The 1,093 participants, with a representative age distribution, were divided into two groups of 548 and 545 people. Both groups saw the same job ad; for one group it contained no seal, for the other the “Top Arbeitgeber” employer seal. Participants rated on a scale from 0 to 10 how likely they were to apply. Ratings of 8 to 10 were counted as likely, low ratings as unlikely.

Because the job ads were otherwise identical, the difference between the groups can be attributed to the seal. The experiment was preceded by PhDr. Oliver Scharfenberg’s doctoral dissertation, a market analysis of more than 60 employer seals in Germany.