Der Lebenslauf

[VectraMan]

I'm wondering if any of the people that have, or like me want to escape the UK lock-in have any advice or experience on the subject of CVs or covering letters, or how best to go about applying for jobs in Germany, or Switzerland or wherever. Or did you simply just use your UK CV and not worry about it?

From what I'm reading the expected German Lebenslauf is a much more functional affair; list of skills and work experience without going into whether you're a team player who works well on his own type guff, but also has to contain your address and phone number and worst of all a photo (I fail to see how a photo of me can possibly be a positive thing).

Also although I've been trying really hard to learn German, and have a shiny B1 certificate, I don't feel I'm up to working at a professional level in a German speaking company, so really I'm looking at English speaking jobs or at least someone who's going to be very patient with me. For that reason I don't think I should attempt to write a Lebenslauf in German or it may give the wrong impression.

Any thoughts? And this is a professional forum, so please no Brexit content.

[darrylmg]

Hello chaps - yes, tis I (and I'm still a girl, what a surprise...)

Get yourself an account on Xing and create a relevant profile.
I get contacted about German roles via Xing every now and then.

[darmstadt]

I have a German and an English CV, both pretty much the same and depending upon the agency I'll send either the German one or both. Basically just states the skills I have, the length of time of possession of those skills, where I worked and a couple of sentences of what I did there. I have never put a photo on my CV although I was once asked for a photo but refused (still got the contract.) For a permie role a photo might be required though. As has been pointed out, Xing but also Linkedin.de and Gulp are good for German roles. As for language, mine's tulip but I think depending upon what area you're looking at, that might not be too important.

[NotAllThere]

...From what I'm reading the expected German Lebenslauf is a much more functional affair; list of skills and work experience without going into whether you're a team player who works well on his own type guff...

I wouldn't expect that kind of stuff on a contractor CV anyway.

Hays rewrote my CV to the German standard. They took out all the achievements, all the "I did this" etc., and just listed the skills and the nature of the projects.

Photos are useful for hiring managers once they've narrowed the selection down. It makes it easier to connect the CVs to the people you've interviewed when you're making the final decision.

[miron]

I moved to Germany from the UK a month ago but as a permanent staff and not a contractor. For my role German was not required and I was told several times that since everyone spoke English not speaking German would be absolutely fine. I am still learning it though as it would help enormously in social and domestic areas but I don't feel handicapped at my workplace.

On another note, I haven't altered my CV for the German market but I dealt with a UK recruiter.

Cheers