Who needs tech? British LinkedIn members want to work for retailers
John Lewis tops LinkedIn's UK list. Photo: ZDNet screen grab.
LinkedIn has just published some lists of the companies where its members most want to work. As Eileen Brown noted here earlier today, "tech companies lead the pack". In the USA, Google, Salesforce, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Uber, Microsoft, Twitter and AirBnB make up nine of the Top 10 companies.
However, the UK list is different. Napoleon's old jibe about England being "a nation of shopkeepers" looks truer than ever. British members of LinkedIn would most like to work for John Lewis stores, or Harrods, or even Dixons Carphone, with Selfridges, Arcadia, House of Fraser, Marks and Spencer and Net-A-Porter also making the Top 25 (below).
Some tech companies make the UK list, including Google, ASOS, Amazon and Facebook. However, half of those - ASOS and Amazon - are still retailers, even if they do their selling online. Microsoft didn't make the cut.
Perhaps it's not surprising. Americans want to work for America's tech giants, which have relatively small branches in the UK. Brits aren't as keen to work for British tech giants because there aren't any.
Not even Virgin Media is British owned: it was taken over by America's Liberty Global in 2013. However, EE - the mobile phone giant formed from Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile and France Télécom's Orange - is British now, having been taken over by BT in 2015.
The UK list's most mysterious omission? Apple. It's a tech company that has plenty of retail stores in the UK, so - never mind the death threats - why don't Brits want to work there?
LinkedIn's Top 25 Attractors in the UK
1. John Lewis (Retail)
2. Virgin Media (Telecoms)
3. Harrods (Retail)
4. Google (Internet)
5. PA Consulting Group (Management Consulting)
6. ASOS (Internet retailer)
7. KMPG (Accounting)
8. Jaguar Land Rover (Automotive)
9. Amazon (Internet retailer)
10. Burberry (Luxury Goods)
11. PwC (Accounting)
12. Dixons Carphone (Retail)
13. Carillion (Facilities Services)
14. EE (Telecoms)
15. Sainsburys (Retail)
16. Lloyds Banking Group (Financial Services)
17. Facebook (Internet)
18. Travis Perkins (Building Materials)
19. Interserve (Facilities Services)
20. Selfridges (Retail)
21. Deloitte (Management Consulting)
22. Arcadia (Retail)
23. House of Fraser (Retail)
24. Marks and Spencer (Retail)
25. The Net-A-Porter Group (Retail)