My personal resume

The CV is the central document of the application. For this reason, it should always be individually adapted to the applicant and the desired profession. We’ll show you how.

The CV provides an overview of your personal details as well as your school and professional career. Although the cover letter is actually the first document in your application , many recruiters go for the CV first. Because there they get an initial overview of your qualifications. In this way, HR managers quickly get the answer to a central question: Does the candidate meet the relevant requirements – or not. This makes the CV the most important document in your application.

While most applicants are aware that a cover letter should always be tailored to the position they are applying for, very few know that an individual CV is just as important. It’s not enough to create a resume that reflects all of your education and skills. In our guide, we will tell you how to create an individual CV that is tailored to you and your dream job.

What information belongs in the individual CV?

There is some information that should always be on your CV, whether you are applying for an apprenticeship, an internship or a job: your personal data .

Mandatory information includes your full name, address, phone number and email address. If you want to save space in your CV, you can also put this information in a header. This also has the advantage that the personal data can be found automatically on every page of your application.

Attention: Your e-mail address should always be serious. A combination of your first and last name is best.

Your educational and professional background as well as your skills and knowledge also always belong in the CV – but to what extent depends on your experience and the position you are looking for. We’ll go into more detail on that later in this article.

Optional information in your individual CV

Optional information includes your date of birth, place of birth, marital status, nationality, and religion. All of this information is not mandatory in your CV, as it could lead to discrimination during personnel selection. So you should always consider whether they should be part of your individual CV or not.

In a family business , you may be able to score points by having a large family, but other recruiters might fear that your children will give you too much responsibility outside of your work.

The date of birth provides information about your age and is therefore welcome in most applications. This is how the employer can assess how much work and life experience you have and how you might fit into the existing team.

The application photo

The application photo is now also part of the optional content of the CV because of the Anti-Discrimination Act. This is to prevent applicants from being preferred or rejected because of their appearance, their origin or their gender.

In Germany, however, despite the law, the application photo is still a common and central element of the application – and is also highlighted on a cover sheet , for example . An attractive and professional application photo is usually not a disadvantage. On the contrary: Even with an application, the first impression counts, which can be reinforced by a friendly smile.

hobbies on the resume

Although the trend is towards a simple application that focuses on professional skills to avoid discrimination, hobbies are still welcome on a CV.

Your hobbies allow the employer to draw conclusions about your personality : are you active and sporty or do you prefer relaxed activities? Are you a team player or a lone fighter? In the best-case scenario, your hobbies can also underscore other qualities that are crucial for your desired job – for example your stamina as a marathon runner or your organizational talent for your book club.

However, it is not always an advantage to mention your hobbies in your CV. Here, too, you always have to agree individually which activities you want to specify and which are perhaps uninteresting or even disadvantageous for the position you are looking for.

If you apply to a young creative agency, you might score points because you like playing video games – but in a conservative company, this leisure activity tends to have negative connotations.

Volunteer activities in the CV

Similar to the indication of hobbies, it is also the case with voluntary work in your individual CV. As a rule, these are welcome, as social commitment is very important in our society. However, if you apply for a demanding job that requires your full work performance, an additional private burden can become a disadvantage for you.

Education and professional experience in the CV

Your education and professional experience form the central information in your individual CV. But even here there are a few things you should keep in mind. Which stations in your life you state so far also depends, for example, on how much professional experience you have and which position you are applying for.

For example, if you apply for an apprenticeship after school, it is very rare that you can already provide evidence of professional experience. In your individual CV, your school education is the focus. In this case, you should also list part-time jobs and internships – regardless of whether they have anything to do with the desired training. This is how you prove that you are committed and have already gained insight into the professional world. Hobbies can also provide insight into where your skills and interests lie and what things you are passionate about.

If, on the other hand, you are an applicant who has several years of professional experience, it is irrelevant to the HR manager which elementary school you went to. In this case, you should only enter your highest school diploma, degree or professional training in order to give your professional stations more space and presence. So you can omit the stations that are no longer decisive for the job: With a degree in journalism, you don’t necessarily have to state your two-week student internship at the local newspaper. In any case, you should state your relevant professional positions in full – including gaps in your CV .

knowledge and skills

When selecting your knowledge and additional qualifications, you should also consider what is really relevant for the respective application.

For example, if you are applying to be a postman or delivery man, you should definitely mention that you have a driver’s license, what class and maybe even how long you have been driving. However, if you apply to be an engineer, your employer is usually not interested in how you get to work.

If you have taken a course in ten-finger typing, this may be an advantage for an application as an editor – but as a car mechatronics technician it will hardly bring you any bonus points.

Choose wise

If you list all the activities and skills that you have learned and mastered in your life on your CV, it can quickly appear overloaded and unstructured. In the worst case, it seems like you haven’t thought about what’s really important for the job. Only if you feel a particular hobby or skill can give you an advantage or underscore your personality should you add it to your customized resume.

Also, make sure you don’t repeat yourself in your resume and cover letter. Soft skills, for example, are best documented in your cover letter. However, simply listing them in the CV is not very meaningful.

Structure and design of the individual CV

A customized resume should reflect your skills and personality, as does the design and structure.

However, you should adhere to certain guidelines when structuring your CV. In this way you ensure that the HR manager can capture the most important data at first glance. The structure should look like this:

personal data

school education / vocational training
work experience
knowledge and skills

hobbies and volunteer work

However, the items related to education/education and work experience are interchangeable in order – depending on which item is more important for your individual CV.

You can get creative with the visual design of your CV. You can never go wrong with a classic tabular resume , but with an appealing design you can stand out from the crowd.

However, you should always make sure that your information stays in the foreground. Use no more than two accent colors; the font should remain black to ensure good legibility. Geometric shapes, such as lines or symbols that highlight individual stations, are also a way to personalize your resume. Have a look at our CV templates : Here you will find numerous templates for creative and classic CVs.

The signature

In order to put the finishing touches on your individual CV, your personal signature must not be missing. This small but fine detail shows your potential employer that you have carefully prepared your application. Since most applications are sent online these days, you usually have to scan your signature to digitize it. If you don’t have the opportunity to do so, we recommend that you take a look at our CV editor : There you can create your individual signature directly online.