Can I apply for jobs in Germany with an English CV?

Yes, when the job advert is in English: for those roles an English application is often what the employer expects. If the advert is in German, apply in German, but only if your German is good enough for the interview. Either way, use the German format: a tabular, reverse-chronological CV of one to two pages, signed and dated, with your German level given as a CEFR level such as B1.

Do I need a photo on my CV in Germany?

No. A photo is not legally required, and the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency’s guide for employers says anonymised applications should ideally remove photos. The Federal Employment Agency says most employers still expect one, so for a German-language application to a traditional employer a professional headshot is the safer choice. For an English-language role at an international company, leaving it off is a reasonable decision.

Should I sign and date my CV for a German employer?

Yes. The Federal Employment Agency and the EU’s EURES service both say to finish a German CV with the date and your signature, and templates such as Leibniz University Hannover’s add the city as well. On a PDF, a scanned signature is fine.

How long should a German CV be?

One to two A4 pages. The Federal Employment Agency sets two pages as the maximum, and its guide to online application portals suggests one page. Use month-and-year dates, list your most recent role first and explain any gap longer than three months.

Should I put my date of birth on a German CV?

It is optional. Date and place of birth are traditional, and the Federal Employment Agency still lists them among personal details, but age is a protected characteristic under the General Act on Equal Treatment (AGG), so you are free to leave them off. Marital status and religion are not required.

English CV for Germany: German CV Format and Lebenslauf Tips

You can use an English CV for Germany whenever the job advert is in English, and for those roles an English application is often exactly what the employer expects. What should change is the shape of the document. A German CV, or Lebenslauf, is a tabular, reverse-chronological record of one to two pages, with month-and-year dates, gaps explained, and the place, date and your signature at the end. It usually goes with a one-page cover letter (Anschreiben) and copies of your certificates, often in a single PDF. A photo and date of birth are traditional but not legally required.

A note on terms: in English, a Lebenslauf is called a CV, just as a résumé is in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand. If you’re coming from the US or Canada, it’s what you would call a résumé.

When can you apply for jobs in Germany in English?

The simplest rule is to reply in the language of the advert. The careers guidance for international students at Hochschule Bremen says an English application is often expected for English-language adverts, while in most other cases it recommends a German CV.

The advert	Apply in	Worth knowing
Written in English, even if it asks for German	English	State your German level honestly as a CEFR level (A1 to C2), even if it is basic
Written in German	German, if your German will carry an interview	The Federal Employment Agency advises applying only once you reach the required level, which it puts at B1/B2
A regulated profession, such as doctor or teacher	Usually German	Your qualification must be formally recognised, and authorisation to practise can depend on your German
Not clear	The language of the company’s careers page	Still unsure? Ask the contact person named in the advert

Sources: the Federal Employment Agency’s CV guide and the Recognition in Germany portal on regulated professions and the recognition procedure.

Even in English, German helps. Leibniz University Hannover’s application guide for international students notes that most companies want good German even where English is the official company language, and Hochschule Bremen says B2 is generally the minimum for taking part in company life.

German CV format: how a Lebenslauf differs from a UK or US CV

German CVs follow a fairly fixed pattern. Here is how it compares.

Element	Typical UK or US CV	German Lebenslauf
Layout	Headings with bullet points under each job	A table: dates in a left-hand column, details on the right
Length	Varies with experience	One to two A4 pages
Dates	Month and year, or years only	Month and year, such as 09/2022 – 03/2025
Gaps	Treated as normal; no fixed rule	Gaps longer than three months explained
Opening	A short introduction or personal statement	Optional; a short profile can go on a cover sheet (Deckblatt)
Photo	Usually left off	Common, though not legally required
Personal details	Contact details only; UK guidance says to leave out age, marital status and nationality	Traditionally also date and place of birth; nationality optional
References	Referees’ names, or “available on request”	Written work references (Arbeitszeugnisse) attached; named referees are rare
Ending	Nothing	Place, date and signature
What you send	CV and cover letter	Cover letter, CV, certificates and references, often in one PDF

Sources: the Federal Employment Agency and Hannover guides, the EU’s EURES guide to working in Germany and, for the UK column, the National Careers Service’s guide to CV sections.

