German CV format: how to write a Lebenslauf for jobs in Germany

A German CV is called a Lebenslauf, and German recruiters expect it to look a certain way. It is a short, tidy table of your career, often with a photo and a few personal details that you would leave out in the US or UK. If you are applying from abroad, getting the format right is one of the easiest ways to look like someone who already understands how things work in Germany.

What a Lebenslauf is

The standard format is the tabellarischer Lebenslauf, the tabular CV. Dates sit in a narrow column on the left and the details sit on the right, so a reader can follow your career down the page in a few seconds. Long paragraphs about yourself are unusual; the cover letter is where you explain your motivation.

Three conventions matter most:

• Length: one or two A4 pages. Germany’s Federal Employment Agency advises keeping it to two pages at most. A long career does not need a third page; older roles can be shortened to one line each.
• Order: reverse chronological. Your current or most recent job comes first in each section.
• Complete dates: every entry has a start and end month. Unexplained gaps get noticed, so if you were travelling, caring for family or studying, add a short line for it. Our guide to employment gaps has wording you can adapt.

If you are used to the word “resume”, the German document is closer to a UK-style CV. The resume vs CV guide explains the difference country by country.

Sections and their German headings

If you write your Lebenslauf in German, use the standard headings. Recruiters scan for them, and so do applicant tracking systems.

German heading	Meaning	What goes in it
Persönliche Daten	Personal details	Name, address, phone, e-mail, optional details (see below)
Kurzprofil / Profil	Profile	Two or three lines about who you are and what you do (optional)
Berufserfahrung / Beruflicher Werdegang	Work experience	Jobs with dates, employer, place and three to five bullet points
Ausbildung / Bildungsweg	Education	University, school, vocational training
Weiterbildung	Further training	Courses and certificates
Kenntnisse / IT-Kenntnisse	Skills / IT skills	Software, tools, methods, licenses
Sprachkenntnisse	Language skills	Each language with its level
Ehrenamt	Volunteering	Unpaid roles, if relevant
Interessen / Hobbys	Interests	Only if they say something useful about you

One word to watch: in German, Ausbildung also means vocational training, such as a three-year apprenticeship as an electrician. As a heading it covers education in general, so it works for university degrees too. If you want to be specific, use Studium for university and Schulbildung for school.

You do not need a heading that says “Lebenslauf” at the top. Many people still add one; your name in large type is enough.

Personal details: what is common and what is optional

German CVs traditionally include more personal information than CVs in English-speaking countries. That is changing. Since the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG, Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz) protects applicants from discrimination based on age, gender, ethnic origin, religion and similar characteristics, many details have become optional.

Detail	Include?
Name, address, phone, e-mail	Yes. Use the international format for your phone number: +44, +91, +90
LinkedIn or portfolio	Yes, if it is up to date
Date of birth	Optional. Still common, and leaving it out is accepted
Place of birth	Optional
Nationality	Optional. It can help when you are applying from abroad
Marital status, children	Optional, and increasingly left out
Religion	Leave out, unless the employer is a religious organisation that asks for it
Photo	Optional (see below)

If you already hold a German or EU residence or work permit, a short line can say so. If you do not, leave the topic out of the CV and be ready to answer the question honestly in the interview.

The photo

The Bewerbungsfoto is still common in Germany, and many recruiters are used to seeing one. You are not required to include one, though. Because a photo can reveal characteristics protected by the AGG, many employers no longer ask for it, and some ask you to leave it out. When an ad says nothing, a professional photo is the traditional choice, and leaving it out is also fine, especially at international companies and in tech.

If you include one, use a recent head-and-shoulders photo with a plain background, placed at the top of the first page. Our resume photo guide covers how to take one at home.

Dates, places and job titles

• Date format: month and year are enough. Write 03/2021 – 06/2024 or 03.2021 – 06.2024, and for your current job seit 03/2021 (“since”) or 03/2021 – heute (“today”). Pick one style and use it everywhere.
• Full dates, such as a date of birth, are written day first with full stops: 14.03.1994.
• Place and country: add the city and country for jobs abroad: “Pune, Indien”. German readers may not know every city, and the country tells them a lot.
• Job titles: keep your real title. If it means little in German, add a short description: “Process Engineer (Prozessingenieurin)”. Do not upgrade titles to sound more senior.
• Company names: use the official name. If the company is unknown in Germany, a few words help: “Kaveri Motors, Hersteller von Getriebeteilen, ca. 800 Mitarbeitende”.

