CV & Resume Builder for Germany

Usually, yes. A professional headshot is a long-standing convention on the German Lebenslauf, typically placed in the header alongside a personal-data block. It’s customary rather than legally required — anti-discrimination law means an employer can’t demand one — but leaving it off still reads as unusual to many German recruiters. For most roles, including a clean, professional photo is the safer choice; JACVault places it correctly for you and lets you leave it out when a role or company culture calls for that.

A German application is typically a set of two documents: a tabular, reverse-chronological CV (the Lebenslauf) and a cover letter (the Anschreiben), both following local conventions. Match the language to the job ad, keep the German format, and include the cover letter — it’s expected, not optional. JACVault builds both to German standards in the language the role calls for, and our step-by-step guide walks through the whole process.

Yes — if the job ad is in English, or the company’s working language is English, an English-language CV is completely appropriate. The key is that an English CV for the German market should still follow the German format: tabular layout, a personal-data block, usually a photo, and month/year dates. What you should avoid is sending a US-style résumé, which reads as not knowing the local standard. JACVault keeps the German conventions whether you write in English or German.

In practice, yes. The Anschreiben is treated as a core part of a German application, and many recruiters won’t shortlist a candidate who omits it — a habit that trips up applicants from countries where cover letters are optional. JACVault drafts a role-specific cover letter alongside your CV so you never send an incomplete application.

Yes. The interface is available in English, so you never need German to build, edit or export your application. You can also write your documents in English where the role calls for it — the tool handles the German formatting conventions on your behalf, so a lack of German never stands between you and a correct application.

Your first application is genuinely free — a real PDF with no watermark, not a locked preview. Paid plans start at 39 € and go up to 119 € for higher volume and more features, but you can build and download a complete, correctly formatted application before paying anything.

That’s exactly what the templates are built for. German employers screen with applicant-tracking software, and multi-column or graphic-heavy layouts often parse badly. JACVault’s templates keep a clean, machine-readable structure that follows German recruiter conventions, so your CV clears the software filter and still reads well for the human behind it.

Yes. Profiles in JACVault are monolingual by design — each one stays in its own language rather than being run through a translator — and you can keep a German and an English profile side by side. For each application you pick the language of the posting, or let the tool detect it, and the documents are written directly in that language. Both versions stay native quality instead of one being a copy of the other.