For many companies, one of the greatest challenges is to be visible as a relevant and attractive employer to qualified young professionals. This is especially true in fields such as IT and engineering, where the competition for talent and visibility is intense. Against this backdrop, a wide variety of rankings, ratings, and seals have emerged in recent years. These are intended to give students and young professionals orientation, while helping companies define or promote their employer brand. Even investors are increasingly paying attention in the context of ESG analyses to which companies are able to attract and retain the best talent—and which are not. 

The business of employer branding is attractive, and the market is fiercely competitive. This makes it difficult for companies to keep track of developments and decide which rankings or seals to focus on. Two of the best-known research institutes that publish employer rankings in Germany are trendence GmbH and Universum. They are present with the rankings "Top 100 Employers" and "Germany's Most Attractive Employers" respectively. Both are based on student surveys and were published in early May. Among other things, they reveal which companies coped best during the pandemic—a question of particular interest, given that in 2020 the majority of students and graduates were forced into digital studies. Classic university marketing tools, such as career fairs and on-campus activities, could no longer be used in the usual way. 

As expected, among students and graduates of the disciplines "Engineering," "Business," and "IT," tech giants Apple and Google as well as well-known automobile brands Daimler and Porsche lead the German rankings. Surprise newcomer Tesla jumped straight into the top three in both rankings for IT students, while the biggest climber, BioNTech, made it into the top three for "Natural Sciences" students only in the trendence ranking. Also striking were the institutes' findings on recruitment strategies during the pandemic. For example, trendence specifically examined the topics "Opportunities & Pitfalls – HR Management During the Corona Crisis" and "Online Recruiting – Knowing What the Target Groups Think." They found considerable untapped potential in direct outreach and the use of Instagram in recruiting. Above all, Instagram—which was insignificant in 2017—has risen to become a recruitment channel comparable to Facebook. 

Universum (StepStone Group) and trendence (FUNKE Media Group) are among the most successful and longest established research institutes in Germany in the field of employer branding. Their success is based primarily on their strategy of using rankings as marketing tools to sell the data collected from students. This is also the reason why the rankings are not published in classic student newspapers, but in major business magazines such as Manager Magazin. It can also be seen in the fact that both trendence and Universum use only a small part of the data collected to create the ranking. Competitors such as "Great Place to Work," on the other hand, use almost all their data to assess employer performance. 

Overall, the two rankings are methodologically very similar. It is likely that Holger Koch, founder of trendence, which has been in existence since 1999, drew important inspiration during his studies in Sweden. Since 1988, Universum has been active in Scandinavian countries and has successfully expanded internationally over the past 20 years. Both institutes collect data through online surveys of enrolled students at German universities, whom they invite individually via their own panels, cooperation partners, and social networks. In 2020, trendence surveyed a total of 140,000 school pupils, apprentices, and students, including 17,600 prospective graduates. Universum, on the other hand, based its study on 53,000 students of all semesters. In both studies, students are presented with a predefined list of companies from which they select their preferred employers. Depending on the frequency of mentions, the ranking of a company is then determined within rankings divided by fields of study, such as business, engineering, or IT/computer science. 

Although the two rankings are fundamentally very similar, the institutes behind them—Universum and trendence—differ significantly in their focus. Over the years, Universum has grown internationally and now offers its research not only in Germany but in more than 60 countries. Internationally operating companies can thus measure their perception in different markets and position themselves globally through country rankings. In addition, there are regional lists, such as a global employer ranking, which receives wide international media coverage. After initial attempts to follow Universum's example and scale internationally, trendence has since shifted to a clear focus on the German market. It goes deeper into the young talent segment by offering numerous drilldowns into specific subgroups such as school pupils, apprentices, students, and young professionals. 

Companies that want to succeed in the battle for talent can hardly avoid dealing with the two rankings. On the one hand, both institutes collect important information about the preferences of the next generation; on the other, their media partnerships give them strong visibility and thus shape the perception of employer brands. Companies aiming to improve their position in the rankings should be aware that this will require expanding the usual focus of university marketing activities and not limiting presence to a few selected universities. It is advisable not only to purchase the institutes' standard reports. While these already contain valuable insights—such as which other companies students would apply to if they consider a particular company a good employer—there is additional potential in combining the purchased data with a company's own information. This makes it possible to measure campaign effectiveness and also to determine how well competitors have positioned themselves. 

As important as Universum and trendence are, their focus on Germany's largest companies means that most employers will not manage to achieve a high ranking—or even be listed at all. It is therefore worthwhile to keep an eye on the entire landscape of rankings and seals and look for the most suitable positioning option. More important than simply appearing as a number on a list is the ability to position oneself through a ranking or seal that highlights the defining characteristics of one's employer brand and differentiates the company from its many competitors. It may therefore be more effective to participate in a less well-known but more targeted competition, such as "Bicycle-Friendly Employer."