Ausbildung Application Checklist.
Everything you need before you click Bewerben: the three core documents, what international applicants actually need, and the things people waste money preparing far too early.
The core package
Found an Ausbildung you're interested in? Before you click Bewerben, make sure your application is complete, targeted and submitted exactly as the employer asks. For most Ausbildung applications, the core package is:
Depending on the occupation, the employer and your background, you may also need additional documents. Federal Employment Agency: Bewerbungsunterlagen ↗
Always open the specific vacancy first. The employer's or training provider's own instructions override every generic checklist, including this one. What follows is what to check, not a list to send blindly.
Timing matters more than most applicants realise
- Earlier stillBanks, insurers, public sector
Their application phase starts before the 18-month mark.
- ~18 months beforeLarger companies
Start looking for suitable candidates.
- Start of your final school yearSchools & smaller companies
A little later, but by then at the latest.
- Day 1Training begins
Count back from here.
That's the Federal Employment Agency's own guidance. If you're reading this six weeks before an August start, you're late for this cycle, not for good. BA: the Ausbildung application process ↗
Still deciding which occupation to apply for? Ausbildung Profession Finder →
Your three core documents
✉️ Anschreiben: the cover letter
Your Anschreiben explains why you're applying for this Ausbildung at this company, and why you're a suitable candidate. The Federal Employment Agency is explicit that you should tailor it to each Ausbildungsbetrieb rather than sending the same letter everywhere, and that the same applies to your CV.
Bewerbung um eine Ausbildung als [Ausbildungsberuf]
- Why this Ausbildung?
- Why this company?
- Why you?
It does not simply restate your CV in paragraphs.
📄 Lebenslauf: the CV
Your Lebenslauf gives a structured overview of your education, experience and relevant skills. For Ausbildung applications a clear tabellarischer Lebenslauf (tabular, reverse-chronological) is the expected format.
optional
- [newest]
- Education
- [date]
- Praktika
- [date]
- Work experience
- —
- Languages · with levels
- —
- Skills · certificates
No, it's optional. Current Federal Employment Agency guidance states that a Bewerbungsfoto is no longer mandatory, though it remains common in many sectors and many German recruiters still expect to see one.
If you include one: use a proper professional application photo. Not a cropped holiday snap, not a selfie, and not your passport or visa photo. A bad photo is worse than no photo. BA: building the Lebenslauf ↗
🎓 Zeugnisse: school certificates
Your certificates are the evidence behind everything you've claimed. For an Ausbildung application this normally means your relevant school certificate or certificates.
- Most recent school certificate
- Final school-leaving certificate, if you already have it
- Earlier certificates, if requested, or if a previous year was stronger than your most recent one
- Relevant Praktikumsbescheinigungen (internship certificates)
- Relevant qualification and competition certificates
Keep every original document. Applications use scans or copies unless an employer specifically requests otherwise; the Federal Employment Agency advises this explicitly. Originals get lost, and you will need them later for the visa stage.
If your final certificate isn't available yet, use your most recent available school report and follow the employer's instructions.
If you're applying from outside Germany
Applying with a foreign education brings extra questions, and this is where applicants most often spend money they didn't need to spend.
Check what the employer or training provider actually wants: the original-language certificate, a German translation, a certified translation, recognition or equivalence documentation, or, quite often, just a scan at the initial application stage.
Do not assume every employer wants all of these. Certified translations and formal recognition cost real money. Confirm the requirement before you pay for either.
Include it where the vacancy asks for it, where the training provider requires proof, where the occupation carries specific language requirements, or simply where it strengthens your case as an international applicant.
But there is no universal rule that every Ausbildung application must contain one. Requirements range from employers assessing your German themselves to formal certificate requirements in regulated fields. Building your German →
A passport is obviously essential for relocation and immigration later, but it is not one of the three standard application documents. Include a copy only where the employer, training provider or portal specifically requests it.
Don't send sensitive identity documents unprompted just because you're applying from abroad. It doesn't strengthen your application, and it hands your passport data to a company that didn't ask for it.
Work certificates (Arbeitszeugnisse), vocational certificates, technical or language certificates, competition and volunteering certificates, work samples (Arbeitsproben), a portfolio, or a separate Motivationsschreiben where requested.
Don't attach everything you own. Ask one question of each document: does this help prove I'm suitable for this Ausbildung? If not, leave it out unless the employer asked for it.
Healthcare and nursing. These applications can require substantially more documentation than a commercial or technical Ausbildung: specific German-language requirements, translated certificates, recognition documentation, health-related documents and occupation-specific conditions. Don't apply a generic checklist to a regulated healthcare profession.
If you already hold a foreign vocational qualification. Don't assume it's treated like a school certificate. Recognition (Anerkennung) of a professional qualification is a separate procedure from a ZAB assessment of a higher-education qualification, and both are separate from school-certificate recognition. The Eligibility Checklist explains which is which →
The employer's instructions beat this page
This section matters more than any generic checklist. Before you submit, open the actual vacancy again and read it properly. A perfect application sent through the wrong channel still fails.
A number of major companies run structured online processes where the traditional cover-letter-plus-CV package isn't required in that form: you answer questions in a portal instead. Following your own checklist rather than theirs looks like you didn't read the posting.
