• Wall Street Journal, Monday, November 14, 2011 3:39 PM

For agencies and brands -- particularly those without an online focus -- recruiting young talent is only getting tougher, according to new findings from employment data and consulting firm Universum. Among some 6,700 “early-career” professionals -- defined as college grads under the age of 40 with one to eight years of work experience -- the most desired employers include Google, Apple, Facebook, the U.S. State Department and Walt Disney.

In particular, Google has "established a very strong brand in what its culture is, in what it's like to work there," Chris Cordery, Universum's director of Americas, tells The Wall Street Journal.

Also of note, a full 61% of young professionals hope to leave their jobs within the next two years. Why? Given the rough economy, "they've hung onto jobs probably longer than they would have liked," Cordery tells The Journal. For reasons that should be obvious, fewer professionals than ever want to pursue -- or continue pursuing -- finance. Meanwhile, stability remains a high priority in what The Journal calls this “layoff-prone environment.”

Regarding the State Department’s high rank, Cordery explains: "Stability is still very much a concern and people equate government jobs with stability." Along with the FBI and CIA, Amazon, Microsoft and Sony rounded out the Top 10 list of more desirable employers this year.

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »