FORTUNE magazine has just released its 2007 list of Top 100 Employers. This list is always filled with large companies as well as smaller ones that you've never heard of, but all are deserving for the various approaches they take toward attracting and retaining talent.

#1 this year? Google.

They do some predictable things, like allow flexible working arrangements and hours. They do some unpredictable things, like have on-site oil changes and car washes, and even have 11 on-site gourmet cafeterias serving employees meals like fresh salmon, steak, etc. They offer employees $5,000 if they purchase a hybrid vehicle. They just do a lot of creative things within their HR structure.

Of course, they are extremely demanding as well. One problem with Google is a fascination (held by some top consulting firms too) with hiring only Stanford, MIT, or Harvard graduates, and even then, only those with a 3.7 GPA or above. Apparently, it was some big deal when they reduced their GPA requirement from 3.8 to 3.7 ... lol.

They will be denying themselves some top candidates as a result of this policy, but still, this minor error didn't keep them from ascending to the number 1 spot for 2007.

I believe the most important functional area of a company, in the 21st century, is human resources. And I don't think any other business unit is even close in long-term strategic importance to successful companies.

Thanks in large part to the internet, we've moved from a society where employees stayed at one company for entire careers, to one where employees stay at one company for just a few years before moving on. In response, successful HR people realize that retention is now not a reactive game, where employees who receive job offers elsewhere can then be one-upped by their current company and talked into staying, to a PROACTIVE game where companies must always be raising the bar in terms of perks, compensation, and creating a positive culture for success...or else, employees hit the road so fast that there isn't any time to react.

HR is a battle that successful companies have to win on a daily basis. Keeping star talent happy is simply what this economy requires companies to do. Whether its in a football stadium, or in a corporate boardroom, or in the Googleplex out in California, or wherever it is, talent is scarce...and its nice to see FORTUNE magazine acknowledge the companies that hit the HR home runs every year.

The vision for the iTest is to offer free, best-in-class subject tests to high school students across every major academic subject in order to augment the US educational system. If we ever hope to realize that vision, we're going to have to attract premiere talent across every subject area to help us deliver the product we're looking to create. As 2007 is the first year that the iTest is an employer of more people than just myself, I enjoy being challenged by the FORTUNE magazine's list of top employers to offer those giving up their time and energy working for the iTest the best conditions under which to perform as I possibly can.

The iTest staff will be traveling with Vestavia's math team to Columbus, Georgia, in a couple of weeks to observe a math tournament, as well as to have a "corporate retreat" to discuss goals for this year and how we're going to implement them. Additionally, we'll be discussing how best to handle the first true expansion of the iTest - the iTest CS. The iTest's computer science spinoff will go live, permanently, in the Spring of 2008 and we've got to be prepared.