These are the Happiest Companies for Young Professionals

According to a new study by CareerBliss, the happiest companies for young professionals to have a career at may surprise you. Tech giants such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) or Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) did not make the list. “What we see for young professionals is a desire to find a company culture that fits with their personal work-style,” CareerBliss co-founder and CTO Matt Miller told Forbes. “They want a company that values their ideas and provides the growth opportunities and leadership to help shape their career.”

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CareerBliss, which is a leading online career community that provides company reviews by real employees, detailed salary information and local job opportunities, analyzed more than 223,500 employee-generated reviews between March 2011 and March 2012.  The company asked young professionals, defined as employees with less than 10 years of experience in a full-time position, to rate the company they work for on a scale from 1 to 5.

The top 5 happiest companies for young professionals are listed below:

GE Energy (NYSE:GE): This division of General Electric tops the list at number one with a CareerBliss rating of 4.528. GE Energy works on connecting people and ideas everywhere to create advanced technologies for powering a cleaner and more productive world. Shares of General Electric have gained 9.2 percent year-to-date.

Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE:JWN): The company offers apparel, jewelry and accessories for women, men and kids. Nordstrom comes in second place with a CareerBliss rating of 4.441. Shares have gained 12.4 percent year-to-date.

Fluor Corp. (NYSE:FLR): A publicly owned engineering and construction company that has been designing and executing innovative solutions for complex EPCM projects since 1912. Fluor received a CareerBliss rating of 4.419 and shares have increased almost 15 percent year-to-date.

United Space Alliance: A Limited Liability Company equally owned by Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT). Formed in 1996, it consolidates more than 30 heritage contracts that supported the Space Shuttle Program. United Space Alliance received a CareerBliss rating of 4.393. Shares of Boeing and Lockheed Martin have increased 4.7 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE:AZN): Founded in 1992, it is a global and integrated biopharmaceutical company that employs more than 57,000 people. The company received a CareerBliss rating of 4.319. Despite the happiness, shares have declined 5 percent year-to-date.

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