The typical process

1. 1

   Application screening

   1–3 weeks

   CV (Lebenslauf) + short cover note. German recruiters scan for completeness and gaps — unexplained CV gaps get asked about directly, so pre-empt them with one honest line.

2. 2

   Phone / video screen with HR

   30 min

   20–30 minutes: availability, visa status, salary expectation (yes, this early), notice period, German level. Have your annual-gross number ready — see the salary-negotiation guide.

3. 3

   Fachgespräch — the technical interview

   60–90 min

   With the hiring manager and often a future colleague. Substance-heavy: your actual projects, actual decisions, actual numbers. STAR answers shine here.

4. 4

   Second round / team meet

   varies

   Bigger companies: a case study, pair session or team lunch. Mittelstand companies often skip straight to the offer after one strong Fachgespräch.

5. 5

   Offer + contract

   1–2 weeks

   Verbal offer, then a written contract (Arbeitsvertrag). Nothing is real until the written contract — and you may negotiate after the verbal offer.

The unwritten rules

Punctuality is arithmetic, not attitude

Arrive 5–10 minutes early. Not 20 (awkward), never 1 minute late. For video calls, be in the room at :00 sharp with camera on. Lateness in Germany is read as a reliability signal, and reliability is the trait German employers weight most.

Sie until offered du

Default to Sie and last names ("Frau Weber", "Herr Schmidt") in German-language interviews. If they open with first names in English, mirror them — English "you" sidesteps the whole problem, which is one reason international teams interview in English. If a German interviewer offers "wir können uns duzen", accept warmly; don't initiate it.

Directness is respect

German interviewers ask blunt questions ("Why did you leave after 11 months?", "Your German is B1 — how will you handle client calls?") without hostile intent. Answer equally directly. Hedging, superlatives and unsupported self-praise ("I'm a rockstar dev") read as unreliability. Concrete numbers read as competence.

Dress: one notch above the team

Tech and startups: neat casual. Engineering Mittelstand: shirt, no tie. Banking, consulting, insurance: suit. When unsure, business casual is never wrong in Germany — overdressing slightly is read as respect, underdressing as sloppiness.

The three questions that always come

1. "Erzählen Sie etwas über sich" (tell us about yourself) — they want a 2-minute professional arc, not your life story: education → key roles → why this role logically follows.
2. "Warum wir? Warum Deutschland?" — have a real answer beyond "good economy". Name the company's product, the team's stack, your long-term intent (Germans fear you'll leave in a year — address it head-on, and mention family/settlement plans if you have them).
3. "Was ist Ihre Gehaltsvorstellung?" — a single annual gross number or a tight range, stated without apology. Preparation for this one question is worth more per minute than anything else: see salary negotiation, German style and check your number's net value in the brutto → netto calculator.

What they may NOT ask (AGG)

The Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG) makes discrimination by ethnicity, religion, age, disability, sexual identity and gender illegal in hiring. Questions about pregnancy or family planning, religion (outside church employers), party membership, or health conditions irrelevant to the job are inadmissible — German case law even recognizes a "right to lie" on inadmissible questions. Visa status and work authorization, however, are legitimate questions — answer them precisely (permit type, validity, whether a change of employer needs approval).

Questions YOU should ask

Asking nothing reads as low interest. Strong candidates ask about:

• The role: "What does a successful first 6 months look like?" (also quietly maps your Probezeit expectations — see Probezeit, explained).
• The team: stack, review culture, how decisions get made.
• Practicalities you're entitled to ask: remote policy, overtime handling ("Wie werden Überstunden ausgeglichen?"), training budget.
• For non-EU candidates: who handles the visa paperwork and whether they've hired internationally before. A company that has done it before is worth real money in reduced risk.

After the interview

A short thank-you email within 24 hours is appreciated but optional in Germany — keep it to three sentences, no flattery. If they promised feedback by a date, wait until that date + 2 days before following up. Rejections often come with genuine feedback if you ask for it politely; German HR will usually tell you the real reason.

Next steps

• Prepare your answers with the STAR worked examples.
• Get your number ready: salary negotiation, German style.
• Log every application and interview date in the application tracker.