Want to Get Ahead? Go to Work for One of These Companies (FB, LNKD, ET, NATI, SAP, MFRM, LUV, RDS-A, AKAM)

Internet jobs site Glassdoor has released its 2012 list of the 25 U.S. companies that offer the best career opportunities. The company also produces a list of the best places to work and the top companies for work-life balance, all based on employee feedback.

In the top five companies for job opportunities, three are consulting firms: Bain and Co. (#2), Booz & Co. (#4), and Boston Consulting Group (#5). The top-rated company is Dallas-based Worldwide Express and the only publicly traded company is Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), which ranked third in the listing. A comment on Facebook: “Management is hit or miss.” Ahem.

Other publicly traded firms include LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) at number 11, ExactTarget Inc. (NYSE: ET) at number 14, National Instruments Corp. (NASDAQ: NATI) at number 17, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) at number 18, Mattress Firm Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: MFRM) at number 19, Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) at number 23, Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) (NYSE: RDS-B) at number 24, and Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM).

Only 9 of the 25 companies are publicly traded, which may or may not mean anything significant. And 9 of the 25 are consulting firms, which again may or may not mean anything. But both factoids are interesting.

The complete list is available here.

Paul Ausick