Before you click submit
The final pass. Work through all three groups. Your ticks are saved on this device, so you can use this again for the next application.
Open the finished application as if you were the employer receiving it and ask: can I immediately tell who this person is, which Ausbildung they want, why they want it, and what evidence there is that they're suitable? If yes, submit.
How to submit
Online portal
Follow the portal step by step. You'll typically create an account, enter personal details, upload documents individually, answer questions, and re-enter information that's already in your CV. It's tedious; do it anyway, and do it accurately.
- Every mandatory field completed
- Correct documents uploaded: no duplicates, no wrong files
- Whole application reviewed before final submission
- Confirmation page or email saved
Bewerbung um eine Ausbildung als [Ausbildungsberuf] – [Your Name]
If the employer accepts email applications, use a clear subject line like the one above. Where no specific structure is requested, one clearly organised PDF containing your core documents is the practical approach: the Federal Employment Agency describes combining the documents into a single PDF as the norm for online applications sent by email.
- Correct recipient address
- Professional subject line
- Short, polite covering message in the email body
- Correct attachment, which you have opened and checked
- File not too large
- Professional sender email address, not one from school
- Copy sent to yourself as a record of submission
After you apply
The process doesn't end when you click submit.
Track every application
The Federal Employment Agency recommends keeping an overview of where and when you applied, who the contact people are, and whether you've been invited to interview. A simple spreadsheet is enough:
| ACompany | BAusbildung | CApplied | DMethod | EContact | FStatus | GFollow up | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Company A | Mechatroniker/in | 15 Aug | Portal | – | Submitted | 12 Sep |
| 3 | Company B | Fachinformatiker/in | 17 Aug | Ms. Müller | Submitted | 14 Sep | |
| 4 |
Confirmation of receipt, then patience
If you get an automatic confirmation, save it. If you don't get one, don't assume anything went wrong: plenty of employers simply don't send them.
Don't chase immediately. The Federal Employment Agency puts it plainly: asking too quickly usually achieves nothing.
If you've heard nothing, a polite enquiry about whether a decision has been made, or when you can expect one, is reasonable and shows continued interest.
Four weeks is practical guidance, not a legal deadline. If the vacancy stated its own timeline, that one wins. BA: the Ausbildung application process ↗
What you don't need yet
This may be the most useful section on the page. These documents belong to later stages (mostly immigration) or to specific occupations and individual cases. They are usually not part of an initial employer application:
- Blocked account (Sperrkonto)
- Proof of financing
- Visa application or residence permit
- Health-insurance registration for the visa
- A signed Ausbildungsvertrag: that comes after you're selected
- Chamber registration confirmation
- Visa-format biometric photographs
- Police clearance certificate, in the general case
- A ZAB Zeugnisbewertung, simply because you hold a foreign school certificate
- An apostille or legalisation, solely because you're applying for an Ausbildung
Certified translations, formal recognition procedures and apostilles cost money and take time. Applicants routinely spend on all three before they have a single offer, and some of it turns out to have been unnecessary for the occupation they end up in.
But the moment you receive an offer, check the next stage immediately. Some of these documents take weeks or months to obtain, and that's when the timeline gets tight. The Ausbildung Eligibility Checklist → covers what the visa stage actually needs.
The mistakes that sink applications
- Sending the same Anschreiben everywhere. The BA specifically recommends adapting the application to each Ausbildungsbetrieb, and recruiters spot a recycled letter instantly.
- Sending documents nobody asked for. More documents do not mean a stronger application. They mean a longer one.
- Sending originals. Keep them. You'll need them at the visa stage.
- Assuming a passport copy is always required. Check the vacancy.
- Assuming a German certificate is always required. It depends on the employer, occupation and training provider.
- Ordering a ZAB evaluation you don't need. Check whether it even applies to your qualification first.
- Ignoring the portal instructions. A perfect application sent the wrong way still fails.
- Applying too late. Larger companies recruit around eighteen months ahead. By spring, many places for that autumn are gone.
- Sending unreadable scans. If a certificate is hard to read, it doesn't count as evidence.
- Losing track of applications. Where, when, who contacted you, and when to follow up: write it down or you'll lose it.
Are you ready to submit?
Eleven statements. If you can tick all of them, send it.
Official sources
The application-document guidance on this page comes from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit. Where a detail matters to your application, check it there, and check the vacancy, which always wins.
Frequently asked
General application guidance, not legal advice. Ausbildung application requirements vary by employer, occupation, training provider and, in some cases, federal state. The vacancy or training provider's own instructions always take priority over anything on this page.
Immigration, recognition and visa requirements are separate processes and can vary according to your nationality and circumstances. Always verify current requirements with the relevant employer, training provider and official German authorities.
Last reviewed: September 2026. This page is reviewed when Federal Employment Agency application guidance changes, when major application portals change, when occupation-specific requirements change, or when German application conventions materially shift.
Want someone to look at your
application first?
Whether your Anschreiben actually answers the three questions, whether your documents match what the employer asked for, and whether you're applying at the right point in the cycle: Bibin can go through it with you.