German CV format: your English CV for DACH

German CV format for an English CV: dated table, month dates, personal details, signature and attachments, plus what Austria and Switzerland expect.

jobvance team11 min read

Contents

The posting is in English and the team works in English, so your CV is in English too. If you learned to write one in the US, it probably starts like this:

PRIYA RAMAN
Hamburg, Germany · priya.raman@example.com

EXPERIENCE
Data Engineer, Nordhafen Logistik                Apr 2022–Present

Here is the same CV written for a reader in Hamburg. Priya and everything else in the examples below are invented:

Curriculum Vitae

Priya Raman                             [Photo, approx. 4 × 6 cm]
Data Engineer

Personal details
Address          Hauptstraße 12, 20095 Hamburg, Germany
Phone            +49 151 234567xx
Email            priya.raman@example.com
Date of birth    14 March 1991 in Chennai, India

Same language, different document. A photo, a date of birth and a place of birth look wrong on a US résumé. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, none of them will raise an eyebrow. That is the German CV format in one line: English words, German format. The reader works in a German-speaking country and expects a complete, dated record of where you were and when, usually backed by documents you attach. Below: what that looks like in English, and where the three countries disagree.

Why an English CV still follows the German CV format

The official guides cited in this article (Germany's Federal Employment Agency, Austria's employment service AMS, Swiss cantonal career services) describe CVs written in German. None of them says an English CV has to follow the same rules. Applying their conventions to an English CV is our recommendation, not a requirement. We make it because the recruiter's expectations don't change with the language: month dates, a complete timeline, a signature, attachments. A CV in the familiar shape is easier to check, and easier to trust.

One condition: the posting has to be in English. deutschland.de advises writing your application in German "unless the job advertisement was formulated in English". A German posting gets a German CV.

The photo: common, but your choice

A US résumé with a headshot reads as a mistake. In German-speaking countries a photo is still common, but no longer required. Germany's Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) says in its May 2026 application guide that a photo is no longer mandatory but still customary, and that no photo beats a bad one. The AMS calls a photo usual but not mandatory. Swiss guides from the cantons of Zurich and Graubünden list a photo as a normal part of the CV.

If you add one, make it recent and professional, roughly 4 × 6 cm, never a selfie. Whether to include one at all, and what the equal-treatment law says about it, is covered in Do you need a photo on a German CV?

Personal details: more than a résumé, less than it used to be

A UK CV stops at name, phone and email. A CV for a German-speaking employer traditionally went further. Here's what current official guidance says.

Germany. The Bundesagentur's guide starts the CV with name, address, phone and email. Under your name you can add the role you're applying for, as Priya does. Its sample CV still lists date and place of birth. Its list of things to leave out includes religion, party membership, your parents' names and jobs, and children or marital status, unless you want to include them or they matter for the job.

Austria. The AMS leaves it to you: date and place of birth, marital status and citizenship can be included, but don't have to be. It is firm about one thing: religion, political or union membership, health and sexual orientation don't belong on a CV at all.

Switzerland. Date of birth is standard, and nationality usually appears too: the Zurich guide lists both. The Graubünden guide lists date of birth as standard and marks nationality, residence permit, marital status and children as voluntary. The Swiss careers portal berufsberatung.ch, run on behalf of the cantons, says in its advice for apprenticeship applicants that foreigners should state their permit, for example B or C. Permit B is the residence permit (Aufenthaltsbewilligung), according to the State Secretariat for Migration. If Priya applied in Switzerland, one more line under Personal details would save the recruiter a question:

Nationality      Indian · Residence permit B

One practical point from the German guide: put your contact details in the body of the page, not in the document header. Applicant tracking software often doesn't read headers.

Work experience and education: a dated table

The core of the German CV format is a table: a narrow date column on the left, what you did on the right, newest entry first. EURES, the EU's job mobility portal, describes the German CV exactly like that. Priya's CV continues:

Work experience
04/2022 – present   Data Engineer
                    Nordhafen Logistik GmbH, Hamburg
                    • Migrated batch pipelines from Airflow to Dagster
                    • Responsible for inventory data quality

10/2018 – 03/2022   Junior Data Engineer
                    Kaveri Analytics Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India

Education
08/2014 – 05/2018   Bachelor of Technology, Computer Science
                    Adyar Technical University, Chennai, India

Languages
English             Fluent (C2)
German              Upper intermediate (B2)
Tamil               Native

Skills
Python, SQL, Dagster, Airflow, dbt, PostgreSQL

What changes compared with a US résumé:

