Every year Fortune Magazine publishes its top companies to work for in a variety of categories.
This year’s list, the seventh annual one of the series showcases the 50 best companies for minorities.
According to their website, the top five companies are McDonald’s, Fannie Mae, Sempra Energy, Union Bank of California and Denny’s.
These were the same companies that topped the previous year’s list but in a slightly different order. Denny’s and Sempra Energy had switched places with Denny’s being in third place instead of fifth.
“It was surprising to see Denny’s on the list because of the problems and lawsuits the company endured in past years,” commented Candice Bell, a senior business student from Fort Lauderdale. “Actually, I was very shocked to see them on the list.”
McDonald’s topped the rankings for the second year in a row with 53.1 percent of its employees being minorities. This year’s fourth ranked company actually has a larger percentage of minorities with 55.6 percent; however, that is not the only factor used in creating the list.
When determining who will make the Top 50 companies for minorities, Fortune executives consider the number of minority employees among the 50 highest paid employees, the percentage of employees in managerial positions, the percentage of minorities on the board of directors, and the percentage of total purchasing from minority owned businesses, among other things.
Students looking for companies to work for often consider the office’s diversity.
“Whenever I go on an office visit, I always try to look for minorities in key positions because that helps me see what the odds are of advancing and what possible mentors there are,” said Willie Bell, a second year mechanical engineering student from Houston. “There aren’t many black engineers to begin with so usually the number is small.”
In this year’s list, the hotel industry topped the list with the largest number of minority employees.
With 61.6 percent, Wyndham International led the way. Following it were the Hyatt with 59.5 percent, Marriott International with 59.2 percent and Hilton Hotels with 58.7 percent.
When looking at the top five companies specifically for blacks, Fannie Mae tops the list. The United States Postal Service, Pepco Holdings, Denny’s and DTE Energy are the next four in ranking order.
“It’s understandable that the Postal Service would be on the top five list of companies for minorities because they offer great benefits,” said Ashante Warren, a second year business student from Miami.
For companies to be among the best of the best for minority firms, they must not only hire large numbers of minorities but also retain and promote them to higher positions in the company.
A company can have a minority workforce of 75 percent but if those employees are all staff or entry level positions then it does not put them in a good position to be ranked by Fortune.
“Students like to see companies with key executives who look like them,” said Andrea Moore, a fourth year business student from Philadelphia. “When companies come to SBI to recruit, you may see many blacks but that doesn’t mean there are many blacks in upper management.”
On FAMU’s campus, the Career Center works hard to establish relationships with large corporations to ensure students have the opportunity to get their “foot in the door.”
For SBI students, the Residency and Internship Office enhance the opportunity of acquiring a job at a major corporation. With opportunities given by the Career Expo, students can break through the glass ceiling and diversify the workforce to their liking.
contact Dominique Drake at dominique1.drake@famu.edu