They are an employer's triple threat: smart, educated, and highly skilled. They are the managers and business leaders in large U.S. companies mentioned in  McKinsey & Company's report, “The War for Talent.” Everyone needs them and everyone competes to keep them.  That’s why when they speak, the nation’s employers should listen.

In this diversity edition of Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology, we bring you a list of the top employment destinations for minority managers and business leaders as ranked by 100s of respondents to HE&IT magazine's 7th annual Most Admired Employers survey, which looks at minority technical managers and business leaders with advanced degrees.

Our 2011 survey went beyond run-of-the-mill corporate diversity stats, hiring data, supplier spending information and focused on the length of time with an employer, the number of jobs held, the types of degrees, baccalaureate-origin institutions, related earnings and exposure to STEM programs to provide insight on what makes these technology professionals tick and why they select certain opportunities.
 
More than seventy-eight percent of doctorate holders surveyed and  seventy percent of master's degree holders have been with their employers for more than five years.  They have also held  more than two or three jobs—with 45 percent of that number being master's degree holders and 35 percent  PhDs. 

Minority educational institutions are the baccalaureate college of origin for more than 42 percent of the science and engineering doctorate respondents in this year's survey. Thirty-six percent of the master's degree participants in the survey have also listed minority institutions as baccalaureate origins.  Recent reports show that over half of all minority professionals in the United States are graduates of nine of the top ten colleges that graduate the most minorities who go on to earn advanced degrees.

Within the six-figure income bracket, 21 percent of PhD's earn $150,000 to 200,000, and 47.5 percent of master's degree holders make between $100,000 to $149,999. A combined 13 percent of advanced degree holders earn more than $200,000 a year.

Our survey also shows that master's degree and PhD holders made their career decisions early, with 37 percent of master's degree holders choosing engineering between the ages of twelve and eighteen. 21  percent of PhD. holders made the decision aged between twelve and twenty-two. National pre college science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)  awareness programs were popular with at least 57 percent of master's degree holders. On the whole, engineering programs were the most popular at 48.7 percent, with science coming at 28 percent, followed by math and information technology.

HE&IT's Most Admired Employer's master's degree respondents are aged  from twenty-two to fifty plus, with 12 percent in the 22-30 age bracket, twenty-five percent at 31-40, and  twenty-nine percent are aged 41-50. Over 32 percent are aged 50 and above. Twenty-eight percent of PhD holders are aged 31-40, with thirty-five percent aged 31-40 and  over 50, respectively.

They are having families as they pursue jobs in challenging, innovative career fields, with 71 percent of doctorate holders having between one to three children as 59 percent of master's degree holders. Sixty percent of female participants in the survey have master's degrees, with 21 percent holding a doctorate. Forty percent of master's degree respondents were male and a whopping 78 percent held PhD's.

Although, 41 percent of master's holders are in engineering, there are more PhD holders in research and development, information technology, and other fields.  Almost 25 percent of master's degree holders plan to pursue a doctorate and 12 percent another master's degrees. Advanced degree holders belong to a raft of professional associations including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, the AAAS and others.

The  majority of the 2011 respondents are currently employed: master's degree holders at a whopping 98.4 percent and 85.7 for all PhD holders. Corresponding unemployment numbers come in at  a very low 1.6 percent for master degree holders but 7.1 percent for PhD's. Generations in the 2011 Survey are Gen Y (people born after 1982), Gen X (born between 1961 and 1981) and Baby Boomers (1943 to 1960).

Here's a list of the most admired employers selected by  minority technical managers and business leaders.

2011 Most Admired Employers

The Top Twenty
 
Apple
Google
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Deloitte
CapGemini
Rockwell Collins
3M
ITT Defense & Information Systems
Raytheon Company
Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc.
IBM
General Electric Co.
NASA Headquarters
Johnson & Johnson
Microsoft Corp.
The Walt Disney Co.
American Express Co.
SAIC
AT&T
 
The Roaring Forty
 
General Dynamics Corporation
Intel Corp.
The Boeing Company
Texas Instruments
Cisco Systems Inc.
Hewlett-Packard Co.
Target Corp.
The Coca-Cola Co.
The Procter & Gamble Co.
Wells Fargo & Co.
Air Force Research Laboratories
Army Research Labs
Bank of America Corp.
Best Buy Co. Inc.
CSC
Costco Wholesale Corp.
EDS, an HP Company
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Mercedes Benz
Motorola Inc.
Naval Air Systems Command
PepsiCo Inc.
Verizon Communications Inc.
Caterpillar Inc.
Dell Inc.
Delphi Corp.
Ford Motor Co.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
The MITRE Corporation
Texas Instruments
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Army Research Laboratory
United Technologies Corp.
Abbott Laboratories
Noblis
Office of Naval Research
Oracle
E.I. du Pont de Nemours
 
Killer’s Row
 
Air Force Personnel Command
Alcoa Inc.
Cardinal Health Inc.
Citigroup Inc.
Comcast Corp.
ConAgra Foods Inc.
Dominion Resources Inc.
Exxon Mobil Corp.
FedEx Corp.
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
International Paper Co.
Johnson Controls, Inc.
Lowe's Cos. Inc.
Morgan Stanley
Parsons Corporation
Safeway Inc.
Sprint Corp.
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
The Home Depot Inc.
Time Warner Inc.
United Parcel Service Inc.
UnitedHealth Group Inc.
Viacom Inc.
Walgreen Co.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Brown & Forman
Federal Highway Administration
CH2MHill
HDR Inc.
URS Corporation
Ritz Carlton