How to write a German CV (Lebenslauf) that a German recruiter expects

A German CV, the Lebenslauf, is a table. Newest first, month and year on every date, three to five short points per role, and no more than two A4 pages. A photo is optional, a gap gets one honest line, and the signature at the end is a tradition you can keep or drop.

This is for anyone applying to an employer in Germany, from inside the country or from abroad. The advice here follows the Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Germany's public employment service. These are conventions, not law: no statute sets a CV's format, and a posting can ask for something else. If the posting is in English, send an English CV in the same German shape. Austria and Switzerland are close but not identical; the guide to CVs across Europe covers both.

What does a German CV look like?

The Bundesagentur describes the Lebenslauf as tabular: one row per stage of your life, starting with the most recent. Each role gets its start and end month and year, then three to five short points. The whole CV stays within two pages, in a readable font and a simple layout. The sections usually run like this:

1. 01
   Persönliche Angaben

   Your name and contact details at the top, with or without a photo. What else belongs here is the next question.

2. 02
   Berufserfahrung

   Each role on one row: job title, employer, place, and the months and years on the left. Under it, three to five points on what you did and what came of it.

3. 03
   Ausbildung

   Your degree, apprenticeship or school-leaving certificate, with the institution and dates, newest first.

4. 04
   Kenntnisse

   Languages with your level, the software you use, and a driving licence if the job needs one.

One more rule from the same guide: don't send the same CV to several employers. Put the points that answer this posting first, as in tailoring a CV to a job description.

What goes at the top?

Your name, address, phone number and email. The Bundesagentur's guide also lists your date and place of birth among the personal details. Your family details and nationality are voluntary, and your religion only matters if the employer asks for it.

Whether you give your date of birth is your choice. Germany's General Equal Treatment Act, the AGG, protects applicants from being chosen by age, sex, ethnic origin, religion, disability or sexual identity, and the federal anti-discrimination agency recommends that anonymised applications leave out anything that points to them. Three things to drop or fix:

• Your parents’ jobs. Older German CVs named them. The Bundesagentur says they are not needed.
• Religion and family details. Religion only if the employer asks. Details of your family are voluntary, so you can leave them off.
• Years without months. “2021–2022” can hide almost two years. Give month and year on every date, as the Bundesagentur asks.

Does a German CV need a photo?

No. The Bundesagentur says a photo is no longer a must, while many sectors still expect one. If you add it, it goes at the top of the CV or on a cover sheet. It should be recent and look like you on a working day.

The reason it is optional is the same act. A photo can show several of the traits the AGG protects, so the federal anti-discrimination agency's guide for employers recommends removing photos above all when applications are anonymised.

So let the posting decide. If it asks for an anonymised application, or says not to send a photo, leave it off. If it says nothing, it is your call, and leaving it off needs no explanation.

No law asks for a photo. The posting tells you whether this employer wants one.

How do you show dates and gaps?

The dates column is where a gap shows. The Bundesagentur's advice is to list any break longer than two months and to say what you did in it: parental leave, caring for someone, study, travel, a volunteer year. Being open about a gap matters more than how it looks, and you can say more in the interview.

A short gap between two jobs, a few weeks of notice or a move, needs nothing. If a longer break is new territory for you, coming back after time away shows how to frame it.

Do you still sign it?

A German CV traditionally ends with the place, the date and your signature: "Berlin, 29.10.2026" above a handwritten name. The Bundesagentur says signing is not strictly necessary, though it can show that this version is current. If you add it, date it the day you send it.

How you send it is set out too. By email, turn each document into a PDF and combine them into one file: cover letter, CV, then certificates. A portal usually wants each one uploaded on its own. The free ATS check shows how a parser reads your PDF, and the letter that goes with it has its own conventions, from the subject line to the closing; see a cover letter that leads with evidence.