Microsoft, IBM Lead List of Most Desirable Employers

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Microsoft Corp., that oft-maligned, legally besieged giant of the software industry, is
ranked by IT professionals as the most desired employer.

IBM ranked second and the U.S. government pulled in third in techies.com survey of nearly
7,000 tech professionals, ranging from computer operators to CIOs.

”The most golden employers are in the West,” according to a spokesman for Techies.com.
”Fourteen of the top 50 most desired employers are headquartered west of the Rocky
Mountains. Although the majority of the region’s employers are in the Bay Area, another
handful of top 50 companies are scattered from Phoenix to Seattle.”

The New England and New York region isn’t hurting, though. Seven of the top 50 are located there.

But job confidence isn’t high.

Of those who picked Microsoft as their dream employer, only 26% think they have a ‘good or excellent’ chance of actually getting a job there. They’re more confidant about their goals to work at IBM, though. The study shows that 37% of them say their chances are `good or better’ at working for the New York-based company.

The greatest number of jobseekers say competition is too stiff right now for them to be able to get into their dream job. Thirty-nine percent say competition is too tough to get a job at their ideal company. Another 20% complain of not having contacts in the company and 13% fear they don’t qualify. Another 3% say they wouldn’t fit into the culture and only .5% say the work hours would be too long.

And why they want to work for a particular company or organization is as varied as the
strength of their beliefs that it actually can happen.

According to the survey, 16% of IT workers list ‘stability’ as the main reason they want to work for a particular company. For IBM, 19% say stability is the main draw to work there.

This isn’t the case with Microsoft or for Cisco, which ranked fourth in the survey. Nearly 20% of those who want to work for Microsoft listed their top reason as either ‘interesting and challenging work’. Another 20% listed `cutting-edge technology’ as their top reason. For those picking Cisco, 25% noted ‘interesting and challenging work’ and 24% listed ‘cutting-edge technology’.

When it comes to companies like Walt Disney (ranked ninth) and Dell Computer (ranked
eighth), future employees are focused on the core business. Accordign to the study, 26% of those techies hoping to work for Dell said it’s because they `admire its products and
services’. Twenty-two pick Disney for the same reason.