The CV photo in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Germany, Austria and Switzerland are among the last markets where a photograph on a CV is normal rather than a mistake. It is not required, and an application without one is complete. But the convention is real: most Lebensläufe arriving at a German employer have a photo on them, and leaving it off is a visible choice rather than a neutral one.

When to include one

• Applying to a small or mid-sized employer in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, where the convention is strongest.
• Client-facing, hospitality, healthcare, retail and sales roles, where it is close to universal.
• Any advert that asks for a "vollständige Bewerbungsunterlagen" and does not say otherwise.

When to leave it off

• The advert asks you not to send one, or the employer runs an anonymised process.
• You are applying through a large applicant tracking system, where an image is at best ignored and at worst breaks the parse.
• You are applying to a German-speaking employer from abroad for a role that will be filled internationally, where the reader may be applying UK or US norms.
• You do not have a good photograph. No photo is much better than a bad one.

What a usable photo looks like

A Bewerbungsfoto is not a passport photo and not a portrait from a wedding. It is a head-and-shoulders shot, taken straight on or at a slight angle, in even light, against a plain background, in the clothes you would wear to the interview. You are looking at the camera and your expression is friendly rather than formal. A professional sitting costs money in a way this site never will; a phone on a windowsill on an overcast day, held by someone else at eye height, is genuinely good enough.

• Portrait orientation, roughly 4:5 or 3:4, printed at around 45 × 60 mm.
• At least 600 pixels on the short edge so it does not soften when the PDF is printed.
• No selfie angle, no sunglasses, no cropped-out second person, no holiday background.
• The same photo across the CV and any profile the employer will look at. Recognisability is the point.

Where it goes

Top right of the first page of the Lebenslauf, level with the personal details, is the standard placement and the one every reader is expecting. Top left works in a sidebar template. It does not belong on the Anschreiben, and it does not belong on a Deckblatt unless you are sending one deliberately.