Undergrads Give Feds Thumbs-Up

Maybe the multiple ongoing efforts to market the federal government as a great place to work are having some effect. A new survey out this week shows that undergraduates at American universities rank several federal agencies among the top career destinations. In the survey, conducted by Universum, a firm that specializes in helping companies market themselves to potential employees, the State Department, the CIA, the FBI and the Peace Corps all ranked among the Top 10 prospective employers.

Here are the top 10 rankings:

1. Google
2. Walt Disney
3. Apple Computer
4. State Department
5. Peace Corps
6. CIA
7. PricewaterhouseCoopers
8. Microsoft
9. FBI
10. Teach for America

More than 44,000 students from 184 colleges and universities took part in the survey.

Among liberal arts students, federal agencies took three of the top five slots. The other two went to Teach for America and Google. Weirdly, Google also took fifth place in the "Best Government/Public Service agency" category.

The agencies that scored well are either those that have a strong public profile or a demonstrated social service ethic. “The new rankings reflect a shift in undergraduates’ mindsets when it comes to their careers,” said Universum USA CEO Claudia Tattanelli. “The millennial generation’s outlook on career is quite complex." It'll be interesting if this outlook extends to careers in other federal agencies.