Differences between German and American resumes

[Freising 503]

If you get discriminated against after the potential employer looked at your photo, at least you are spared a stressful interview and some lying to your face about why they haven´t chosen you. <_<

[moctoj2 542]

Mere, I completely agree with you. Sorry if I sounded differently, but I don't understand either why I should submit a photo, add my marital status and hobbies. How would that qualify me to be an engineer is my thought. I heard that germans just want the 'facts', but yet, they want photos and marital status? Just doesn't make sense to me.

 

IMHO, probably my American background, I think a photo is discrimination. My husband was born in India, but raised in London, so he's as British English as they come. Doesn't even like Indian food for that matter, thankfully. But if you see him, he's definately mid-eastern and could and has been discriminated against here. As soon as he speaks german, the guard is let down. I've seen it happen. Of course, he married an American Italian, speaks german and then is 'judged' okay. So we're both foreigners here. BTW, he transfered from London to work here within the company, so hiring was just a matter of convincing mgrs that he would be valuable to the team.

 

Sorry, if there was any offensive, none meant.

 

Oh, and Expaticus if you're hiring in the Stuttgart area, I'd like to submit my resume too. See this.

Business

[Lavender Rain 7,859]

This resume landed in my inbox today .

 

 

 

Subject: My ResimaY

 

ResimaY

 

To hoom it mae cunsern,

 

I waunt to apply for dajob what I saw in da paper. I can Type real quik wit one finggar and do sum a counting.

 

I think I am good on da phone and no I am a pepole person, Pepole really seam to respond to me well. Certain men and all the ladies.

 

Im lookin for a Jobb as a reporter but it musent be to complicaited.

 

I no my spelling is not to good but find dat I Offen can get a job thru my persinalety. My salerery is open so we can discus wat you want to pay me and wat you think that I am werth,

 

I can start imeditely. Thank you in advanse fore yore anser.

 

hopifuly Yore best aplicant so farr.

Sinseerly,

 

BRYAN nikname Beefy

 

PS : Because my resimay is a bit short - below is a pickture of me.

 

 

 

 

Employer's response:...

 

 

Dear Beefy-I mean Bryan,

 

It's OK honey, we've got spell check. You're hired.

[RustyMember 23]

Would someone be willing to vet my resume and give me a few pointers as to where I screwed up with it? if you can just send me a pm. Thankyou!

[CaliBird 1]

Hey all,

 

I'm going through this process right now as well and was super shoked to find all the extraneous information that German companies want. The photo is a big one. Coming from the States, yeah, this is totally discrimination, but we're in Germany now and this is how the Germans "do," and I respect that and obviously want to follow the rules (especially if it gets me hired).

 

So my question is this: what type of photo are we talking here? passport photo? What size? Headshot only or...? Forgive me if this info has already been covered but I didn't find it anywhere.

 

Thanks!

[rick_de 826]

You're supposed to send proper "Bewerbungsfotos". These are bigger than simple passport-booth pics (which all the job application books tell you never to send, presumably because they look cheap and tacky and tend to make you look like you`ve just seen the ghost of Hamlet. You can get the real thing done at a photographers studio. They cost more, but at least you end up with a fairly reasonable mugshot.

[Germany Bound 2]

I was wondering about resumes... I work in film/tv... so, my resume that use in the US is very different from what most people use. I do not put dates next to the shoots because when you work on commercials you may work for a brief period of time. TV shows and movies tend to last longer. So, since I freelance I end up working for a million employers in one year. I just reformatted my resume for here... But I was hoping to use it as the one I will send to German companies, but now I feel I should change it a little more.

 

Since I do some acting, I was thinking about using my headshot as my photo. It is very professional and looks nice.

 

If anyone is interested in looking at my resume and critiquing I would truly appreciate it.

 

K.

[Germany Bound 2]

Oh the photo thing is so bizarre. So, do only pretty people get job interviews?

Just kidding.

[RickMunich 3,901]

Well, I got a job, so obviously not. :)

[kshinabery212 7]

Resumes... to do or what not to do... that is the question.

 

I am doing what they ask and conforming by providing the info asked. I can not change their system, and I have had conversations about it. I understand their points and I will respect them. They understood how things are in the US and they respect that.

 

Now to get my Cover Letter in the proper order. Granted that will be adjusted to each company I mail one to.

[ovik 1]

[adminmerge][/adminmerge]

Hi,

 

I am aspiring to apply for a job in Germany. I have searched in this forum and on the web for writing a CV in German format. Please bare with me that I am again writing on this topic. I am a software professional with 6 years experience in system level testing and administration. I found that German CV differs from that of US style. Could anyone provide a link/template to a sample cv of German style? I could find some tips to write a cv in German style. But it would be really appreciable if someone provides helpful links.

