Published: 31 Jan 13 08:02 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/opinion/20130131-47649.html
The Local's new series JobTalk offers tips for working in Germany. For the first instalment, we explore the unique aspects of the German résumé.
External link: Lebenslauf examples in German »
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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Your comments about this article:
I can't tell you how many of these kinds of articles I have read and how many different takes each "expert" has on whether or not to include interests and hobbies, if putting your marital status is still necessary, if putting voluntary work is necessary, and whether or not to write your CV in German if it is not absolutely 100% perfect.
International applicants should not try to fit the old fashioned conservative Lebenslauf type of resume, and should enhance their experience with a Competency based resume. Reason being, is that you are very likely not going to be able to compete with the "studium" and all the German requirements simply because you come from a different system. If you do a German style Lebenslauf it will just show you as handicapped.
A competency based resume, with accomplishments descriptions (what value you created for the company, what savings you made for the company, what significance this has for the overall) is more likely to get attention and get you ahead in the race. No intelligent Hiring Manager will trash a resume that says "this guy saved the company 2M in return costs" or "this lady implemented the whole CRM system for the company and saved the company X amount".
The odds are, you are likely to be hired by a large multinational, not a small mittlestand place. The recruiters that operate in larger companies are (usually) more trained and with a wider scope than the HR Generalists that are usually assigned to smaller organizations and that only look for the date of birth and the picture.
Just 2 cents.
For example: In an American CV, I was told, simply list my degrees, institution, and the date granted. Germans want to know the exact length of study and place of study. Degrees (Abschlüsse) gets its own category. Moreover, I was always told that it looks suspekt to have an unexplained time gap when one was not discernibly studying or working. American and British HR people don't care if a person took some semesters off to travel. It does not appear on the CV. Just the final product: for example, BA 1996, MA 2001. German HR people want to know why in the late 1990s there are 1.5 years unaccounted for, when I was not matriculated or working. Everything has to be explained to their nosy satisfaction.
I also can't believe that German employers still get to know my marital status and place of birth. It's really none of their business, and it has no impact on my ability to spent 39 hours a week, sitting in a cubicle, processing paperwork already processed by someone in another cubicle.
"When in Rome, do as the Romans do!".
Whem Germans are abroad, they are expected to adopt to the local habits, too.
And there are pros and cons for everything.
Of course you may ask what use employers have when they know age or marital status. Well, it CAN be (does not necessarily HAVE to be) that you can see what a person is up to: Somebody young and single may move away more easy than somebody in the middle of life with wife and children. Somebody older may have a higher standard of living (and expects higher pay) than a beginner at his/her first job etc.
Similar on photos: It is a fact that about 85% of all information is gathered optically (hence the marketing-industry spending so much on package-design etc.). So of course people judge by sympathy/antipathy at first look - WE ALL DO. At every party you will not talk to people you thbink may be boring - if they look so, you will not even give them a chance for talks. So why should an employer act differently?
Of course this may be a loss when he misses out great opportunities, but that's his risk. As said above: There is good reason for either way.
On the other hand: Why waste time/cost on inviting people for interviews when they are clearly not what you want? These modern days "anonymous" CVs (which do not reveal gender, age, name, etc.) produce a lot of extra toil but in the end, it is the employer's choice whom he wants to hire...
TheWonderer
If the family had waited during that period we would have starved. Instead he took whatever work was available.
So I tnink it's rather funny, that such an issue should even be in the media today in Germany. I hope Germany sticks to her guns, when in Germany, do as the Germans do, if they can't do that, tell them to bugger off.