we conducted two stated choice experiments – one
for each of the two recruitment stages – among 903 employers 1 in nine European countries. With this method,
respondents are presented a number of vignettes with hypothetical job applicants who differ in important attributes. By
asking respondents to choose the hypothetical graduate they
prefer (or none of them) they are forced to trade off some
characteristics for others. This trade-off situation simulates
a very realistic decision-making environment often missing
with standard survey questionnaires. Moreover, we use a
semi-experimental setting, thus avoiding problems of unobserved heterogeneity that often hampers conclusions based
on cross-sectional data.