It’s no secret now that if you apply for a job in an international company here in Germany, you may need to prepare your CV in English.  You should note that English CVs (Curriculum Vitae in UK English / Resume in US English) do not carry a photograph – this has never been the case – it’s not what you look like that is important, it’s whether you can do the job!

The format of an English CV is also different to German.  If you apply for a job in an English speaking country, then, unless otherwise requested, you send only your CV (not more than 2 A4 sides) and the covering letter.  Do not attach references from previous employers or exam/university certificates. If needed, the originals will be requested at a later stage.

You are not expected to put your date of birth, your sex or marital status (married/single) or how many children you have or haven’t got.   Such things are considered discriminatory and not relevant to whether you can do the job.

Generally, the order of CV should be:

1. a) Personal (contact) details
2. b) Work experience (jobs: starting with the current job first and working backwards)
3. c) Education
4. d) Skills
5. e) Certificates/associations (if applicable)

If you wish to make a “Personal Statement” highlighting your main experience or qualities, then this should go at the top just below Personal details.

Having said all this, I can assist you in getting your CV into “shipshape order” by proofreading the final version for you.  I can also run workshops on preparing for job applications in English and also prepare you for the interview questions you might be asked.  Likewise, I do English training for Human Resources personnel who, amongst other things, need to know the difference between German applications and English ones.

I have written “English for Human Resources”, which is for Human Resources Managers and staff.  There are two units on Recruitment and Selection where details about job applications in English are highlighted.   “Career Express – Job Applications” – is for those wanting to apply for jobs in English speaking countries and contains lots of information on preparing for the whole job application process.

Finally, once you have prepared the CV in English, you just need to keep it up to date from year to year and then it is ready if you suddenly decide to apply for that job of a lifetime!  Need my help?   Please get in touch.

Details of my books are:

English for Human Resources – ISBN 978-3-464-20342-2

Career Express – Job Applications – ISBN 978-3-06-520204-6

Pat Pledger

It is small and red. It is worn on 11 November every year across Britain and other English-speaking countries, and has been a tradition since the end of the First World War. It’s called a poppy, but what is the actual meaning behind this flower?

Since 1920, this day has been a national day of remembrance in the British Empire. On Remembrance Day, Armistice Day or Poppy Day (as the day is variously called), which is comparable to the German Memorial Day, the small, red poppy is worn to remember and respect the fallen of the two great world wars.

In the weeks before the day of remembrance, artificial poppies are made and sold everywhere by The Royal British Legion, a charity dedicated to war veterans, and the flower was chosen because scores of them flowered in the former battlefields of Belgium and northern France.  However, it is thought the poppy connection to remembrance goes back to the Napoleonic wars.

A Canadian officer, John McCrae, wrote a poem in 1915 in memory of his best friend who lost his life.  The famous poem “In Flanders Fields” reminds everyone of the fields soaked with the blood of the soldiers.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

 

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

In England, a two-minute silence is held at 11 a.m. every 11 November and in many cities a cannon shot is fired beforehand. Radios fall silent during this time and employees also take part in the silence.

In 2014 888,246 poppies formed a public installtion in thereat of The Tower of London

In 2014, 888,246 ceramic poppies, each intended to commemorate a serviceman who was killed, formed a public installation in the moat of The Tower of London.  This commemorated 100 years since the outbreak of World War 1.  It was entitled “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDS3TxtGaQ0

“Remember, remember the fifth of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder treason should ever be forgot!”

You may have heard of the English nursery rhyme that starts with the classic line ‘Remember, remember the fifth of November.’ The dramatic story behind this rhyme continues to inspire British citizens to celebrate the 5th November, or Guy Fawkes Night, every year with fireworks and bonfires.

So who was Guy Fawkes and what is the real story behind Guy Fawkes Night?

 Guy Fawkes, born in 1570 in York, England, converted to Catholicism at an early age and used his military career to spread Catholicism throughout Europe. By 1604, Fawkes had fought for Catholic Spain in the Eighty Years’ War against Protestant Dutch reformers in the Low Countries and had unsuccessfully attempted to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England. In 1604 Fawkes become involved in what became known as the Gunpowder Plot. Lead by a group of English Catholics, the Gunpowder Plot was a plan to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605, in an attempt to assassinate King James I, the Protestant King, and install his nine-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, as the Catholic head of state.

Luckily for the British government and monarchy, the plot was revealed to authorities in an anonymous letter only a week before the plot was set to take place. On the evening of 4 November 1605, a day before the plot was set to take place, Fawkes was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder, enough to completely destroy the House of Lords. Although Fawkes was merely a co-conspirator and not the leader of the plot, he has become the central figure used to commemorate the thwarted Gunpowder Plot.

For the past four centuries on Guy Fawkes Night, now known as Bonfire Night, British citizens have lit bonfires, let off fireworks and burned effigies of Guy Fawkes to celebrate the plot’s failure. Usually bonfire celebrations will include a ‘Guy,’ or a doll, which represents the traitor, Guy Fawkes, accompanied by sparklers and firework displays. Although it is usually illegal for Brits to set off fireworks between 11pm and 7am, on Bonfire Night the cutoff is 12 midnight!

Fireworks at Bonfire Night

Although the tradition of Bonfire Night is still going strong today, its popularity has waned throughout points in history, such as the first half of the 19th century in which historians observed ‘a lessening of Protestant religious zeal’ in part due to the expansion of Catholic civil rights in the United Kingdom. Gunpowder Treason Day, as it has become known in other countries, has been exported by settlers to other members of the Commonwealth of Nations such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and various Caribbean nations.