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Job seekers are often unsettled when they apply
Photo: 10'000 Hours / Digital Vision / Getty Images
Do I have to provide my marital status?
Are photos still required?
And who even reads my cover letter?
Job seekers often rack their brains during application phases.
In some aspects there is agreement, in others there is great uncertainty.
But what do you actually have to consider?
And what is the difference between a good and a bad application?
You can find out everything you need to know here:
What does a good application look like?
Job seekers are confused by the length of an application.
In fact, it is important to be brief.
"A good application should be as short and compact as possible and as detailed and meaningful as necessary," says lawyer and HR specialist Spiridula Minassidou.
Content and form are equally important.
"This applies from the structure of the portfolio to the design of the cover letter and the clean printout of the documents," says Minassidou.
According to the lawyer, the content and scope of an application also depend on the application situation, the type of position and the requirements of the employer.
Although applicants should be brief, the following documents should never be missing:
Cover letter
,
Resume
,
the
certificate
showing the highest professional qualification
and the last
three job references
.
Employment references that are more than ten years old should be avoided.
Certificates for further education and training should only be attached if they are related to the new position and are really still up to date.
Should I include a photo and state my marital status?
Opinions are also divided on this question.
In fact, however, it is entirely up to the applicant: "Due to the General Equal Treatment Act, marital status in the curriculum vitae has become an optional information from which applicants can choose - such as in the application photo," says Minassidou.
The Anti-Discrimination Act is intended to prevent candidates from being treated and assessed differently based on the specified marital status or the attached application photo and from being discriminated against because of their religion, origin, sexual identity, ideology or gender.
"The marital status in a résumé says nothing about the qualifications of an applicant and is therefore not relevant information for companies," the lawyer continues.
In practice, however, an attached photo is more the rule than the exception.
Applicants use photos to visually stand out from other interested parties.
If the picture is missing, however, this must not have any negative effects on the applicant.
Applicants should be free to decide whether they want to decorate their application with a photo or not.
"Likewise, the request of a human resources manager to submit such a picture does not have to be followed," says Minassidou.
A general recommendation to attach a photo could therefore not be given.
Who even reads an application?
One of the questions that unsettles every applicant: Who will my application reach?
And is it possibly sorted out before the boss sees it?
This depends on several factors.
In smaller companies, the boss usually reads the cover letter, in larger companies, on the other hand, it depends on the position that is to be filled.
"If the position is so high due to the organizational structure of the company that the boss has reserved the decision about filling the vacancy, then he actually reads it himself, usually after a preselection by the HR manager," says the lawyer.
As a rule of thumb, the person with whom you will later conduct the interview will usually read your cover letter.
What are classic mistakes?
There are also no-gos when it comes to applications.
These include, above all, the so-called "copy-paste errors" in the date, curriculum vitae and cover letter (spelling errors, wrong contact person) as well as errors in the naming of the attached files or missing attachments.
Sending the same application to several employers saves time, but in most cases minimizes the chances of success.
"HR managers notice this immediately anyway and punish the lack of effort with a rejection," says Minassidou.
Is there a "boring start"?
"I read your advertisement with great interest ..." - this is how many cover letters still begin today.
Many experts advise against it and recommend a more creative start.
Minassidou is not a big fan of such sentences either.
"Such an introduction simply lacks meaningfulness because it is almost always used. It suggests that nothing better has occurred to you or that you have given too little thought."
According to the lawyer, the same applies to popular phrases such as "resilient, flexible and reliable", which, depending on the job posting, are often included in your own application without further comment.
A boring cover letter that looks unkind and not very individual does not arouse curiosity about you - that's why you should make an effort here and not sink into the empty empty phrase.
A practical tip: Read the cover letter aloud to yourself.
If you cause endless sentences to stutter or if you are bored with your own words, you will probably not pull the other person from their chair either.
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