As the name implies, this volume is designed
to be used in conjunction with THE ALMANAC OF AMERICAN
EMPLOYERS. The main volume of THE ALMANAC
covers highly successful firms of 2,500 or more employees. This
"companion" volume focuses on mid-size firms, from 150
to 2,500 employees.
PLUNKETT'S COMPANION TO THE ALMANAC OF
AMERICAN EMPLOYERS is an easy-to-use solution to what
would otherwise be a complicated problem: How can you tell,
among all of America’s mid-size companies, which firms
are most likely to be hiring? Among those hot firms, which are
the best to work for? No other source provides this book’s
easy-to-understand comparisons of growth, treatment of employees,
salaries, benefits, pension plans, profit sharing and many other
items of great importance to job seekers.
Especially helpful is the way in which PLUNKETT'S
COMPANION TO THE ALMANAC OF AMERICAN EMPLOYERS enables
readers with no business background to readily compare the growth
potential and benefit plans of mid-size employers. You’ll
see the mid-term financial record of each firm, along with the
impact of earnings, sales and growth plans on each company’s
potential to provide lucrative and lasting employment opportunities.
Information is presented in a way that addresses
the differing interests of individual employees. You’ll
find separate rankings for dozens of categories of data that
you may want to consider. While the book is aimed primarily
at job seekers, it will also be of tremendous value to researchers,
marketing executives and personnel professionals. PLUNKETT'S
COMPANION TO THE ALMANAC OF AMERICAN EMPLOYERS is the
premier guide to the most successful mid-size employers in the
nation, their policies and their performance.
PLUNKETT'S COMPANION TO THE ALMANAC OF
AMERICAN EMPLOYERS is your opportunity to gain valuable
knowledge in a matter of minutes. Five hundred of the most successful
mid-size corporate employers in America are analyzed in this
book. Tens of thousands of pieces of information, gathered from
a wide variety of sources, have been researched for these corporations
and are presented here in a form that can be easily understood
by job seekers of all types.
Thanks to PLUNKETT'S COMPANION TO THE
ALMANAC OF AMERICAN EMPLOYERS’ exclusive data
system, potentially confusing considerations have been reduced
to simple groups of focused data. By scanning the data groups
and the long list of unique indexes, you can find the best employer
to fit your personal needs.
The MID-SIZE EMPLOYERS 500 are
among the best major growth companies to work for in America.
Which companies offer the best benefits, are the biggest employers
or earn the most profits? Where are these companies operating?
What firms have the highest potential salaries? All of these
things and more are made easy for the reader to determine.
Thousands of observations are made that will be
of great interest to prospective employees. For many of the
firms, you’ll find comments about such items as plans
for growth, increases or decreases in the number of employees
and charitable programs. You’ll also find notes about
special programs for the convenience of employees, such as health
and recreation facilities, job training or career paths. Finally,
you’ll find basic information on each company, including
the home office address and telephone number; regional, national
and international locations; a description of the business;
and a list of selected subsidiaries and trade names. In addition,
you’ll find fax numbers, Internet addresses and toll-free
phone numbers for most of the firms.
Whether you are currently employed by one of these
corporate giants or are considering applying for a job with
one, you’ll be able to see how each company compares with
the others, even if you don’t have the slightest understanding
of accounting, finance or employee benefits.
Whatever your purpose for researching corporate
employers, you’ll find this book to be an indispensable
guide. Nonetheless, as is true with all resources, this volume
has limitations that the reader should be aware of:
-
Financial data and other corporate
information can change quickly. A book of this type can be
no more current than the data that was available as of the
time of editing. Consequently, the financial picture, management
and ownership of the firm(s) you are studying may have changed
since the publishing date of this book. For example, this
almanac includes the most up-to-date sales figures and profits
available to the editors as of early 2004. That means that
we have typically used financial data for December 31, 2002,
or for a fiscal year that ended during 2003.
-
Corporate mergers, changes in
corporate financial ratings or stability, acquisitions and
downsizing are occurring at a very rapid rate. Such events
may have created significant change, subsequent to the publishing
of this book, within a company you are studying.· Some
of the companies in THE MID-SIZE EMPLOYERS 500
are so large in scope and in variety of business endeavors
conducted within a parent organization that we have been unable
to completely list all subsidiaries, affiliations, divisions
and activities within a firm’s corporate structure.
-
This volume is intended to be
a general guide to major employers in numerous industries.
That means that researchers should look to this book for an
overview and, when conducting in-depth research, should contact
the specific corporations and related industry associations
in question for the very latest changes and data. Where possible,
we have listed contact names, toll-free telephone numbers
and World Wide Web site addresses for the companies, government
agencies and industry associations involved so that the reader
may get further details without unnecessary delay.
-
We have used exhaustive efforts
to locate and fairly present accurate and complete data. However,
when using this book or any other source for business and
industry information, the reader should use caution and due
diligence by conducting further research where it seems appropriate.
We wish you success in your endeavors, and we trust that your
experience with this book will be both satisfactory and productive.·
To obtain the best results and to best understand the fields
in the company profiles, you should first read the chapter
titled “How to Use This Book.”
