As entry-level roles erode and AI reshapes hiring, a new workforce analytics project aims to cut through employer marketing claims and reveal which companies actually build careers. The project, called Where You Work Matters, grades 1,750 of America's largest employers on the real career outcomes of their workers, based on a database of 12 million career histories across 1,800 companies.
The findings were discussed in a recent episode of the podcast You Should Know, hosted by William Tincup of WRKdefined, featuring Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute, and Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Managing Director of the Schultz Family Foundation. The conversation unpacked the methodology and implications of the research, which measures promotion velocity, retention, pay growth, and regrettable turnover.
“If two people start in the same role at directly competing firms, how likely are they each to move up? How likely are they each to stay? How does their pay change over time?” Sigelman asked, describing the core question behind the American Opportunity Index and its successor project.
The results are striking. Only 22 of roughly 1,750 companies earned Platinum ratings across every category measured. Of the hundreds of firms employing financial analysts, just 27 rated as great across early career, growth, and stability stages, and only six of those were in banking or financial services. Standouts included General Mills, Liberty Mutual, and Nike. At Whole Foods, food preparation workers fare surprisingly well because prepared foods drive margin.
Chandrasekaran cited conversations with CHROs at top-rated firms who point to intentional manager conversations about career trajectory as the practice that separates leaders from laggards. The site now offers an occupation finder tool for the class of 2026, surfacing roughly 6,000 highly rated entry-level openings.
The discussion comes at a moment of urgent relevance for HR leaders, workers, and job seekers. The disappearance of entry-level jobs, flagged in a recent Harvard Business Review article, threatens the future talent pipeline. Tincup pushed back on conventional HR wisdom, arguing that regrettable turnover, not raw turnover, is the metric that matters. Sigelman and Chandrasekaran agreed, adding that transparency benefits workers too.
“Mobility muscle” is a concept the research introduces, and firms like Procter & Gamble, Lockheed Martin, Salesforce, Apple, and Whole Foods are examined role by role. The data allows job seekers to see which employers actually provide advancement opportunities, not just which ones have the best recruitment marketing.
For HR leaders, the findings underscore the importance of fostering internal mobility and having structured career conversations. For workers, the data provides a tool to make more informed decisions about where to work. The full Where You Work Matters dataset can be explored at whereyouworkmatters.org.
