Day 12: I’ve Landed Jobs in Germany, the U.S. and Beyond -- Why the German CV Format Isn’t as Important as You Think
Most people applying to jobs in Germany dwell on conforming to the German CV format.
I don’t use it. In fact, I have landed jobs in Germany, the U.S., Hungary, and the Philippines using the same style of CV.
Here’s what’s more important than the German format.
- Writing about your results and accomplishments — not just your tasks and responsibilities
- Maximizing the likelihood that your CV is even seen by a human being. You do this by writing a thoughtful cover email and getting referred by connections in the company. You don’t do this by stuffing your CV with keywords trying not to get screened out by ATS software.
- Making sure your CV is clean, readable, and scannable. But this applies to any country, not just in Germany.
My approach to CVs is paying no attention to conformity and machine-readability. Instead, it’s focusing on the person reading your CV, and how to get it in their hands.
As Seth Godin writes in my favorite book Linchpin:
Those are the only two choices. Win by being more ordinary, more standard, and cheaper. Or win by being more remarkable... more human.