There are German job ads that no longer ask for an Anschreiben, and there are more of them every year. Some forms have no field for it, others state explicitly that a CV is enough. For applicants that is both a relief and a new uncertainty: if nobody asks, does leaving it out count against you? And if it is expected, where exactly does that say so?
This article settles both. And it says up front what it will not do: quote a percentage. For how the letter would be built otherwise, see the complete cover letter guide.
The trend is real, the numbers around it rarely are
Very different figures circulate about the share of German employers dropping the cover letter. They come almost entirely from surveys run by vendors in the recruiting market, rest on wildly different samples and often cannot be traced back to a method. So we will not quote one, because a number you cannot check does not help your decision anyway.
What can be observed is enough. Large employers with applicant tracking systems increasingly build their forms without any field for a letter. In sectors with severe staff shortages, care work, hospitality, the trades, driving jobs, the short application has been standard for years. And in IT a portfolio or a repository gets asked for more often than a motivation letter.
The other way round, the Anschreiben stays firmly in place wherever selection is formalised: the public sector, academia, churches and associations, traditional apprenticeship employers. So the line does not run between modern and old fashioned. It runs between processes optimised for speed and processes optimised for comparability.
How to tell whether one is expected
Three places answer the question reliably, and none takes a minute.
The ad itself. "Vollständige Bewerbungsunterlagen", "aussagekräftige Bewerbung" or an explicit "Motivationsschreiben" all mean a cover letter. "Just send us your CV" or "apply in two minutes" mean the opposite.
The form. If there is a field or an upload slot labelled Anschreiben, it is expected, even when technically optional. If there is none, leave it out. A letter pushed into the "other attachments" slot lands in a folder nobody opens.
The shape of the role. The more specialised the position and the greater the responsibility, the more a reason is expected even when nobody asks. A team lead application with not one word about motivation is missing something. A warehouse assistant application is not.
When in doubt: a short, good letter never hurts. A long, empty one does.
What carries the weight instead
When the letter goes, the load shifts onto three things.
The CV now carries everything. It has to explain what you can do with no accompanying text, and it has to be cut to this job rather than being generally correct. That means result lines instead of task descriptions, and the terms from the ad in your own words. The German CV guide covers the detail.
The Kurzprofil at the top of the CV takes over the role of the opening paragraph. Three or four lines: what you do, since when, what you are good at, what you are looking for. It is the only place in the document where you speak in your own words, which makes it the most important one. Without a cover letter, a missing summary is a real loss.
The proof. In design and technical roles, a portfolio, a repository or a project list does the work the core of the letter would otherwise do. A link in your CV that leads to something finished carries more than three paragraphs of self-description.
When a voluntary letter still pays
Four situations make the optional page worth writing, and all four share a structure: your application raises a question the CV cannot answer.
- Industry change. The CV shows a different world. Without an explanation somebody reads it as a misdirected application.
- A gap or a break. A longer pause, an unfinished qualification, a short stay at one company. Named briefly it is a fact, unmentioned it is a question mark.
- Formally underqualified. You lack a required certificate but can do the work. That is exactly what one paragraph is for.
- Relocation or a distant address. If your address is three hundred kilometres away, one sentence settles that the move is planned and the travel is your problem.
In all four cases a short page with three paragraphs is enough. A voluntary cover letter does not have to be complete, it has to close the one open question.
Short applications and one-click processes
The Kurzbewerbung is the middle step: a CV plus a few sentences, often directly in the email body rather than as an attachment. It is common for speculative applications and in sectors that fill roles fast. The rule of thumb for that email is three sentences saying what you are referring to, what you bring and what is attached. The subject line carries the job title and the reference number, nothing else.
One-click processes go further. Portals and job boards take a stored profile and send it off with no additional text. The upside is obvious and so is the downside: every application from such a process looks the same, because they all come from the same profile. If you use one, at least maintain that profile per target direction instead of filling it once and forgetting it for three years.
That is where Jobvin's one-click application starts: it takes the posting and rebuilds the documents from it rather than passing a finished profile along unchanged. The process stays short, the result stays tied to the job.
A three question decision aid
- Does the ad or the form ask for one? If yes, write one and stop thinking about it.
- Does my application raise a question? A change, a gap, a missing qualification, distance. If yes, write one voluntarily, and keep it short.
- Does my CV carry on its own? Summary present, result lines instead of task lists, terms from the ad included. If not, the missing cover letter is not your problem.
If all three answers point to leaving it out, leave it out. A letter written only because that is what one does is recognisable within two sentences, and then it has achieved the exact opposite of what you wrote it for.
Frequently asked questions
Is applying without a cover letter rude?
Not when nobody asked for one. The opposite reads worse: a letter that recites the job ad although the employer has visibly moved to a fast process.
What is a Kurzprofil?
Three or four lines at the top of your CV saying what you do, how long you have done it and what you are good at. It takes over the job the first paragraph of the cover letter would otherwise do.
Does this apply to public sector jobs?
Usually not. Public authorities run formal selection procedures in which the file has to be complete. If a cover letter is on the list of required documents, it is mandatory, not optional.
Does an optional cover letter hurt?
Only if it is bad. A text that says nothing costs goodwill. A text that answers an open question, an industry change for example, helps even when nobody asked for it.