Ernst & Young is ranked first in Business Week’s ‘Best Places to Launch a Career’ survey.  The Big Four accounting firms – PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte – all make the top five in the list.

In its 15 September issue, Business Week ranks the companies that are most appealing to graduates.  The article describes creative, cost effective techniques that companies are using to appeal to Generation Y.   It discusses how alternate reward structures like flextime, working from home, more time off and fast track promotions are luring young talent. 

It always intrigues me that the Big Four often appear high up on talent surveys and ‘where women want to work’, ‘best workplace’ and ‘best companies to work for’ lists.  These lists create the perception that the Big Four have superior talent management techniques compared with other companies.  But, are their high positions on these lists a true reflection of their ability to manage staff better than others?  The Big Four rank high in their ability to recruit talent but they still have a turnover of 15-20% compared to 5% in other industries.  Of the Big Four, Ernst & Young has the “best” five year retention rate – 34%.

The Big Four’s regular high ranking in ‘great companies to work for’ lists may be distorted for two reasons:

1. The sheer volume of graduates they recruit every year makes them stand out.  They require a large number of graduates because of the demand for accounting staff in business.  The Big Four in the US averaged 3029 entry level recruits in 2007.  Very few companies recruit entry level staff on that scale every year.
2. Are graduates attracted to the firms or to the industry?  Is the Big Four’s place in the Top 5 owing to their outstanding recruitment capabilities or to the accounting profession itself?  Young, broke, ambitious graduates find the accounting world enticing.  Many of them are attracted to the thought of career opportunity, status and large financial rewards.  The Big Four firms are pretty similar which is why they will generally always clump together at the top on these types of lists. 

Companies like Walt Disney also appear on the ‘Best Places to Launch a Career’ list.  Is their ranking a true reflection of their people skills and talent management ability?  The nature of their industry attracts graduate staff on its own.  Many people are enticed simply by the idea of working with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck at Disney.

The Big Four are good places to launch a career.  But, if a company in a seemingly dry, dull, unglamorous industry (like say, mining) appears on this list, I think they may have a more robust, genuinely effective talent management ability than other companies who have an inherent advantage and head start.