If you are applying for a job in Germany, the Anschreiben (cover letter) is not optional. Even when the job ad calls it "freiwillig" or "optional", most German hiring managers still expect one and use it as a second filter alongside your CV. This guide walks you through the DIN 5008 structure, the phrasing that works, and the mistakes that cost interviews.
If you want to start straight away, you can build your Anschreiben step by step in the CareerKit cover letter editor and match it to the same layout as your CV. First, though, we cover what actually belongs on the page and why.
Why the Anschreiben still decides applications in Germany
In Anglo-Saxon markets, the cover letter is increasingly treated as optional. Germany is different. Here, the Anschreiben remains standard across most industries, and its absence reads as carelessness.
What German recruiters expect from a cover letter
Your CV delivers facts. Your Anschreiben delivers reasoning, motivation, and personality. The University of Zurich Career Services frames it cleanly: by the end of the letter, the reader should know why you are applying, which requirements you fulfil, what distinguishes you from other applicants, and why you fit the company. Four questions, one page, clear answers.
Studies on recruiter behaviour show how little time you have. An eye-tracking study by Ladders, reported by HR Dive, found an average of 7.4 seconds for the initial scan of a CV. Cover letters get a similar quick first read. Recruiters scan the opening line, jump to the closing paragraph, and decide in under a minute whether a closer read is worth their time.
When it is mandatory and when optional
In Germany, the Anschreiben is effectively mandatory. iamexpat.de notes for international applicants that most hiring managers expect a cover letter even when the job posting does not explicitly require one. Applications without an Anschreiben look incomplete and are often screened out by HR teams before a hiring manager sees them.
