Google ranks number one on list of ideal employers

One in four young professionals wants to work at Google Inc., according to a survey released on Monday by consulting firm Universum.

Nearly 25 per cent of survey respondents picked Google Inc. -- almost twice as many as chose Apple Inc., which ranked second. Walt Disney Co., the US State Department and Amazon.com Inc. rounded out the top five. Government agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, also ranked in the top 10.

Universum asked 10,306 young professionals -- defined as college graduates with one to eight years of work experience -- to pick as many as five ideal employers out of a list of 150.

Respondents also could write in companies not on the list. The top write-in was Facebook, followed by the Department of Homeland Security and the United Nations.

Google regularly hosts open houses and tech-related talks in areas where it wants to recruit, said Yolanda Mangolini, director of the company's outreach programs. "It's incredibly powerful and helps them imagine themselves at Google," she said.

Young professionals generally want to work at companies that they enjoy as consumers, according to Kasia Do, a project manager for Universum.