This is a post that I wrote last year as I was planning on launching this site months ago. Anyway, this is something to start off with. I will be posting up the 2013 Edition soon.
‘Mom and Pop’ diners are good to start with when going to college, but you don’t get the benefits that you get with a large corporation, such as health and dental insurance and the like. Also, you’re not guaranteed that that diner you’re working at will still be open for the next five years. Job security is something you’re going to need once you’ve finished college and need a means of paying off your loans.Besides, it’s much easier to get moving into your career when you already have a job to start with.
If you’re at all familiar with the Fortune 500, you’re most likely a businessman or someone who works for one of those companies. For those of you who don’t know, the Fortune 500 is a ranking of the largest, most profitable corporations in America. Out of that list, I’m going to focus on the 100 best companies to work for as of 2012 when you’re in college.
Ranking: 32
Employees: 60,213
The smallest one on this list with an employee base of only a little more than 60,000. They offer benefits such as health and dental insurance, paid time off, and 401k retirement savings. Employment also includes a 20% store discount, which is a nice little break since most of your money will be spent on room and board, tuition, textbooks, and campus fees.
Ranking: 57
Employees: 108,939
This is one with more variety and more opportunities if you ever decide to make a career out of Marriott. Benefits vary depending on the country (it isn’t specific about the U.S.), but they do offer employees room discounts and offer university students paid internship.
Ranking: 73
Emloyees: 109,477
Most companies tend to refer to their employees as family. Starbucks, on the other hand, prefers to keep it at a ‘partner’ level, because even they know that when the family gets involved, things get messy. Anyways, benefits include health insurance to part-time employees as well as full-time, stock ownership, emergency financial aid, and free coffee (1 lb. per week. Sorry, no Frappuccinos).
Ranking: 78
Emloyees: 147,760
If you live anywhere in the southeastern U.S., then you’ve most likely heard of this one. Being the 4th largest grocer in the country, Publix offers its employees benefits such as life and dental insurance, as well as ownership in its employee stock program and tuition reimbursement. As a warning, any tuition reimbursement money that you receive gets added to your paycheck, which gets taxed, and is added to your total income. In other words, good ol’ Uncle Sam takes a sizable chunk of your reimbursement money for himself.
Ranking: 99
Emloyees: 169,516
Known for Red Lobster and Olive Garden, Darden is the world’s largest full-service restaurant company. They offer their employees benefits such as health and life insurance, meal discounts, and an open door policy that allows their employees to express any concerns they may have.
In the first paragraph of this post, I’ve provided a link to the complete list of the 100 best companies to work for. Many of the companies on the list are exclusive to location or job field specific and usually require a degree to get employment, so I didn’t bother mentioning any of them in this post; but feel free to look over it since many of them, I’m sure, provide great internship opportunities, which will help you get your foot in the door to your career.
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