MBAs Click Best with Google

Fortune 500 companies, take note: Google’s free gourmet food goes a long way in keeping employees happy. Or so say almost a quarter of all MBA students polled on where they most want to work after graduation.

Asked to name five sought-after employers, 23.65% cited Google, according to the poll of 5,769 students at 52 business schools by research firm Universum Communications in an exclusive Fortune.com list. Management consultant McKinsey & Co. came in second, appearing on 15.84% of students’ wish lists, and investment bank Goldman Sachs was selected by 14.98%.

Catherine Clifford’s recent CNNMoney.com article finds that MBAs are attracted to Google because they “really get a lot of responsibility right at the outset,” says Yvonne Agyei, Google’s director of global university programs. “MBAs are looking for the opportunity to make an impact.”

But management consulting and financial services remain popular among MBAs, with 20% seeking work in consulting and 19% in financial services, Universum found. Meanwhile, smaller firms, companies with strong retail brands, and even some government agencies have inched upward in the rankings.

This year, the CIA ranks no. 37, up from no. 74 last year. Meanwhile, the FBI is in 47th place, up from 89 last year. And among women MBAs, the Department of Defense – Missiles and Weapons Division ranks No. 99.

Clifford points out some big differences between the sexes when it comes to where MBAs want to work. Among women, companies with recognizable brand names like Apple (ranked no. 3 by women, vs. no. 6 by men), Disney (7 vs. 14), Nike (9 vs. 13), and Starbucks (10 vs. 28) ranked higher. Among men, however, the survey shows that finance and consulting firms like JPMorgan (ranked no. 7 by men, vs. 13 by women) General Electric (8 vs. 16) and Morgan Stanley (10 vs. 19) tended to be more popular.

Now, if these guys would institute a fully subsidized canteen, their numbers would surely skyrocket!