 There are three basic choices to be made at the beginning:
1. Language
2. Work experience chronology
3. Application Portfolio
- Hardcopy vs.
Electronic Format
1. Language
If it is obvious that the company expects you to speak a decent level
of German (and this is unfortunately true for the great majority of
German companies) then the application should be written in German as a
proof of your language skills - even if you need the help of a third
party. The quality of your application, including the wording and
grammatical correctness, will be assessed as a proof of the seriousness
of your application and your attitude to do a perfect job.
The company will generally accept that your oral capabilities are less
developed in the beginning, than after several months in the job, but
of course they should be good enough for an interview in German.
2. Work Experience Chronology
In English CV’s it’s the custom to start the listing of professional
experience with the last job first. In German CV’s the sequence used to
be the opposite, i.e. starting with the first job first.
There is no need to bother about these details any more. With the
increasing use of the internet job markets the English way has become
almost standard by now, and it will certainly become the standard and
the German tradition out of date.
3. Application Portfolio (Hardcopy vs. Email application)
More and more companies are getting away from paperwork, including the
administration of an application portfolio (Bewerbungsmappe) and the
obligation to return it to the sender.
They rather prefer to receive your application by e-mail, albeit in a
decent format, preferably as a Word Document or, less comfortable for
the company, a zipped .PDF-file. This way they don't need a typist or
scanner to transfer your data into a databank for documentation,
retrieval and distribution purposes, avoiding a loss of applications,
easing the workflow and reducing the handling cost.
What you certainly should not do is to refer to your own homepage, to
demonstrate your competence in IT-matters or your creativity (if you
are not applying for a designer job). The company will not like the
time requirement for studying your homepage and transferring the
information into their schemes.
Whether sent in hardcopy or electronic format the application should consist of at least three parts:
3.1 - Cover Letter
Explaining why you are interested in the job and why you feel the
company should just take you, indicating the date of availability,
possibly your income expectations
3.2 - CV
If possible with a good picture in colour (a bad or fancy picture will be worse than no one)
The CV should be organized by the following headlines:
a. Personal Data
Name
date of birth (very important in Germany)
nationality
for non EU citizens: residence and labour permit
Address
phone numbers
email-address
marital status
b. Education
c. Professional Experience
d. Computer skills
e. Language skills
f. Qualification courses
g. A detailed outline of relevant project/Technical experience on a separate sheet
h. Other activities, interests, including relevant memberships
3.3 - Certificates and References
If certificates are not added – at least for e-mail applications it’s
widely accepted to reduce file sizes - you should mention in the CV at
least, with which ranking you have finished your academic training.
Warning: never include originals into the folder. Though the folder is
– apart from the cover letter – considered to be your property to be
returned to you at the end of the recruitment process (without the
cover letter) you may – with a high probability - never see them again.
Generally there is no need for translations of certificates or
reference letters. If the employer, e.g. a public administration,
should insist on it, there will still be time enough to solve the
problem. It is advisable however to help the company understand
different terms or ranking scales (e.g. A, B, C or 10-1 instead of 1-5
etc.), possibly by comparing your grades with grades known in Germany.
The Interview
If you are invited to an interview, then it’s very much advisable to
take a complete application portfolio along, i.e. a hardcopy of your
application in a plastic folder, including all relevant information.
Concerning the format of the application there is a strong tendency to
ask the applicant to apply by a format as defined by the company,
starting from the "jobs" link of the company's homepage, because
applications are electronically administered (e-recruiting) or even
automatically assessed by having the computer compare your profile with
the desired one and giving you a ranking figure in the list of
applicants (then you may even get an answer, though nobody has seen
your application personally).
Much success!
Dr. Dietrich Fischer
SELECTEAM
+49 (0) 89 61465634
www.selecteam.de
SELECTEAM is private, independent Personnel and Management Consulting
company with head offices in Berlin, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt,
Hamburg and Munich.
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