The question nobody answers for you
Most CV advice assumes you are applying at home. A Pole applying for a job in Poland gets plenty of guidance. A Pole applying for a job in Germany is doing something different, and almost nobody writes about it.
The differences are not translation. They are conventions, expectations and paperwork — and the paperwork in particular has costs and waiting times that are much easier to absorb if you start them early.
Poland and Germany are both in the EU, so the largest obstacle does not apply to you: you do not need a work permit, and you do not need a visa. Freedom of movement covers it. What remains is making yourself legible to a German employer.
1. Which language do you write the CV in?
The honest answer is: whichever language the job advert is written in.
- Advert in German — send a German Lebenslauf. Applying in English to a German-language advert reads as "cannot work in German", whether or not that is true.
- Advert in English — send it in English. Common in tech, startups, and international companies in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt.
- Advert in German but the role is clearly English-speaking — German, with a line in your profile stating your German level honestly.
State your German level using the CEFR scale (A2, B1, B2, C1) rather than words like "basic" or "good". German employers read those levels precisely, and B2 is often the practical threshold for a role involving colleagues or customers.
Do not overstate it. It is checked in the first five minutes of the interview.
2. Format differences that actually matter
A Polish CV and a German Lebenslauf are close, but not identical.
The photo. Poland and Germany both still use them, so this one is familiar — but note that many larger German employers now explicitly ask you to leave it out, and none may require it. If you include one, make sure your contact details sit in ordinary body text, not inside the box beside the photo, or a parser can lose them.
The RODO/GDPR clause. Polish CVs traditionally carry a consent clause at the foot. German CVs do not, and it looks odd. Remove it.
Dates. German convention is MM/YYYY, applied consistently, with ongoing roles as seit 03/2021.
Headings. Use the German ones — Berufserfahrung, Ausbildung, Kenntnisse, Sprachen — because applicant tracking systems match on those keywords.
Diacritics. Ł, ż, ś, ą and the rest are handled correctly by modern systems, but not by all of them. Write your name exactly as it appears in your passport; do not strip the diacritics to be helpful, because your documents will not match later.
3. The artefact that does not exist in Poland
This one catches almost everyone.
German employers expect an Arbeitszeugnis — a written reference from your previous employer that evaluates your performance and conduct. It is a legal entitlement in Germany, it follows conventions so established that particular phrases carry specific meanings, and recruiters read it closely.
Poland has świadectwo pracy, which is not the same thing at all. It is a factual record: who employed you, in what role, for how long, how the contract ended. It contains no assessment, because Polish law does not provide for one.
So a German recruiter asks for your Zeugnisse and you have nothing that looks like one. That is not a problem — it is a difference — but you have to explain it rather than leave a silence. One line in your cover letter is enough: that Polish employment law provides a factual świadectwo pracy rather than an evaluative reference, and that you can supply contactable referees instead.
Line up two referees before you start applying, and ask their permission.
4. Documents you will be asked for — with realistic costs and waiting times
Start the slow ones early. Nothing here is difficult, but several take weeks, and they tend to be requested at the point where a delay is most expensive.
Please verify current fees and processing times before relying on them. Official charges and waiting times change, and processing times in particular vary a great deal between cities and across the year. Each item below names the body that issues it, so you can check the current figure at source.
### Before or during applications
Recognition of your qualification (Anerkennung)
Needed only for *regulated* professions — medicine, nursing, teaching, law, and engineering in some Länder. For unregulated jobs there is no legal requirement, though an employer may still ask.
- Where: anerkennung-in-deutschland.de tells you whether your profession is regulated
- For academic degrees, the ZAB issues a Zeugnisbewertung (statement of comparability)
- Typical cost: in the region of €200
- Typical time: allow a few months from a complete application
- Start this first. It is the longest item on the list by a wide margin.
Certified translations
Some documents must be translated by a sworn translator (vereidigter Übersetzer) rather than by you or a colleague.
- Typical cost: charged per page and varies widely by translator and document
- Typical time: days, not weeks, for short documents
- Ask the employer or authority which documents actually need a *certified* translation. Many need none, and translating everything is a common and expensive mistake.
Certificate of no criminal record (zaświadczenie o niekaralności, KRK)
Requested for finance, education, healthcare, security and roles involving children.
- Where: Poland's Krajowy Rejestr Karny, available online via e-KRK
- Typical cost: a modest administrative fee, lower through the online channel than on paper
- Typical time: often very quick online; longer by post
### Once you have the job
Anmeldung — registering your address
Legally required, generally within two weeks of moving in, at the local Bürgeramt. Almost everything else depends on it.
- Cost: free
- Time: the appointment itself is short; getting an appointment is the bottleneck and can take weeks in larger cities. Book it before you move if the city allows.
- You need a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung — a confirmation from your landlord. Ask for it on day one.
Steuer-ID — tax identification number
Issued automatically after your Anmeldung, sent by post. Your employer needs it to tax you correctly; without it you are taxed at the harshest bracket and reclaim it later.
- Cost: free
- Time: typically a couple of weeks by post after Anmeldung
Health insurance (Krankenversicherung)
Mandatory. You choose a public insurer (gesetzliche Krankenkasse) and they issue the confirmation your employer needs.
- Cost: a percentage of salary, shared with your employer
- Time: usually quick once you have an employment contract
German bank account
Needed for salary. Most banks require your Anmeldung confirmation first, which is why Anmeldung sits at the centre of the whole sequence.
German police certificate (Führungszeugnis)
Some employers ask for the German one once you are resident, in addition to or instead of the Polish KRK.
- Where: your local Bürgeramt or online
- Typical cost: a small fixed fee, in the region of €13
- Typical time: one to two weeks, sent by post
### The order that saves the most time
1. Check whether your profession is regulated — today, it costs nothing
2. If it is, start the Anerkennung immediately
3. Ask two referees for permission while you are still employed
4. Apply
5. On accepting an offer: book the Anmeldung appointment before you move
6. Everything else follows from the Anmeldung
5. Two smaller things that quietly cost interviews
Your address. A Polish address on a German application raises an unasked question about relocation. Answer it instead of leaving it: one line saying you are relocating to the region and available from a given date removes the doubt. If you already have a German address, use it.
Your notice period. Polish contracts often carry a three-month notice period (okres wypowiedzenia), which surprises German employers expecting shorter. Say it early — in the cover letter, not in the final negotiation. Employers plan around a known date and dislike discovering one late.
What this does not change
None of this makes you a better candidate for a role you are not qualified for. What it removes is the friction that has nothing to do with your ability: the missing reference you could not have known to explain, the qualification recognition you started two months too late, the notice period revealed at the wrong moment.
Those are the things that cost people offers they had already earned.