Cover Letter Workbench

The Anschreiben: Germany's cover letter

A traditional German job application consists of two parts: the CV (Lebenslauf) and the cover letter, called the Anschreiben. In many countries the cover letter has become optional; in Germany, plenty of employers still read it carefully — as the place where you connect your experience to their specific role, and as a sample of how you communicate in writing. For non-native speakers it is the hardest part of the application: the conventions are rigid, and the stock phrases that templates offer tend to sound exactly like what they are.

The standard structure: opening, motivation, fit, closing

1. Opening: The first sentence should give a concrete reason why you are applying for this particular role — not the administrative formula "Hiermit bewerbe ich mich" (herewith I apply), which German recruiters read as filler. If the sentence could open any application, it is too weak.
2. Motivation: Two or three sentences on what draws you to the role and why this company fits your next step.
3. Fit: The core of the letter. Pick two or three requirements from the job posting and back each one with concrete evidence from your experience — a project, a number, a result. This is a selection, not your CV in prose.
4. Closing: State your availability, add a salary expectation only if the posting asks for one, and end confidently — German convention favors a direct closing over an overly tentative one.

One page — and a layout standard called DIN 5008

The length convention is firm: one page. Recruiters read many applications, and a letter that makes its case on a single page reads as more confident than two pages of self-description. Cut whatever merely repeats the CV — the Anschreiben complements it, it does not summarize it.

The layout convention is DIN 5008, the German standard for business letters. It defines where the address block sits — positioned so the address shows through the classic German window envelope (Fensterkuvert) — along with the placement of date and subject line, margins and spacing. It is not legally required for applications, but it is the silent default: a letter that follows DIN 5008 looks orderly to German readers without any extra effort, while a letter that ignores it stands out in the wrong way.

Stock phrases — and how the Anschreiben-Werkbank helps

The most common weakness in German cover letters is not grammar but empty sentences. "Ich bin teamfähig, flexibel und belastbar" (I am a team player, flexible and resilient) is a list of claims without evidence; "Mit großem Interesse habe ich Ihre Anzeige gelesen" (I read your posting with great interest) says nothing at all. The working rule: every sentence needs either information or evidence — anything that provides neither can go.

The Anschreiben-Werkbank by AURIFEXA addresses both weak points, form and phrasing. It builds the letter in the correct DIN 5008 layout, with the address block where it belongs, so the finished letter fits the window envelope. And instead of a blank page, you work with German text modules deliberately designed not to sound like boilerplate: they provide the structure of a sentence, while the specifics — the role, your experience, your evidence — come from you. The result stays personal, which matters most when you are applying in a second language. The tool is free to use after registration.

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