Wording for gaps and breaks in German

A Lebenslauf is expected to run without holes, so give each break its own short dated line. Common phrasings:

Situation	In the Lebenslauf
Parental leave	Elternzeit
Caring for a relative	Pflege eines Familienangehörigen
Looking for work	Berufliche Neuorientierung, or Arbeitssuchend
Moving to Germany	Umzug nach Deutschland, Intensivsprachkurs Deutsch (B1)
Travel	Auslandsaufenthalt, with the countries
Illness	Krankheitsbedingte Auszeit (no diagnosis)

06/2024 – 02/2025 · Umzug nach Deutschland, Intensivsprachkurs Deutsch bis Niveau B2

Language levels

German employers describe language skills using the Common European Framework of Reference, which in German is the GER (Gemeinsamer Europäischer Referenzrahmen). The levels run from A1 (beginner) to C2 (mastery, the highest level).

Write each language with its level, and add a certificate if you have one:

• Deutsch: B2 (Goethe-Zertifikat B2)
• Englisch: C1 (IELTS Academic)
• Hindi: Muttersprache (native)

Some people add a word such as Grundkenntnisse (basic), gute Kenntnisse (good), fließend (fluent) or verhandlungssicher (business fluent). These words have no fixed definition, so the CEFR level is what readers rely on. Be honest about your German. If you write B2, the interview will probably be partly in German, and a mismatch costs more than a modest level does. If you are still learning, say where you are heading: “Deutsch: B1, Kurs bis B2 läuft (Abschluss 03/2027)”.

How to present a foreign degree

German recruiters will not know most foreign universities or degree names. Make it easy for them:

1. Give the original degree name and the subject: “Bachelor of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering”.
2. Add the university, city and country.
3. State the German equivalent if you know it, for example “entspricht Bachelor-Ebene” (corresponds to Bachelor level). Only write this if an official source supports it.
4. Show your grade with its scale, such as “CGPA 8.4/10”. German grades run from 1.0 (best) to 5.0, and some employers convert foreign grades themselves, so the original scale matters.

Three official sources help you find out how your degree is seen in Germany. Check them yourself, since rules depend on your field and country:

• anabin is the database of the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB). You can look up your university and your degree type and see how they are classified.
• The ZAB issues a Statement of Comparability (Zeugnisbewertung) for foreign university degrees. It names your degree and states its level in the German system, such as Bachelor or Master level. You can show it to employers and authorities.
• Anerkennung in Deutschland is the German government’s portal on recognition of professional qualifications. In regulated professions, such as doctors and nurses, recognition is required before you can work in the profession. The use of the title “Ingenieur” is also regulated by the federal states. The portal’s Recognition Finder tells you whether your profession is regulated and which office is responsible.

A Statement of Comparability does not give you the right to work in a regulated profession; that needs the recognition procedure for your profession. If a procedure is in progress, say so in the CV: “Anerkennung als Pflegefachfrau beantragt, 05/2026” (recognition as a nurse applied for). Do not use a protected German title before you have the recognition.

For more on structuring this section, see education on a resume.

Signature, place and date

A traditional Lebenslauf ends with the place, the date and your signature:

Stuttgart, 12.10.2026
[signature]

It confirms the CV is current and accurate. For online applications it is now optional. If you add it, use a clean scan of your real signature and update the date for each application. An old date suggests a CV you are sending everywhere.

Sample Lebenslauf layout

Here is a full one-page example with fictional data, written in German as most employers in Germany would expect:

PRIYA NAIR
Maschinenbauingenieurin

Persönliche Daten
Adresse: Musterstraße 12, 70173 Stuttgart
Telefon: +49 151 0000 0000
E-Mail: priya.nair@example.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/priyanair-example
Geburtsdatum: 14.03.1994
Staatsangehörigkeit: indisch

Berufserfahrung
04/2021 – heute · Konstrukteurin, Kaveri Motors Pvt. Ltd., Pune, Indien
Hersteller von Getriebeteilen, ca. 800 Mitarbeitende

• Konstruktion von Getriebegehäusen in CATIA V5
• Senkung des Bauteilgewichts um 12 % durch FEM-Analysen
• Abstimmung mit Lieferanten in Deutschland und Japan

07/2018 – 03/2021 · Ingenieurin Qualitätssicherung, Deccan Castings Ltd., Pune, Indien

• Einführung von 8D-Reports für Kundenreklamationen
• Schulung von 15 Mitarbeitenden in SPC-Methoden

Ausbildung
08/2014 – 05/2018 · Bachelor of Engineering, Maschinenbau
Western Ghats Institute of Technology, Pune, Indien
CGPA 8.4/10, entspricht Bachelor-Ebene (Zeugnisbewertung ZAB)

Weiterbildung
2023 · Six Sigma Green Belt

Kenntnisse
CAD/CAE: CATIA V5, SolidWorks, ANSYS
Methoden: FMEA, 8D, SPC, Lean
Office: MS Office, SAP (Grundkenntnisse)

Sprachkenntnisse
Englisch: C1, verhandlungssicher
Deutsch: B2 (Goethe-Zertifikat B2)
Malayalam: Muttersprache

Stuttgart, 12.10.2026
[Unterschrift]

In a real template, the dates sit in a narrow column and the photo, if you use one, goes in the top corner.

