How can I prepare a good CV (for Germany)?

A CV or Curriculum Vitae is a document detailing the qualifications, professional experience and other skills you have acquired. Make sure to have a look at some sample CVs for your field (do an internet search) to get a general idea of structure and content.

General suggestions:

• Make sure your CV has a universal format and looks orderly. The most important part of a German CV is making sure there are no gaps. If you were not working, or studying for one or two years, write what you were doing. Did you take a language course? Did you do any volunteer work? Even if you took that time to migrate to a new country, write that down.

• In each section, always make sure to put the most recent information first, and then go backwards. 

• Although not explicitly required, it is common practice in Germany to include a photo of yourself with your application. Choose a neutral, professional-looking portrait photo of yourself. The only things you should see in the photo are your head, neck and shoulders. The photo is normally in the upper right-hand corner of the CV.

• Make categories that best suit your life experience. You don't need to include everything listed below, especially if that information is not relevant to you.

Structure and categories:

• Personal details: at the top of the CV, write your name, address, phone number(s) and professional or personal email address(es). Give your Linkedin account if you have one. 

• Education: provide an overview of your education, starting from your last degree and working toward your first degree (reverse chronological order). List the name of the educational institutions, the duration of your studies, and the degree(s) obtained, if applicable. List the name of any relevant projects, extended essays, or your thesis/dissertation, if you wrote one.

• Work experience: provide an overview of the jobs you’ve had. If you’ve had many jobs, write only 3-5 of the most relevant - if you’ve only had a few jobs, write all of them. If you have volunteer or internship experience, you can either include this under work experience or create a separate heading titled ‘volunteer experience’, if you find it more fitting.

• Academic achievements and activities: this is an optional section where you could include for example a list the following activities:

  • Research or research assistant work: you can list the topics you researched, who you worked for or any collaborators, as well as any key research findings and accomplishments (articles etc.);

  • Any honors or academic recognitions: list the prizes, awards, honors or recognitions for your school work with the year it occurred and by who/which body the award was granted;

  • Scholarships: list the year they were awarded, the titles and what the scholarship was for;

  • Extracurricular activities: for example, if you were a member of a school club, debate team, a reading or technology group, wrote for the newspaper, etc.

  • Current memberships or academic affiliations: only list affiliations or memberships in which you are active (or have been at least during the last two years) and which are related to your area of expertise. This should not be a lengthy explanation but rather a simple mention of the membership. For example: Member (2017-05), Philosophy reading and presentation group comprised of Bachelor students from the Freie Universität.

• Other skills or qualifications: mention key skills and qualifications relevant to your research, academic work or field, as well as other practical things that are broadly applicable. These include statements like:

  • Skills: Proficiency in Microsoft Office; Photoshop; HTML;

  • Languages: Arabic, Native; German, C1; French, A2;

  • Personal skills: adaptable; strong communication skills; fast learner.

Once you’re satisfied with the content, proofread the text and delete everything that is not necessary and repeats itself. Make sure to pay attention to grammar and spelling, and if you are not a native in the language you are writing, ask a native speaker to proofread your CV!

Formatting suggestions: 

• Use basic font types (Arial / Times New Roman) in a normal size (11 or 12);

• Keep a consistent style for headings, subheadings and main text;

• Use normal sized margins (such as 1 inch or 2.5 cm);

• Use bullet points to highlight important items and to briefly present your qualifications credentials.