How to write a German CV (Lebenslauf), with a layout you can copy

• Format: tabular. Dates in a narrow left column (MM/YYYY), details on the right.
• Order: reverse chronological is now standard; your current or latest job comes first.
• Length: one to two pages. Two is normal for experienced candidates.
• Language: the language of the job ad. If the ad is in English, an English CV is fine, even at a German company.
• Photo, date of birth, nationality: traditional, but not required. More on that below.
• Gaps: account for them. A one-line explanation beats an unexplained blank year.
• Supporting documents: often expected: a cover letter and, for experienced hires, reference letters from past employers.

Personal details (Persönliche Daten)

Name, address, phone and email are standard. A full postal address is still common in Germany, unlike in the US. Add your LinkedIn or portfolio if it’s current. If you’re not an EU citizen, state your work status here (for example “EU Blue Card holder” or “eligible for a work visa, no current permit”): German employers need to know early whether they can hire you.

Professional experience (Berufserfahrung)

For each role: dates as MM/YYYY, job title, company and city, then three to five bullet points. German readers value concrete facts over adjectives. “Responsible for reporting” says less than “built the weekly sales dashboard used by 30 regional managers”. Use the company’s legal form as it appears (GmbH, AG, SE); it signals you understand the market.

Education (Ausbildung / Studium)

Degree, institution, dates and, if it helps you, your final grade. Germany grades from 1.0 (best) to 5.0, so a foreign grade needs context: give the scale (“3.6 / 4.0 GPA”) or the class (“First-class honours”). Vocational training (Ausbildung) counts as a real qualification in Germany; list it with the same weight as a degree.

Languages (Sprachkenntnisse)

Give each language a level on the Common European Framework scale, A1 to C2 (Council of Europe). “German: B2” tells a recruiter exactly what they need to know; “German: good” doesn’t. Don’t overstate it: many interviews switch to German for a few minutes to check.

Skills, certificates and interests

A compact skills section works well, grouped by type. Certificates go in their own list with the year. Interests are optional; include them only if they say something useful (a volunteer role, a sport played competitively), not “reading, travel”.

This is an illustration with invented details. Keep the left date column aligned and the rest plain; a simple layout also parses cleanly.

[Photo: optional, top right]

Anna Schmidt
Musterstraße 12, 10115 Berlin · +49 151 0000000 · [email protected] · linkedin.com/in/annaschmidt
Date of birth: optional · Nationality / work permit: [e.g. "EU citizen" or "EU Blue Card holder"]

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
04/2022 – today      Data Analyst, Example GmbH, Hamburg
                     · Built the weekly sales dashboard (Power BI) used by 30 regional managers
                     · Automated the month-end report in Python, saving about two days per month
09/2019 – 03/2022    Junior Analyst, Sample AG, Cologne
                     · ...

EDUCATION
10/2016 – 08/2019    B.Sc. Business Informatics, University of Cologne (grade 1.8)

LANGUAGES
German – C1 · English – C2 · Spanish – B1

SKILLS
SQL, Python (pandas), Power BI, Excel, SAP BW

[Optional: Berlin, 29.10.2026 + signature]

Before you send it, run the PDF through the ATS resume checklist. Two-column tables are the classic German layout, and some applicant tracking systems read them out of order; a layout built with tab stops or a simple two-column table without nested cells usually survives.

Germany’s General Act on Equal Treatment, the AGG (gesetze-im-internet.de), protects applicants against discrimination based on age, sex, ethnic origin, religion and other characteristics. As a result, no employer can require a photo, your age or your marital status, and many large employers and international companies now actively avoid asking.

A practical rule:

• Traditional German-language employer (a family-owned manufacturer, a regional bank, the public sector): a professional, neutral photo is still common and won’t look odd. Date of birth is optional; marital status and children are outdated.
• International company or English-language ad: treat it like a UK CV. No photo and no date of birth is perfectly normal.
• Never include religion, health or your parents’ professions, which older templates sometimes still show.

If you do use a photo, it should be a recent, professional headshot. A cropped holiday picture does more harm than no photo.

German recruiters read a CV as a timeline. A missing six months raises more questions than it would in the US, so account for it briefly:

• “01/2024 – 06/2024: Parental leave”
• “03/2023 – 09/2023: Career break, travel in South America; Spanish course (B1)”
• “07/2025 – 11/2025: Relocation to Germany and German course (B1 → B2)”

You don’t owe anyone private details, but a neutral line is better than a blank. Several short jobs in a row are fine if they were contracts; label them (“fixed-term contract”, “freelance project”) so they don’t read as being let go.

In Germany the CV is often one part of the Bewerbungsunterlagen, the application documents. Depending on the employer, that may include:

• A cover letter (Anschreiben), one page. Many tech companies have dropped it, but where the form asks for one, it’s read. If the ad asks for your salary expectation (Gehaltsvorstellung) or earliest start date, answer it here, as a yearly gross figure.
• Reference letters (Arbeitszeugnisse). Employees in Germany are legally entitled to a written reference when they leave a job (§109 GewO), so German employers are used to seeing them. If you worked abroad, you won’t have these; a short reference letter or contact details for a former manager do the same job.
• Certificates for degrees and key qualifications, usually as one combined PDF. Some regulated professions need formal recognition of foreign qualifications; the official portal Anerkennung in Deutschland explains when, and the anabin database shows how German institutions classify many foreign universities and degrees.

The government’s portal for international skilled workers, Make it in Germany, has further guidance on visas and applications in English.

If you’re applying in several European countries, you don’t need a completely new CV for each one. Adjust these points:

Dutch recruiters are known for valuing directness: say what you want and why in plain terms, and keep the motivation letter short. In Ireland, write in Irish/UK English and follow the UK conventions in our resume vs CV guide.

1. CV is in the ad’s language, with consistent MM/YYYY dates and no unexplained gaps.
2. Work status is stated if you’re not an EU citizen.
3. Languages are graded A1–C2, honestly.
4. Foreign grades and degrees have context or an equivalent.
5. Photo and date of birth are a deliberate choice based on the employer, not a template default.
6. Cover letter answers salary and start date if the ad asks for them.
7. Keywords match the ad. Check with the free CV score checker, which compares your CV to the job and lists what’s missing.
8. The file is one PDF, named “Firstname-Lastname-Lebenslauf.pdf” or “Firstname-Lastname-CV.pdf”.

Applying through company portals? Many German employers use the same applicant tracking systems as US companies; our guide to Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby and Workday explains what each form asks.