LinkedIn 2019 Top Companies List

LinkedIn is out with its 2019 Top Companies list, a look at the top 50 most in-demand companies. The professional network platform dove into its treasure trove of anonymous data to determine which companies are attracting the most attention from jobseekers and how those companies are hanging on to their top talent.

In a blog post, LinkedIn Editor in Chief Daniel Roth outlines the top 50 companies along with valuable insights into each, such as “job functions with the most new hires,” and “fastest growing skills.” Aside from being a fascinating read, there are some interesting trends to point out.

TECH TOPS THE LIST

Tech Companies Dominate Rankings: Tech continues to be the fastest growing industry in the U.S., and more than half of this year’s top companies are from the tech industry. Traditional tech stalwarts such as Oracle (No. 9), Dell (No. 10), Cisco (No. 12), and Intel (No. 37) are competitively ranked alongside more recently founded companies including Airbnb (No. 8), Netflix (No. 11), Splunk (No. 39), and Snowflake Computing (No. 49).

The top 3: Alphabet, (Google’s parent company) reclaimed the top spot this year, it was #2 last year. Facebook (No. 2) and Amazon (No. 3) maintain a strong hold on the top three spots despite their challenges over the last year.

EMERGING TRENDS

Hot Hiring Ahead of IPO: Companies that recently filed for an IPO or plan to file in 2019 are driving interest from job seekers, specifically: Uber (No. 6), Lyft (No. 19), Pinterest (No. 29), Spotify (No. 14), and Dropbox (No. 32).

Companies Emphasize Values over Perks: Companies are emphasizing company values over office perks, even as their values evolve with the times. Disney (No. 17) is paying full tuition even for its part-time workers; Slack (No. 23) is running a coding skills program within prisons; Lyft (No. 19) is offering free therapy to employees and their dependents; WeWork (No. 13) has all-vegetarian cafeterias; Goldman Sachs (No. 21) has relaxed their once-strict dress code.

Media Growth: Besides tech behemoths, job seekers also expressed interest in working for media companies like The Walt Disney Company and Comcast NBCUniversal, and financial firms like Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

Financial Services: While technology companies continue to dominate the list, industries making a resurgence include financial services -- with Bank of America (No. 18), Citi (No. 22) and Wells Fargo (No. 25) making the list -- and advertising -- with representation from Interpublic Group (No. 31), Publicis Groupe (No. 34) and WPP (No. 40), all for the first time.

NOTEWORTHY CHANGES

Nearly 40 percent of companies are new to the list: Of the 50 companies on the list, 19 are new to the rankings. Newly recognized Top Companies to work for include Bank of America (No. 18), Citi (No. 22), Slack (No. 23), Wells Fargo (No. 25), Pinterest (No. 29), Coinbase (No. 35), and others.

Biggest Gainers: moving on up are Deloitte, which jumped from No. 22 to No. 5, Cisco went from No. 31 to No. 12, and WeWork (The We Company) gained 23 spots to rise from No. 36 to No. 13.

Banking is making a comeback as a desirable industry: three newcomers on the list -- Bank of America (No. 17), Citi (No. 21) and Wells Fargo (No. 24) as well as cryptocurrency platform Coinbase (No. 35.)

Advertising debuts: for the first time, job applicant interest pushed advertising holding companies onto the list with three leaders debuting: Interpublic Group (No. 31), Publicis Group (No. 34) and WPP (No. 40).

LinkedIn ranked companies based on four criteria: interest in the company, engagement with employees, job demand and employee retention. For the full list of companies and more insight on each one, head over to the full list here.