Maybe some of you might be in the situation to make an application for a job in Germany. Therefore I thought on helping you a little.
So what does an application look like in Germany? Well, the answer is not that simple. It totally depends on the branch of trade you´re working for and, of course, the company that you are going to contact. If you want to work in an artistic profession for example, it would be advisable to enrich your application with examples and references of what you already did in the past. If you want to work in a factory, a curriculum vitae and a cover letter should be enough.
I personally work as a project manager, so my application would also consist of customers or brands I worked for, projects that I have been responsible for and so on.
But one thing is needed in almost every application: The curriculum vitae.
So here´s a little manual how to arrange a „Lebenslauf“ in table form in Germany (though there´s no absolute standard, you can vary if you want!):
Lebenslauf Max Mustermann
| Persönliche Daten (personal data) |
| Name: |
Title/Diploma degree, first name and family name |
| Anschrift (address): |
Musterstraße 4
01800 Musterdorf
Telefon: 01234/56789
E-Mail: xyz@xyz.de |
| Geburtsdatum und -ort (date and place of birth): |
10.06.1978 in Musterdorf
(Forigners also should add the country) |
| Staatsangehörigkeit (nationality): |
Just name this if your family name is not clear enough. |
| Familienstand (family status): |
Ledig (single)/verheiratet (married)/…, Anzahl der Kinder (number of children), Alter der Kinder (age of children) |
The following bullets are just examples. Depending on your career, you have to texture them differently. But it´s adisable not to name only periods but also fields of activity and experiences. |
Schulische Ausbildung (academic education) |
| [dates] |
Name, Location and Type of school including certificate.
The mark should be mentioned in braces.Example:Goethe Gymnasium in Bischofswerda, Abschluss: Abitur (2,0) |
| Grundwehrdienst/Zivildienst (military service/civilian service) |
| [month/year] |
Particularly name your fields of activity.Example:Wehrpflichtiger, Tätigkeit als Militärkraftfahrer in Eggesin |
| Berufliche Ausbildung (professional apprenticeship) |
| [month/year] |
Company, location, type of apprenticeship, certificate |
| Studium (studies) |
| [month/year] |
Name of technical college or university
Degree program
Core area
Degree and mark
Maybe the topic of your exam or graduation |
| Praktika (internships) |
| [month/year] |
Company, location and field of activity |
| Beruflicher Werdegang (professional career) |
| [month/year] |
Company, location and field of activity, focus on the tasks that are relevant for the new position. |
| Berufliche Weiterbildung (further education) |
| [month/year] |
Type and degree (for example seminars, workshops, tutorials) |
|
Further bullets could be:
|
| Auslandserfahrungen oder -reisen (international experiences journeys) |
| Sprachkenntnisse (knowledge of languages) |
| EDV-Kenntnisse (knowledge of computing) |
| Interessen und Hobbys (interests and hobbies) |
Interests and hobbies that might be relevant for the new position. Try to avoid risky sports like parachuting for example. |
| Referenzen (references) |
| Sonstiges (miscellaneous) |
Describe activities that don´t belong to other bullets. |
|
Ort, Datum, Unterschrift (Location, Date, Signature) |
With your signature you confirm the accuracy of the information. |
Degrees for example should be proved with copies of your certificates.
Comments:
EP:
I like your example. But it’s true, there really is a huge variety of ways to put together a Lebenslauf out there. If you google a few with “lebenslauf vorlage” (under Pictures) you’ll see what I mean.
Nathan Keith:
Oh yes, and also a picture, business card and signature block. Just this signature block put me past several Herr Dr. candidates for employment.
Herr Oberst Nathan Keith, dipl.-math., dipl. Ing.