Best Buy is proud to be named to the 2024 Best Places for High School Graduates to Start a Career list, a first-of-a-kind ranking released by The American Opportunity Index.
We’re No. 8 on the list, which comprises the top 50 employers that can offer recent high school graduates the best pathway to a sustaining career and increased compensation — without a college degree. Twenty of the Top 50 companies are retailers.
Nearly four in 10 recent high school graduates across the country will not enroll in college this fall, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For many high school graduates who plan to enter the workforce, making the right decision about where to work — as well as what they choose to do — can have a profound impact on their economic future.
Best Buy employees work in stores, distribution centers, homes, offices and call centers. We invest in training and developing our employees’ skills because it can open career opportunities and create a more productive, engaged and adaptable workforce. Best Buy also offers a wide array of benefits to support employees and their loved ones with their overall well-being, including physical, mental, financial and work-life balance.
About the list
Employers featured on the 2024 Best Places for High School Graduates to Start a Career list provide excellent opportunities for young people to advance. They do this by either by promoting them within the company or by equipping them with skills that help them secure better roles elsewhere.
The list is based on scores on three key metrics:
- First Jobs: Top companies in the Index’s First Jobs metric are as much as 4.3 times more likely to hire entry-level workers than other large firms.
- Advancement Within: Employees at top companies for Advancement Within are as much as 2.5 times more likely to get promoted than their peers at other large businesses.
- Advancement Beyond: Employees at top companies for Advancement Beyond are as much as 5 times more likely to land a substantially higher-paying job elsewhere when they leave compared with peers moving out of other large firms.
The Index looks at 400 of the biggest U.S. companies that file public financial information, measuring how well they use their employees’ talents to boost both company performance and employee growth. What makes this Index unique is that it doesn’t rely on corporate surveys. Instead, it uses a large analysis of data from nearly 5 million workers between 2018 and 2022. This data comes from their social media platforms, online resumes, and detailed salary and job-posting information.
The American Opportunity Index is a joint project of the Burning Glass Institute, the Managing the Future of Work Project at Harvard Business School, and the Schultz Family Foundation.
Visit our careers website to learn more about working at Best Buy.