🇩🇪 Germany CV format

The German application is a package, not a document, and being unaware of that is the commonest failure.

What a complete application contains

• Anschreiben — a cover letter, genuinely read and genuinely expected
• Lebenslauf — the CV itself, tabular
• Zeugnisse — scanned certificates and written references from previous employers

A German employment reference (*Arbeitszeugnis*) is a formal written document your previous employer is obliged to provide. Applications without them look incomplete to a German recruiter, and most countries have no equivalent — if you cannot supply them, say so rather than leaving a gap.

Tabellarischer Lebenslauf

Tabular, factual, no prose summary. Dates on the left, content on the right. Reverse chronological is now standard, though older conventions ran the other way.

Section headings in German if applying in German: Persönliche Daten, Berufserfahrung, Ausbildung, Kenntnisse, Sprachen.

The photo

Still conventional, and its absence is noticed — though the AGG (anti-discrimination legislation) means employers cannot require one, and larger international companies increasingly ask candidates not to include one. A professional headshot, top right.

Personal details

Date and place of birth are conventional. Nationality is common. Marital status and religion appear on older CVs and are increasingly dropped.

Signature

Traditionally the Lebenslauf is dated and signed at the bottom. Many employers no longer expect it, but including it is never wrong.

Language ability, precisely

State your German level using the CEFR scale — A1 through C2 — not "basic" or "fluent". German employers read these levels literally.