A German-style CV template in English

Lay this out as a two-column table in your word processor, with dates on the left. The EU’s Europass CV builder works in 31 languages and is a reasonable starting point, though the Federal Employment Agency notes that many employers prefer a more individual approach.

[First name Last name] · [Street, postcode, city, country] · [Phone number with country code] · [Email] · [LinkedIn]
Personal details: Date of birth [optional] · Place of birth [optional] · Nationality [optional] · Right to work in Germany [for example: EU citizen, or visa required]
Professional experience
MM/YYYY – present | [Job title], [Company], [City, country] | Three to five bullet points on what you did and achieved
Education
MM/YYYY – MM/YYYY | [Degree and subject], [University], [City, country], [Grade, optional]
Further training and certificates
MM/YYYY | [Course or certificate], [Provider]
Languages
English: native · German: [CEFR level, such as B1], [course or certificate]
IT skills
[Software]: [expert / very good / good / basic]
Interests [optional; only if relevant to the job]
[City], [DD.MM.YYYY] · [Signature]

Rules that catch English speakers out:

Keep the design plain. The Federal Employment Agency advises against playful fonts and colour changes, and suggests three to five bullet points per job.
Account for gaps. The Hannover guide says any gap over three months needs an explanation, such as “03/2024 – 07/2024 | Relocation to Berlin; intensive German course, A2 to B1”. The Federal Employment Agency says you can also cover gaps in the cover letter or interview.
Use CEFR levels for languages. The Common European Framework of Reference has six levels from A1 up to C2, and Europass’s self-assessment grid describes each one for listening, reading, speaking and writing.
Have a native German speaker proofread a German-language CV, as the Federal Employment Agency recommends.

Photo and personal details: what German law says

Germany’s General Act on Equal Treatment (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, or AGG) exists to prevent discrimination on grounds of race or ethnic origin, gender, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. It covers job applicants (section 6) and recruitment, including selection criteria (section 2), and section 11 bans discriminatory job adverts.

Nothing in the AGG requires you to send a photo or your date of birth. The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency’s 2019 guide for employers, Fair in den Job! (in German), goes further: it presents anonymised applications as a way to keep shortlisting based on qualifications, and says they should ideally remove anything pointing to a protected characteristic, especially photos.

Custom has not caught up everywhere: the Federal Employment Agency says a photo is not mandatory but is still expected by most employers, and EURES says a photo remains part of a German application despite the trend towards anonymity. So it is your decision:

Detail	What to do
Photo	Optional. Safer to include for a German-language application to a traditional employer; reasonable to leave off for an English-language role at an international firm
Date and place of birth	Optional. The Federal Employment Agency lists them, but age is a protected ground under the AGG
Nationality or right to work	Worth including: it tells the employer whether you need a visa
Marital status, children, religion	Leave them off; the Federal Employment Agency says marital status and religion are not required

If you include a photo, the Hannover guide recommends a recent, professional headshot, not a passport photo. And if an interviewer asks a question linked to a ground the AGG protects, such as whether you are pregnant or plan to have children, the anti-discrimination agency’s guide says you have the right not to answer.

The Anschreiben: German cover letter basics

Many German companies still want a traditional cover letter, according to the Federal Employment Agency’s cover letter guide, while its guide to online application portals notes that many firms now skip it to speed things up and use a short motivation box instead. When one is asked for:

Keep it to one side of A4, as EURES and the Hannover guide advise.
Address the contact person named in the advert, with the job title and any reference number (Kennziffer) in the subject line.
Answer why you, why this job and why this company, with examples from your CV rather than adjectives.
Say why Germany: the Hannover guide notes some employers worry international graduates will return home after a year or two of experience.
Close with your earliest start date and, if the advert asks, your salary expectation (Gehaltsvorstellung).
Sign off with “Yours sincerely” (“Mit freundlichen Grüßen” in German) and a scanned or digital signature.

