Best place to work lists

- When it comes to finding companies who truly support diverse communities, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that because of technology, we have access to more information than ever before about company values, employee experiences, hiring data, and much more. The bad news is there's no singular summarizing piece of data that tells you which employers are giving genuine claims about their diversity and inclusion. Finding all the relevant information yourself could take months. Thankfully, there are plenty of people who have done the legwork for you and compiled it all in a helpful list of the best companies to work for as a member of minority groups. These lists look at a wide variety of factors like company's core values, public advocacy actions, marketing campaigns, hiring retention metrics, healthcare benefits, and the efforts and commitments that they've made to be a safe and accepting workplace. Here's how to take advantage of those lists. Start by finding the most relevant list for your circumstances by doing a Google search. Some lists are dedicated to specific minority groups like lists for top employers for Latino people, African-Americans, women of color, people in the LGBTQI plus community, working moms, and so many others. You can also find lists dedicated to individual cities or to particular industries. Now these lists can be a fantastic place to begin your search for your ideal employer, but of course, they aren't perfect. There are a few ways to make sure you are getting accurate information though. First, you should do some research into the list you find by looking up how the list was compiled. Many publications will include an introductory article when they release their list and they'll explain some criteria for the list in that introduction. If not, try a simple Google search like how to get on the Fortune Best Places to Work list. You're likely to find a guide that tells employers how those lists are compiled. There are also often application processes that a company must go through to be included on these lists and it's easy for companies to manipulate the data when they're reporting it themselves. In some cases, companies can actually pay to be included on these lists. This might even happen indirectly by publications giving the highest spots to companies who buy the most advertising from them. To be honest though, short to having insider knowledge, there isn't a reliable way to know if companies are paying for their spot on that list. That's why it's so important to look at several lists rather than putting all your confidence into one of them. Fortunately, plenty of lists use more honest practices. In many cases, the publication creating the list will work with a market research firm to get the data that they need. Ideally, you want a list that actually surveys employees about the work environment rather than relying on statistics alone. If the article that accompanies the list doesn't offer that information, take a look at how the list is formatted. Most lists will either include specific statistics or a brief paragraph for each employee explaining what makes them worthy of their ranking. Ideally, you want to see some references to employee feedback or even quotes from employees. The second way to find lists that you can trust is to stick more reliable publications that have already proven themselves to be trustworthy. For example, take a look at lists from Glassdoor and Fortune. As large organizations, these businesses most often have the resources to do more thorough research and often have a reputation to protect. The third way to make the most out of employer list is to use a variety of lists rather than relying on just one. Each list has its own categories and data points that it uses to rank employers. The more information you have at your fingertips, the better. Finally, the fourth way to judge an employer list is to make sure it explains how each company earned its spot. If you just see a number list with no clear explanation as to what makes the business great, you won't be getting the full picture. At the end of the day, these lists of best place to work are great tools, but they should only be starting points as you create a list of your ideal employers. They shouldn't be your deciding factors. Think of these lists as a way to begin your pool of target employers so that you can take a closer look at each company and narrow down that pool.