Mistakes applicants from abroad often make

• Sending a US-style resume: no month dates, a long summary paragraph, no language levels. Convert it to the tabular layout with MM/YYYY dates.

• Dates such as 04/05/2021. A German reader takes that as 4 May, a US reader as 5 April. Use month and year only: 05/2021.

• “German: fluent” with no level. Give the CEFR level, and the certificate if you have one.

• Mixing German and English headings in one document. Pick the language of the ad and use it for every heading.

• A holiday photo or a cropped selfie. Use a proper head-and-shoulders photo, or none.

• A long profile that repeats the cover letter. In a Lebenslauf, two or three lines are plenty:

  Maschinenbauingenieurin mit acht Jahren Erfahrung in Konstruktion und Qualitätssicherung bei Automobilzulieferern. Schwerpunkte: Getriebegehäuse, FEM-Analysen, 8D-Reports.

• Attachments sent as ten separate e-mail files. Combine them into one PDF unless the ad or portal says otherwise.

The application package

A German application, the Bewerbung, usually has three parts:

1. Anschreiben (cover letter): one page, addressed to a named person if possible, explaining why you want this job and what you bring. Our guide to writing a cover letter covers the structure.
2. Lebenslauf: your CV.
3. Anlagen (attachments): copies of your degree certificates and transcripts (Zeugnisse), language certificates, other relevant certificates and your Arbeitszeugnisse.

What an Arbeitszeugnis is

An Arbeitszeugnis is a written reference that a German employer gives you when you leave a job. Employees in Germany have a legal right to one, and it describes your role, your tasks and, in a qualified version, your performance. It is written in a polite, coded style that German recruiters read closely.

Many countries have no direct equivalent, and German recruiters who hire internationally know this. Send what you have instead: an employment certificate confirming your title and dates, or a reference letter on company letterhead signed by your manager. If they are not in German or English, add a translation. For official procedures such as recognition, you may need certified translations; check what the office asks for.

File format

Unless the ad says otherwise, send one PDF in the order: cover letter, CV, attachments. Name it clearly, for example Bewerbung_Priya_Nair.pdf. Scan certificates in good quality and keep the file size reasonable. When a company uses an online portal, follow its upload fields; some ask for separate files.

German or English?

Follow the language of the job ad. An ad in German gets a German application. An ad in English, common at international companies, startups and in IT, usually means an English CV is fine. Either way, show your German level clearly. Even in English-speaking teams, German helps with colleagues and customers.

If you write in German and it is not your first language, ask a native speaker to read it before you send it. Small grammar mistakes in a Lebenslauf are noticed.

Europass, the EU’s CV format, is known in Germany and accepted, but many employers prefer an individual, cleaner design. A tabular Lebenslauf in a simple template works well for most private-sector applications.

Your Lebenslauf in AlderCV

In AlderCV you can set your resume’s language to German, and the section headings follow it. Templates can be set to A4, and the photo is optional: you can show or hide it in any template. The free plan includes every template, every design setting and unlimited PDF downloads with no watermark, limited to one resume and one cover letter. You can start without an account; downloading needs a free account. Word (.docx) and plain-text downloads are available on every plan, which helps when a portal asks for a Word file.

Pre-send checklist

• Application in the language of the job ad
• Tabular layout, one or two A4 pages, reverse chronological order
• German headings if the CV is in German: Persönliche Daten, Berufserfahrung, Ausbildung, Kenntnisse, Sprachkenntnisse
• Every entry has start and end dates as MM/YYYY, and gaps are explained
• Phone number in international format
• Photo decision made: professional photo or none, and the ad's instructions followed
• Foreign degree with original name, country, grade scale and German level if confirmed
• Recognition checked for regulated professions; no protected title used without it
• Languages with CEFR levels (GER) and certificates
• Place, date and signature current, if you include them
• One PDF: Anschreiben, Lebenslauf, Anlagen, clearly named

FAQ

Do I need a cover sheet (Deckblatt)?

No. Some applicants add a cover page with their photo and name, but it is optional and many recruiters skip it. Put your effort into the cover letter and the CV.

Should I translate my university’s name into German?

No. Use the official name, in English or the original language, and add the city and country. The degree level is what you can explain in German.

Can I send the same CV I use for the UK?

Yes, with a few changes. Convert it to the tabular layout, add month-and-year dates everywhere, add language levels, and decide on the photo and personal details. The content of your bullet points can stay the same.