Friday, March 25, 2011

lebenslauf

I'm a bit uncomfortable with some of these German CVs. The lebenslauf (life run) is the rough equivlent to a curriculum vitae, but it is a lot more personal. Many of the lebenslaufen I have seen contain not only educational and employment infomation, skills and other things relevant to qualifications, but also things that from my frame of reference simply don't belong. What legitmate reason would a potential employer have for wanting to know the applicant's religion, the name and employment of her parents and siblings, what primary school she went to and her photograph?

Will the culture shock ne'er end?
Pers. Com. at
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2 comments:

Dawn Pillsbury said...

Wow, that sure wouldn't fly here. How else is culture shock getting you?

2:07 PM
Anonymous said...

Such Lebensläufe are clearly outdated even by German standards. It used to be customary to add your parents' professions, so the future employer could evaluate your social background. Same goes for photographs. But as I said, it's no longer done, really. When people still add such information, it's usually a sign that they've been coached by people a lot older than themselves. ;-)

2:39 AM

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