Arbeitszeugnis: How to Read Your German Reference Letter

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The Arbeitszeugnis follows you to every application in Germany, and recruiters read its phrases as school grades. Before you accept it, decode it with the scale below and compare it with what you were told in your reviews. If you are about to leave, ask for it in your notice letter: the resignation guide has the wording.

Getting a wrong reference corrected: who pays

A reference is corrected by asking the employer in writing. If that fails, the dispute goes to the labor court, where in the first instance each side pays its own lawyer, including the side that wins. Legal insurance with the employment module pays yours, provided the policy predates the dispute and its waiting period, three months in most policies and six in some, has passed. Feather and Getsafe run applications and claims in English. Modules and exclusions: legal insurance in Germany.

What you are entitled to

When a job ends, you can demand a written reference. The simple version states what you did and for how long. On request the employer has to extend it to your performance and conduct, and that detailed version is the one every recruiter expects. The letter must be clear and understandable, and it may not use wording or formatting designed to say something other than what the words say. It comes on paper with a signature unless you agree to an electronic version. A reference in table form, with boxes ticked like a school report, does not meet the standard: Germany’s Federal Labor Court decided in 2021 that you can insist on full sentences.

The claim lasts three years, but a reference dated long after the job ended is worth less, so ask at once. Interim references (Zwischenzeugnis) are common when your manager changes, the company is sold or you apply elsewhere, and many contracts and collective agreements grant them. The right to a reference covers everyone: interns, working students, minijobbers and temp staff included.

The grading scale

The same logic runs through the whole letter. “Stets” (always) and superlatives lift a sentence, omissions and qualifiers lower it. A detailed reference grades each area in turn: willingness, skills, way of working, results, and conduct towards superiors and colleagues, where “stets vorbildlich” is the top and “insgesamt angemessen” the bottom. A closing sentence with thanks, regret about your leaving and good wishes is customary but not a legal right, and its absence is read as a signal.

How to read yours in five minutes

1. Find the summary sentence, usually beginning with “Zusammenfassend” or “Insgesamt”, and place its “Zufriedenheit” phrase on the scale above. That is your overall grade.
2. Read the conduct sentence about superiors, colleagues and customers and grade it the same way.
3. Check for gaps. Every area of your work should appear. An area left out, or a task described without any assessment, is read as a weak spot.
4. Check the facts: job title, dates, tasks, and that the reason for leaving appears only if you want it to.
5. Check the formalities: company letterhead, place and date at the end of the job, a signature from someone senior to you.

Asking for a correction

Write to the employer with the sentences you want changed and the wording you propose, and attach your evidence: targets met, project results, praise in writing, earlier interim references. An average grade is the default. If you want “good” or “very good”, you have to show the facts that justify it. The Federal Labor Court set that rule in 2014, and it decides who has to prove what if the case ends up in court. If the employer wants to grade you below average, the burden is the other way round. Set a deadline for the reply and keep copies of everything.

Using the reference outside Germany

Outside Germany the coded grades mean nothing, and a literal translation of “zu unserer vollen Zufriedenheit” sounds like praise rather than a C. For applications abroad, ask your employer for an English version in addition, or attach a short note explaining the grade. For applications in Germany, the German original is what counts. How it fits into your documents: the German CV.

Bottom line

Ask for the detailed version and grade it with the scale before you accept it. A wrong fact or a below-average grade is worth a written correction request. A grade above average needs your evidence, so collect it early.

Part of working in Germany. Related: resigning · your first six months · your contract.

Frequently Asked Questions