Top jobs in America: LinkedIn ranks the 50 best workplaces

LinkedIn recently launched their 2021 Top Companies list, which deep dives into the 50 best workplaces to grow your career in America. Laura Lorenzetti, LinkedIn Senior Managing Editor joins Yahoo Finance Live to weigh in.

Video transcript

MYLES UDLAND: Joining us now to talk more about some of the trends that they've seen on their platform is Laura Lorenzetti, senior managing editor at LinkedIn, to talk a little bit, Laura, I guess we'll start with what employers are looking for from their employees. Obviously, on the back of today's jobs report, we can ask-- go through maybe some trends you guys have seen in terms of the pace of hiring, but really an interesting dynamic to think about what companies are telling you guys about what they want from the future of their workforces post-COVID.

LAURA LORENZETTI: Absolutely. In our numbers, we are seeing hiring start to inch back. And today's report shows it hasn't been coming back as fast as we expected. But we definitely-- it's not because there aren't jobs. There are a lot of jobs open. And we just launched our top companies to work for in the US list. And the top 50 companies have over 300,000 jobs open right now. So they're out there. Great opportunities are out there.

And in terms of what these companies are looking for from their employees is, they're really looking for people who are coming in and are game to up-level their skills, who want to learn, who want to invest. And these companies are also stepping up to make sure that they're ready to serve them and help them along with that investment and support.

JULIE HYMAN: And Laura, it's Julie here. Is there a consistency among these top companies? When you say they're willing to help them, is this a change? Has there been an increase in willingness of companies do upskilling, to do retraining, and other measures?

LAURA LORENZETTI: I would definitely say this trend has picked up. There were early adopters in this. You saw this with AT&T in 2016 committed $1 billion to reskilling and redeploying their workers. And this has picked up even more. At number one, Amazon is investing $700 million in reskilling their employees. And we have companies like JPMorgan that has 300 different accredited programs for their employees. So this is happening across the spectrum. Even Walmart has their Walmart Academy. So at all levels, these companies are investing in their employees and giving them skills.

And I think what's really interesting about this is that I was talking to Ardine Williams, who is the head of workforce development at Amazon. And this desire to invest in their employees is not just making them successful there, but making sure that they're set up for long-term success in their careers. And she talked a lot about, look, we're going to help give you skills, and we want you to stay here. We want to invest in you. But if you take these skills and it sets you up for a job somewhere else, that's OK, too. Because at the end of the day, these companies are investing in the people so that they're set up for long-term success as they develop their careers.

BRIAN SOZZI: So if I were to apply for Amazon and they were to hire me, what types of skills are they teaching me-- would they be teaching me right now?

LAURA LORENZETTI: Yeah, we talked with a warehouse worker in Denver. Her name is [? Catherine ?] [? Kuchera. ?] And she started there as just a normal warehouse associate. She was helping out. And all of a sudden, she started demonstrating her leadership and took courses on robotics and how organizational management.

And now she is an area manager, who's helping them implement how robotics play out in their warehouse. And this is somebody who, as life lead her, she doesn't have a degree, but she was able to, through this on-the-job training, have intense experience that's going to set her up for success in this new economy. And she's probably to be more ready for the future than I am with her robotics background.

MYLES UDLAND: All right, interesting stuff happening with some of the biggest employers are thinking about the future of their workforce. Laura Lorenzetti, senior managing editor over at LinkedIn. Laura, thanks so much for jumping on this morning to talk to this latest report.