[Your name, address, phone number, email]
[Company], [Contact person], [Company address]
[City], [DD.MM.YYYY]
Application for [job title], reference [number]
Dear [Ms or Mr Surname],
[Two or three sentences on why you want this role, naming something specific about the company.]
[Why you: two requirements from the advert’s profile section, each with one real example and result from your CV.]
[Why Germany and why now: your plans, your right to work or visa route, and your German level, for example: “My German is at B1 and I am taking a B2 course that ends in March.”]
[Your earliest start date, your salary expectation if requested, and that you would welcome an interview.]
Yours sincerely,
[Signature] [Name]
Enclosures: CV, degree certificate, references

Many German adverts, in either language, follow the same blocks: Ihre Aufgaben (your tasks), Ihr Profil (your profile, meaning the requirements) and Wir bieten (what we offer). The “(m/w/d)” after a job title stands for männlich, weiblich, divers (male, female, diverse); the anti-discrimination agency’s guide lists it as one way to keep adverts gender-neutral.

The Hannover guide says each German CV should be tailored to the job. Our guide to tailoring your CV to a job description has the full method; for a German advert:

Turn the profile section into a checklist of required qualifications, specialist knowledge, language and IT skills, and personal qualities, the points the Federal Employment Agency’s cover letter guide tells you to look for.
Match each line to real evidence, with your strongest matches first under your latest job.
Use the advert’s exact terms for skills you really have, such as software and qualification names. The Hannover guide advises the same for online application forms, which HR teams search by keyword.
Be precise about languages. If the advert asks for fluent German and you are at B1, say B1 and when you expect to reach B2. For handling a requirement you don’t fully meet, see should you apply if you don’t meet every requirement.
Order your attachments to match. The Hannover guide puts certificates and references in the same order as the entries on your CV.

Worked example

Take this shortened, fictional advert, written in English:

Junior Data Analyst (m/w/d), Hamburg. Your tasks: build and maintain Power BI dashboards; analyse sales data with SQL and Python; present results to the sales team. Your profile: degree in economics, statistics or similar; first professional experience with SQL; Power BI or Tableau; good German (at least B1) and very good English; a structured, independent way of working.

Priya, a fictional analyst at a UK retailer, maps it to her real experience:

Requirement	Priya’s evidence	Her change
Economics degree or similar	BSc Economics, upper second-class honours	Write out the UK grade in full, not just “2:1”
Experience with SQL	Writes weekly SQL queries on sales data	Make it her first bullet point
Power BI	Built eight dashboards for the sales team	Name the tool and give the number
Present results	Presents a monthly sales review to regional managers	Add a bullet point
German, at least B1	B1 certificate; B2 course ends 03/2027	State both in the languages section
Structured, independent	Shown by the work above	No adjectives needed

Her generic entry, then the tailored one in German CV format:

Before: Data Analyst, [Retailer], Manchester. Responsible for reporting and dashboards. Worked with stakeholders.
After: 09/2024 – present | Data Analyst, [Retailer], Manchester, UK
Write SQL queries on weekly sales data for 40 stores and automate the reports in Python (pandas)
Built and maintain eight Power BI dashboards used by the regional sales team
Present a monthly sales review to regional managers, with recommendations on stock and promotions

Every figure is Priya’s own, and her German level is stated exactly, not rounded up.

Lebenslauf tips: a final checklist

The CV is a table with month-and-year dates, most recent first, on one to two pages
Gaps over three months are explained, and your German is given as a CEFR level
The CV ends with the place, date and your signature
Everything is in one clearly named PDF within the employer’s size limit; for email applications EURES suggests no more than 2 MB
Certificates and references are translated into German where needed (EURES mentions small businesses)
If your profession is regulated, you have started the recognition process
Everything on it is true and can be verified

How Leepo helps you tailor each application

Paste a job link into Leepo, from LinkedIn, a company careers page and more, and it imports the role, the company and, when the advert lists it, the salary. The ATS fit score compares your CV with that advert and shows matched and missing keywords.

AI tailoring then drafts a tailored CV for that application from your own experience, and you accept only the suggestions you want. You can switch between CV templates, write cover letters and track each application by stage. On employers’ own online application forms, the Leepo Companion Chrome extension fills in your saved answers and attaches your CV; you review and press Submit yourself, and sensitive questions such as gender, disability and salary always pause for you. The free plan includes unlimited applications and CVs and 3 credits a month; sign up at leepo.ai.