Internships abroad – tips for your application

• always in the local language or English
• personalise (find the right contact person)
• State the duration of the internship
• Briefly describe what makes a University of Applied Sciences unique (its practical focus!). The English name for Hochschule München is ‘Hochschule München’.
• Briefly describe your degree programme and the qualification you are aiming for
• Explain why you are the right choice for the company or a specific department within it (Why would you be an asset to the company? Where do your skills and the company’s needs align? In which area could you be deployed?)
• Explain your choice of country and city (why an internship abroad?)
• mention your knowledge of foreign languages
• Specify a deadline by which you need a reply and use this to follow up (e.g. in the US, it is common practice to show interest by following up several times)
• Possibly a note stating that you are responsible for arranging your own health insurance and visa (see Visa / Work Permit)
• one page at most

Find out what type of CV is customary in that country.

A CV is usually written as follows:

• in table form
• organised by section (e.g. personal details, studies, work experience, other abilities, extracurricular activities, etc.)
• Back to the top of the ‘News’ section
• Brief, bullet-point-style explanations of your work experience (in which sector did you work?)

For English-speaking countries:

• no photo
• No information on age, gender, religion or ethnic origin

The following applies to most countries:

• Maximum 2 pages (Please note: In some countries, such as the Netherlands, the maximum is one full page!)
• Months and years are perfectly sufficient; you do not need to specify your activities down to the exact day

Tip 1: Your CV does not need to be comprehensive in every country. It is often sufficient to refer to the stages of your life that are relevant to the employer or fall within similar fields of work. A CV that is too specific (down to the day) and lists every single work experience placement, however minor, may make you appear petty and, moreover, reinforce all the clichés and prejudices about Germans right from the start.

Tip 2: Europass helps to present qualifications and skills in a transparent and comparable way, even across national borders. You can find more information here.

• You can obtain confirmation of your marks (in English) from the Examination and Internship section.
• Where necessary, the employer may require a certified translation.
• Please include an explanation of the marks, e.g.:
  1 = very good
  2 = good
  3 = satisfactory
  4 = sufficient
  5 = fail

• Letters of recommendation from lecturers at Hochschule München (in the local language)
• Further references may also be submitted at a later date (“further references upon request”)
• Documents must be translated (Please note: a translation you have done yourself is not sufficient. This will incur additional costs)
• Translated documents must be translated and certified.
  • You will need to contact a translation agency to have a text translated. Translating it yourself is not sufficient. Bear in mind that this may involve significant costs in some cases.
  • Many public authorities issue certified copies bearing an official seal, e.g. registration offices, parish councils and, in some cases, health insurance funds. You may also have to pay a small fee for this.