  • Month and year, always. The Bundesagentur says to give every period with month and year. Years alone look vague and invite questions. The AMS wants durations to the month, and the Graubünden guide asks for months and years too. 04/2022 is the common format; the Bundesagentur's own samples write 04.2022, which works just as well. Pick one and stay consistent. Numeric MM/YYYY reads the same to every reader, so there is no US/European mix-up.
  • Gaps get a line. There's no fixed limit. The Bundesagentur says breaks of two or three months usually need no explanation. A workable rule of thumb: from about three months, add one neutral line with month dates, such as 03/2025 – 08/2025 Further training or Job search. A gap that's still running always gets a line (since 06/2026 Job search). The AMS suggests listing parental leave or time abroad where leaving it out would create a gap. Swiss guidance is stricter: the Graubünden guide says to avoid gaps by listing those periods, such as language stays, travel or unemployment. More in Employment gaps on a German CV.
  • Languages in words or levels, not graphics. The Bundesagentur explicitly says no stars or bars and describes skills in words. The AMS asks for the European framework (CEFR) levels A1 to C2. The Graubünden guide uses basic, good and very good. A word plus the CEFR level, as in Fluent (C2), satisfies all three.

"Table" describes how the page looks, not what's in the file. The same German guide warns against nested tables and decorative graphics that confuse applicant tracking software. Simple columns and plain headings like "Work experience" are enough.

Length: usually up to two pages

A CV for a German-speaking employer usually runs up to two pages. With long experience it can be more. EURES gives two pages as the maximum for Germany and two A4 pages for Switzerland. The AMS says one to at most two pages, and the EURES page for Austria adds that one is even better. The Graubünden guide is the most relaxed: usually one to two pages, sometimes up to three, depending on experience.

Coming from academia or a market where four-page CVs are normal? Cut. The recruiter needs the dates to add up, not every conference talk.

Place, date and signature

A German CV traditionally ends with place, date and signature. A US résumé has no equivalent. Priya's ends like this:

Hamburg, 6 October 2026

[Signature]
Priya Raman

Write the month out: 06/10/2026 means June to an American reader and October to a German one.

The Bundesagentur's guide reminds you not to forget place, date and signature, and EURES also tells you to sign and date a CV for Germany. Austria is looser: the AMS calls it advisable on the CV if place, date and signature aren't already on your cover letter, and otherwise not strictly necessary. The Swiss guides we checked don't mention a signature at all. An older AMS guide (2017) accepts a scanned handwritten signature or your name in print for emailed applications. Use the date of each application, not the date you first wrote the file.

Attachments: the proof that comes with it

A US application is usually a résumé, maybe with a cover letter. A DACH application is a package: cover letter, CV and attachments, meaning copies of certificates and references. The cover letter has its own format, covered in German cover letter in English.

The key attachment is the employment reference your employer writes, typically when you leave. You'll see it called Arbeitszeugnis, or Dienstzeugnis in Austria. Add degree certificates and relevant course certificates.

How much to send differs:

  • Germany: the Bundesagentur suggests about ten pages in total, including cover letter and CV. Choose a few relevant references, not all of them. Experienced applicants can usually leave out school reports. For email, merge everything into one PDF.
  • Switzerland: the Graubünden guide expects employment references that document your career without gaps. It suggests adding recognition documents for foreign diplomas where you have them. Referees (people an employer may call) are common. Ask them first, then list them under a "References" heading on the CV or bring their details to the interview. EURES adds that for a speculative application you send only the CV and letter, and provide certificates on request or at the interview.
  • Austria: EURES lists references, qualification copies and course certificates as part of a complete application.

File size and name. If the posting sets a limit, follow it. If not, keep the merged PDF small. The official guides set different caps: the Bundesagentur allows up to 5 MB, EURES says 2 MB for Germany, and the Graubünden guide 2–3 MB per attachment. At 2 MB or less, you meet all three. Name the file so it identifies you and the job, for example Raman_Priya_Data_Engineer.pdf.

If your references come from outside DACH, there's often no German-style written reference to send. EURES says that in some cases, for example when applying to a small business in Germany, you should have your qualifications and references translated into German.

Have German Arbeitszeugnisse and applying in English? Attach them as they are. Don't translate them yourself: they're written for a German reader, and your own translation isn't the document your employer signed.

Checklist: an English CV in German format

  • English headings throughout: "Curriculum Vitae", "Personal details", "Work experience", "Education", "Languages", "Skills".
  • Personal details in the body of the page, not the header. Date of birth is common; nationality and permit help in Switzerland.
  • Photo: professional and recent, or none at all. Never a selfie.
  • A dated table, newest first, every entry with month and year.
  • A gap of about three months or more gets one neutral line.
  • Languages as a word plus CEFR level. No stars or bars.
  • Usually up to two pages. In Austria, one if you can.
  • Place, date (month written out) and signature at the bottom for Germany. Optional in Austria if your cover letter already has them.
  • Attachments: a few relevant documents in one PDF, around 2 MB unless the posting allows more. German references attached as they are.

jobvance keeps the interface language separate from your documents: you choose the document language for each application, so you can work in either language and send an English CV and cover letter when the posting calls for it. The full package then merges cover letter, CV and your attachments into a single PDF.

Sources

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