't make an effort to provide an environment in which this generation can do their best, they're going to find one where they can."

Naturally, there are managers who don't think the special treatment is necessary. At Microsoft Corp. (No. 6), for example, interviewees visiting its headquarters are offered concierge services. A few lucky interns at Ernst & Young get to fly with the chief executive on the corporate jet to a conference in Orlando. And there are experts who believe companies are making empty promises about how much a 22-year-old can really contribute. "I don't care how brilliant you are, when you start out in a job, you're not going to run things," says Courtney E. Anderson, founder of Courtney Anderson & Associates, a firm that provides workplace consulting.

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