 

Thanks

Ovi

[tokeshu 779]

Ovik - this should get you started

 

http://www.jobscout24.ch/de/jobratgeber/download-muster-lebenslauf-a4017?c=54

 

And as other have mentioned over the years in this thread, for God's sake - don't forget to include your photo. The number of discussions I've had about this with my German teachers and my students - and none of them can see why it's not the done thing in other places.

 

Oh - I did have my own Lebenslauf criticised once because I didn't include my high school marks, or which primary school I went to.

 

Good luck.

[dan_JT 39]

Definitely is puzzling why they would require a photo. I'm trying to beef up all the other qualifications to prevent any potential 'Kinder statt Inder' situations. :ph34r:

[23Dan 662]

They require a photo because they've always required a photo, it's part of the expected format and the CV will look weird to the vast majority of German recruiters if it's missing.

 

Most people I've spoken to say they understand why the photo isn't the done thing elsewhere (and probably shouldn't be here) but most also can't shake the feeling that an application without a photo looks like the applicant is trying to hide something. There will be arseholes who will discriminate based on the photo, but there will also be arseholes who would discriminate based on name, nationality, gender, age, education, etc if the photo wasn't there.

 

It's changing, but for now it's just one of them things.

[Joe 466]

 

Ovik - this should get you started

 

http://www.jobscout2...lauf-a4017?c=54

 

And as other have mentioned over the years in this thread, for God's sake - don't forget to include your photo. The number of discussions I've had about this with my German teachers and my students - and none of them can see why it's not the done thing in other places.

 

Oh - I did have my own Lebenslauf criticised once because I didn't include my high school marks, or which primary school I went to.

 

Good luck.

 

It might be an industry thing but I have not done this for years.

Germans generally like brevity in a CV (ideally 2 pages) so it should not be too long and it should also show clearly your strengths and not have any conspicuous gaps.

 

What is more important is that people can find you in Linkedin and for Germany Xing so they can verify that your CV is plausible. Linked in and Xing also effectively give you a nice format for your CV that broadly meets local requirements.

Contact Details, marrital status

Summary of skills

Education

Employment

Professional Training

[ovik 1]

Hi,

 

Thank you all for your valuable replies. I was wondering if it needs to be written in German language or English would do. I am beginner in learning German and don't want put a wrong impression in writing the CV (may be from some agency) in German language (as I'm a beginner it might create confusion). Also I have few more questions.

1. I'm an IT professional with 6 years experience. Do I need to know German before I start applying for jobs?

2. Could anyone provide some useful links to apply for IT jobs? I know some links like monster.de and the one provided in earlier replies like Xing, LinkedIn, etc.

 

Thanks

[newfoundlander 150]

 

Germans generally like brevity in a CV (ideally 2 pages) so it should not be too long...

You've obviously been applying to very different Germans than the ones I know/knew. It may be somewhat out of date (though I don't have the feeling a lot has changed) but when I arrived from Canada (comparable to US in this matter, I think) with my concise 1-pager, no pic, I was advised by several people that they would expect the "correct" german version to be about 5 pages long - plus, of course, the Zeugnisse.

[Danizand 4]

Some links about CVs cover letters (in German unfortunately)

http://www.azubi-academy.de/upload/richtige_Bewerbung.pdf

http://www.bewerbungstraining-online.at/content/view/48/58/

 

Apart from the links you mention like monster and LinkedIn etc, I like to use (including email alerts):

https://www.stepstone.de/

http://www.jobrobot.de/

 

As mentioned before, I have been asked for high school grades as well, not just BSc/MSc. Nearly fell off my chair when I read that email...

I put this info not in the CV, but in an appendix containing my degrees.

 

I am not sure about what language to apply in (am not in IT, but in chemistry stuff), I apply in the same language as the advert is written in (and get someone to check my German, mine is not brilliant).

Fingers crossed for you!

[ovik 1]

Thanks Danizand! I have gone through the links you have provided. I can start with editing my CV now. Will get back for more questions.

 

Ovi

[tokeshu 779]

 

It might be an industry thing but I have not done this for years.

Germans generally like brevity in a CV (ideally 2 pages) so it should not be too long and it should also show clearly your strengths and not have any conspicuous gaps.

 

What is more important is that people can find you in Linkedin and for Germany Xing so they can verify that your CV is plausible. Linked in and Xing also effectively give you a nice format for your CV that broadly meets local requirements.

Contact Details, marrital status

Summary of skills

Education

Employment

Professional Training

 

Very interesting to read - thank you for that. My most recent German teacher assured us the CV had to be long and freaked out when i showed my one page Aussie version.

 

My wife recently applied for a job and had her application professionally done - and her CV topped out at 6 pages long. When she went to the interview (a deputy principal position for an international German school), she said the interview panel were openly hostile and argumentative, refused to look her in the face, showed no interest whatsoever in her or her qualifications/experience and questioned her on one topic only for the duration of the interview. One person on the panel just stood staring out the widow for 30 minutes!

 

We've been wondering what would have set them off - perhaps the long CV had something to do with it? :unsure: