If you are in college, just starting in your career, or thinking about changing your career, I’d recommend you peruse BusinessWeek’s Best Places to Launch a Career 2009 interactive table of the top 50 employers for new graduates. The table provides a treasure trove of job search information about prospective employers.

On this table you can click on any of the leading companies to learn what the company recruiters’ believe is the most important characteristics for new hires. These characteristics are the tickets for entry and are different for each company.

If you are planning your job search strategy, these characteristics can give you insight into the types of behavioral evidence you will want to demonstrate through your resume and your interview. For example, if you’d like to work for Microsoft, be sure you have behavioral examples of (1) Technical Skills/Proficiency, (2) Problem-Solving Skills, and (3) Communication Skills. (If Microsoft is your employer of choice, perhaps it is time to take that part-time job at the computer help desk at your university.)

For each company you can also read the break-down of the majors the entry-level new-hires possessed. Continuing with the Microsoft example, it is not surprising that 58% of Microsoft’s new hires had a computer science major, 24% were engineering majors, and 14% business majors.

This information is especially critical if you are a senior in college or in a professional degree program – but also very useful if you are a job-changer seeking an entry-level position with a specific company. Landing a great job is often about demonstrating that you possess outstanding skills that match the requirements for the given job. Any information to help you tailor that match is useful.

Be kind and share this link with any college student you know currently majoring in “undecided”. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for new graduates to find jobs and every bit of additional information is helpful.

Paula