If you are applying for a school internship (Schülerpraktikum), an apprenticeship (Ausbildung), or your first part-time job in Germany, your CV is the document that hiring managers almost always read first. It often decides in the first few seconds whether your application gets a closer look or ends up in the rejection pile. The good news: you do not need work experience or luck to write a good one. You need a clear structure, honest content, and a few formatting rules that this guide walks you through step by step.
If you want to start straight away, you can fill and adapt a template in minutes with the CareerKit resume editor. First, though, we cover what actually belongs on the page and why.
Why your CV matters more as a student than at any later stage
At the student level, the differences between candidates are often small. Most applicants have similar grades, similar schools, and little to no work experience. That makes every detail on your CV weigh more than it would for someone with ten years of professional history behind them.
What you need it for
You need a CV for every kind of application: a mandatory school internship in the 8th, 9th, or 10th grade (a common requirement in German schools), a voluntary internship during the holidays, an apprenticeship (Ausbildung), a dual study programme (duales Studium), or a side job (Nebenjob). Indeed Germany's career guide for school internships explains that a complete German application consists of a cover letter (Anschreiben), a CV (Lebenslauf), and your current school report (Schulzeugnis). The cover letter is your personal motivation. The CV is the fact check behind it.
Submitting your own CV also signals something many students underestimate: you took the time. You did not just write "I would like an internship at your company" in an email. You put together a document that lets the reviewer make a decision in under a minute.
What recruiters scan for in the first seconds
Studies on how recruiters review applications show how little time you get on the first pass. An , found an average of 7.4 seconds for the initial scan of a CV. In those few seconds, the reviewer is not reading the content in detail. They are checking the structure. Are your contact details complete? Do the dates make sense? Can they tell at a glance which year of school you are in and what you have done so far?
