Young Workers Put Tech Companies on Top

Tech companies remain at the top of the list of companies young professionals would most like to work, according to a new survey by Universum.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google, Apple and Facebook are the most ideal employers among professionals under age 40. Some federal agencies also made the top 10 -- the State Department, FBI and the CIA.

For its second annual poll, Universum surveyed nearly 6,700 young professionals, defined as college graduates under age 40 with one to eight years of work experience. Respondents were asked to choose as many as five ideal employers out of a list of 200. Respondents could also write in companies that were not listed.

Other federal agencies that made the list were NASA (13), Peace Corps (14), the National Institutes of Health (17), Centers for Disease Control (22), Energy Department (23), Treasury Department (24), U.S. Army (29), Defense Department (31), National Security Agency (32), Air Force (34) and the IRS (78).

A separate Universum survey of more than 60,000 college students conducted earlier this year also found Google at the top of the list of ideal employers among respondents, followed by Microsoft and Apple. Those companies also were top choices among IT grads, while federal agencies like NASA, FBI, NSA, CIA and Defense ranked in the top 20 among IT respondents.

Meanwhile, the Partnership for Public Service is set to release its 2011 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings on Wednesday.