How to Write a German Cover Letter (Anschreiben) That Gets Interviews

In the UK, a cover letter is often optional — a nice-to-have that some candidates skip. In Germany, the Anschreiben is a different story entirely. It's a core component of the application, and many German hiring managers read it before they even open your Lebenslauf.

Surveys from major German recruiting platforms consistently show that a large majority of recruiters consider the Anschreiben essential. Submitting a German application without one is the equivalent of walking into an interview having not prepared: technically possible, but it signals that you don't understand how this works.

How It Differs From a UK Cover Letter

If you've written cover letters for UK or US applications, the German Anschreiben will feel more structured and formal. The differences are real:

| | German Anschreiben | UK Cover Letter | |---|---|---| | Format | Strict (DIN 5008 standard) | Flexible | | Tone | Formal, even for startup roles | Ranges from formal to casual | | Length | Exactly one page | Typically one page | | Structure | Prescribed block layout | Paragraph-based, flexible | | Expectation | Required for most roles | Often optional | | Key focus | Why this company specifically | General fit for the role |

The biggest difference is the DIN 5008 standard — Germany's official formatting specification for business correspondence. It governs margins, spacing, address block placement, and overall layout. You don't need to memorise every specification, but you do need to know what the final product should look like.

DIN 5008: The Format

DIN 5008 was last updated in 2020 and specifies exact formatting rules for business letters, including cover letters:

Layout essentials:

• Left margin: 25 mm. Right margin: 20 mm
• Sender information at the top of the page
• Recipient address block starting at 45 mm from the top edge
• Date right-aligned, in DD.MM.YYYY format (e.g., 01.03.2026)
• Subject line in bold, with one blank line above and below
• Body text starting at approximately 98.5 mm from the top

Typography:

• Clean, readable font — Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica
• 11pt minimum for body text
• Single spacing (1.0) or up to 1.5 for readability

Most word processors and CV builders handle the precise measurements automatically. What matters is that your Anschreiben looks correct to a German recruiter's eye — professional, structured, and clearly formatted as a formal business letter.

The Structure

Header (Briefkopf)

Your contact information at the top:

Max Mustermann
Musterstraße 1
80331 München
Tel.: +49 123 4567890
E-Mail: max.mustermann@email.de

Recipient Details

The company's name and address, including the specific contact person if you can find one:

BMW Group
Frau Julia Schmidt
Personalmanagement
Petuelring 130
80788 München

Finding the specific recruiter's name makes a measurable difference. "Sehr geehrte Frau Schmidt" is significantly stronger than "Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren." Check the job posting, the company's team page, LinkedIn, or simply call the reception desk and ask.

Date and Subject Line

München, 01.03.2026

Bewerbung als Werkstudent Online Marketing — Referenznummer 12345

The subject line should name the exact position title and reference number (if one exists in the posting). This is practical — it helps the recruiter match your letter to the right requisition, especially at companies processing hundreds of applications.

Salutation

• "Sehr geehrte Frau Schmidt," (if you know the contact person)
• "Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren," (if you don't)

Note the comma after the salutation — the first word of the body text is then lowercase (unless it's a noun), following standard German punctuation rules.

Body: Three Paragraphs

This is where most Anschreiben fail or succeed. Three paragraphs, one page, each with a clear purpose.

Paragraph 1 — The Opening (2-3 sentences)

Why you're writing and what caught your attention about this specific role. The single biggest mistake: starting with "Hiermit bewerbe ich mich auf die ausgeschriebene Stelle als..." (I hereby apply for the advertised position as...). Every recruiter has read this sentence thousands of times. It tells them nothing.

A better approach references something specific — a campaign the company ran, a product you use, a project that caught your eye, a conversation at a career fair:

"Ihre Kampagne zum Thema nachhaltige Mobilität hat mich beeindruckt — als Marketing-Student mit Erfahrung in Social-Media-Strategie möchte ich dazu beitragen, diese Botschaft weiterzutragen."

This immediately tells the recruiter: this person knows what we do, they've done their research, and they have a specific reason for applying here.

Paragraph 2 — Your Qualifications (5-8 sentences)

What you bring to the role. This is where you connect your skills and experience to the specific requirements in the job posting. Not a repeat of your CV — a narrative that explains why your background matches what they need.

