Applying for jobs in Europe: beyond the CV

What to remove from a Bangladeshi CV

These are normal at home and wrong in Europe. Some employers are legally not allowed to consider them, so including them makes the CV harder to process, not more complete.

1. 1Father's and mother's name. Never used.
2. 2Marital status, number of children, religion, nationality of spouse. Protected characteristics; a good employer will actively avoid reading them.
3. 3Date of birth and NID number. Age discrimination rules mean many employers prefer not to have your date of birth at all.
4. 4Full residential address. City and country is enough.
5. 5A scanned signature, a passport photocopy, attested certificates. Attachments come later, if asked.
6. 6An "Objective" paragraph written in the third person. Replace it with two or three lines saying what you do and what you are looking for.
7. 7Every SSC and HSC subject with marks. One line for HSC, one for the bachelor's. Grades convert badly in any case — see CGPA and ECTS conversion.

Country conventions

The Italian line. Italian employers expect a data-processing consent statement at the foot of the CV, authorising the handling of your personal data under Italian law and the GDPR. It is one sentence, it is standard, and CVs without it are frequently binned. Ask any Italian classmate for the exact current wording.

The Danish cover letter. In Denmark the ansogning is read more carefully than the CV. A generic letter is worse than no letter.

The Europass question

Europass is the EU's own CV format. It is genuinely useful for two things: applying to public-sector bodies and EU institutions, and structuring your first draft. For a private-sector application in Sweden, Denmark or Finland it looks bureaucratic, and a clean one-page CV usually reads better. Keep both. The Europass guide and our free CV template will get you started.

Applicant tracking systems

Most large employers filter applications by software before a person sees them. That has three practical consequences:

1. 1Use the words that appear in the advertisement. If it says "data analysis in Python", the CV should say "data analysis in Python", not "quantitative work in scripting languages".
2. 2Send a PDF unless another format is requested, with the text selectable — not a picture of a CV.
3. 3Keep the layout simple. Two-column designs, text in headers and footers, and graphics frequently do not survive parsing.

The work-permit question

Nearly every European application form asks whether you need sponsorship or already have the right to work. Three points:

• Answer honestly. A false answer discovered later is a dismissal, and it can affect a future permit.
• Add the useful detail. "I hold a student residence permit in Finland valid until 2027 and may work 30 hours a week" is far more reassuring than a bare yes.
• After graduation the answer improves. Most of the nine have a post-study job-search permit that lets you work while you look — worth stating explicitly, because many recruiters do not know the rules. See from student to work permit.

References

European employers check references at offer stage, usually by phone, and expect two named people with a working phone number and an institutional email address. A referee with a personal webmail address and a Bangladeshi mobile is weak by comparison — ask your professors for their university email, and tell them in advance that someone may call. Time zones matter here: give a window when they are actually reachable.

⚠️ Do not use a fixer. People selling "guaranteed job offers" or fabricated European work experience to Bangladeshi graduates are selling a document that will be checked. A false reference discovered at offer stage ends the process and can end the permit.

What actually gets a first job

Honestly, not the CV. For a first European job the order is: a referral from someone who has worked with you, then a placement or thesis at the employer, then a targeted application to a company that already employs internationals, and only then a cold application. Response rates on cold applications are low for everyone and lower for someone who needs a permit.

So spend the effort in that order. Fix the CV once, properly, then spend the time on the department, the career service and the alumni network. The reality check on salaries is in graduate salaries and return on investment.