According to the survey of 1428 job seekers conducted by SaraminHR, 16.7 percent chose Google Korea as the most desirable foreign firm to work at. Apparently not even an occasional police raid is enough to tarnish Google’s reputation in the country.

This is the third year in a row that the online search giant has taken the top position in this particular study.

Meanwhile, Apple took the number two spot in the survey as job seekers cited the company’s “reputation and corporate image” as reasons why they would like to work there. Snagging ten percent of respondents’ votes, this is Apple’s first time to make the top ten. Other companies favored by job seekers were Yuhan Kimberly, 3M Korea Ltd, Nike Sports Korea Co, and Homeplus.

Interestingly, Japanese companies Sony and Nintendo didn’t make this year’s list.

It should be noted, however, that the survey’s sample size is relatively small, especially in comparison to the China survey that we mentioned yesterday.

[Source: Saramin via Korea Herald, photos ibtimes, Fast Company]

But these arguments are often based on experience and personal opinion. In other words, they don’t necessary cater to the mass audience and could even be flawed. At the end of the day, the person that wields the most power in a group often finds his/her idea getting the buy-in. This is especially true when a brainstorm or discussion aren’t carried out properly with democracy in mind.

To tackle such problem, 3M’s Visual Attention Service (VAS) technology uses a special algorithm, to analyze viewers’ reactions in the first 3 to 5 seconds when exposed to an ad. Here’s how 3M describes its simple VAS process.

1. Upload

Upload an image to begin analysis.

2. Prepare

Identify faces and text to improve predictive accuracy.

3. Analyze

Built on 30 years of vision research and validated by extensive eye tracking studies, our algorithm accurately predicts the first 3-5 seconds of visual attention.

4. Results

3M VAS results provide a graphical view into users initial visual attention. Regions show the likelihood of an area catching someone’s eye and why. Heatmaps provide the hotspots in an image.

5. Optimize

Use 3M VAS results to guide changes. Simply revise, upload and re-analyze.

Can the VAS replace human judgment? Obviously no. The algorithm can’t spot grammar mistakes nor it could pinpoint the best images that would provide the maximum ad impact. Copywriters and creative directors could use this tool to analyze and put in place the best possible ad layout. Content and creative direction have to rely on experience still.