Use concrete examples:

"Im Rahmen meines Praktikums bei [Unternehmen] habe ich eigenständig drei Social-Media-Kampagnen geplant und umgesetzt, die zusammen über 50.000 Impressions erzielten."

"Mein Schwerpunkt in [Fach] hat mir fundierte Kenntnisse in [relevant skill] vermittelt, die ich im Rahmen meines Semesterprojekts zu [Thema] praktisch angewandt habe."

The key principle: don't just claim qualities. Demonstrate them through what you've actually done.

Paragraph 3 — Closing (2-3 sentences)

Confirm your availability, express interest in an interview, and keep it confident without being presumptuous:

"Ich freue mich auf die Möglichkeit, Sie in einem persönlichen Gespräch von meiner Motivation und meinen Fähigkeiten zu überzeugen. Ab dem [Datum] stehe ich Ihnen für [X Stunden/Woche] zur Verfügung."

Closing and Signature

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Max Mustermann

"Mit freundlichen Grüßen" is the standard closing. Don't try to be creative here — in German business correspondence, the standard is expected. "Freundliche Grüße" is a slightly less formal variant that works if you've had prior contact with the person.

At the very bottom, add an "Anlagen" (attachments) line listing what you've enclosed: "Anlagen: Lebenslauf, Zeugnisse, Immatrikulationsbescheinigung."

What Hiring Managers Actually Want to Read

We've spoken with German recruiters across industries, and the consistent feedback is this: they want to understand your motivation, not your biography.

Your Lebenslauf already contains your timeline, your qualifications, and your skills. The Anschreiben should answer a different question: "Why does this person want to work here, and why should we believe they'd be good at it?"

The applications that stand out make a genuine connection between the candidate's background and the company's specific work. The ones that get rejected tend to be interchangeable — generic paragraphs about "teamwork and motivation" that could have been sent to any company with a search-and-replace on the name.

Common Mistakes

Copying the Lebenslauf. Your Anschreiben complements your CV. It should not be a prose version of the same information. If a recruiter reads both and sees the same content twice, neither document has done its job.

"Ich bin teamfähig, belastbar und motiviert." These words appear in so many Anschreiben that they've lost all meaning. Show these qualities through specific examples instead of claiming them as adjectives.

Exceeding one page. This is a hard rule. If your Anschreiben runs to a second page, you're including too much. Edit ruthlessly.

Getting the company name wrong. The most embarrassing and surprisingly common mistake. When you're tailoring applications in batches, it's easy to leave the previous company's name in. Triple-check every single application.

Using informal language. Even if the job ad uses casual "du" language, keep your Anschreiben professional with "Sie" unless you're absolutely certain the company culture expects otherwise. The Anschreiben is a formal document.

No connection to the company. German recruiters specifically want to know why this company, not just why this role. A generic letter that could be sent to any employer is obvious and unimpressive.

For Students and Graduates

As a student applying for a Werkstudent position or Praktikum, your Anschreiben should emphasise:

• Relevant coursework and projects that connect to the job requirements
• Practical experience, even if limited, framed in terms of what you contributed
• Genuine motivation — why this field, why this company, why now
• Your availability — when you can start and how many hours per week
• Your expected graduation date, so the employer understands your timeline

You don't need years of experience. You need to show that you understand what the role requires and that your academic foundation gives you something real to build on.

Anschreiben vs. Motivationsschreiben

These are different documents, and the distinction matters:

The Anschreiben is a one-page cover letter that accompanies your Lebenslauf. It's focused on your qualifications for a specific job.

A Motivationsschreiben is an optional additional page that goes deeper into your personal motivation. It's typically requested for academic programmes, scholarships (DAAD, Deutschlandstipendium), or highly competitive positions. For standard job applications, you usually only need an Anschreiben.

Getting the First Draft Right

Writing an Anschreiben is genuinely difficult, especially if German isn't your first language. The formal conventions, the right phrasing, the DIN 5008 structure — getting all of it right while making the content compelling is a real challenge.

Bemura's cover letter builder can generate a tailored German Anschreiben from your CV and the job description, giving you a structured first draft that follows the correct format and uses appropriate language. You then refine it with your personal touch — the specific company references, the genuine motivation, the details that make it yours.