Danish CV format and cover letter (ansøgning): what Danish employers expect

One to two pages. Aalborg University’s career centre recommends roughly two, and in the Ballisager surveys it cites, 73% of Danish employers prefer no more than two. Early in your career one page is usually enough; a third page rarely earns its place. List experience newest first, and once you have real work history put it before education: the union DM notes that employers often find your experience more relevant than your degree.

• Contact details: name, phone, email, city, LinkedIn, and usually a photo.
• A headline that says what you do: “Mechanical engineer with five years in plastic moulding”, not “CV”.
• Personal profile: 4–8 lines written for this job.
• Work experience, newest first, each role with context and at least one result.
• Education, newest first. Once you have a degree, secondary school can go.
• Skills, IT and languages, each with a level.
• Volunteer work, if relevant. It counts as experience in Denmark.
• About me or Interests: two or three lines.
• References: “Available on request”.

Workindenmark’s recruiters say many CVs have no headline at all, or just “Looking for a job”. It is the first thing a recruiter searching a CV database reads, so make it a one-line answer to “what do you do?”

The personal profile (profiltekst) sits at the top, often next to the photo, and runs 4–8 lines. Recruiters use it in their first scan to decide in seconds whether you match, so name your top three qualifications for this job: usually your degree, the experience closest to the posting and, if you are relocating, why Denmark. Rewrite it for every application. Workindenmark says recruiters expect that.

Leave out career objectives. “Seeking a challenging position with opportunities for growth” is standard in some countries, but Workindenmark warns that Danish recruiters read a profile with no degree or experience in it as a sign you have neither, and stop reading.

Some employers ask for a motivated CV (motiveret CV) instead of a CV plus letter. The profile then becomes a 5–10 line introduction explaining why you want this job at this company and why you are a professional match: a compressed cover letter.

It is not required, but it is the norm. In the Ballisager surveys cited by Aalborg University, 80% of Danish employers said they prefer a photo, and Workindenmark advises including a professional one. Aalborg University suggests a neutral head-and-shoulders picture, preferably smiling. A cropped holiday snap works against you.

If a posting asks for an anonymised application or no photo, follow the posting. And if you would rather not include one, that is your choice: a strong CV without a photo is still a strong CV. It just looks less familiar to a Danish reader.

Danish CVs are more personal than British or American ones. Workindenmark says it is normal to mention your age, whether you are married and have children, and what you do in your spare time, because employers believe it shows whether you will thrive and stay. If you are moving with a partner, or already live here because your partner works in Denmark, say so: it signals you are settling, not passing through. Put this in a short final section headed “About me” or “Interests”.

• Leave out your CPR number, passport number and bank details. None of them helps a recruiter decide, and they are exactly what an identity thief wants.
• Health, disability and pregnancy are yours to keep. DM’s guidance is that you have no duty to mention a pregnancy, or an illness or disability unless it affects how you can do the job.
• Skip the long hobby list. Two specific interests say more than ten generic ones: “I play five-a-side football every Thursday” beats “sports, travel, reading”.

If you need a work permit, or already hold one, add a line to the contact block such as “Holds a Danish residence and work permit” so the recruiter does not have to guess. Which permit fits you is a separate question.

A Danish recruiter may not know your former employer or what your job title meant there. Workindenmark advises a line of context before the bullets: what the company makes or does, its size, and where it is. Then explain what you were responsible for, and finish with results, with numbers where you have them.

All experience counts in Denmark: student jobs, internships, volunteer work, fixed-term contracts and degree projects. Label them, though. Workindenmark notes that if you write nothing, recruiters assume a normal full-time paid job. If you freelanced or worked on short projects, group them under one heading (“Freelance data engineer, 2021–2024”) and describe your two most relevant projects, so it does not look as if you changed jobs every few months.

Changing field? Lead each role with the part that transfers and use the target field’s vocabulary; the career change guide walks through the method.

List IT skills and languages with a level for each, and only what you could use at work tomorrow. DM puts it bluntly: school German does not belong on your CV if you could not handle a task in German. Where a posting names a tool, use its exact wording.

For languages, use the CEFR scale from A1 to C2; Europass publishes a free self-assessment grid you can check yourself against. Be honest about your Danish and mention it if you are taking classes. English-speaking jobs in Denmark covers how to present Danish when you are still learning.

Larger employers often screen applications with an applicant tracking system. Aalborg University’s advice: one column, left-aligned text, few graphics, keywords taken from the ad rather than rephrased, and full years (“2024”, not “’24”). The ATS checklist covers the rest.

The ansøgning is a separate letter, and Workindenmark describes it as often just as important as the CV. Its job is to make the employer want to meet you. The CV looks back at what you have done; the letter looks forward at how you would do this job. Keep it to one A4 page, as Workindenmark and the unions DM and Lederne all advise, in paragraphs of three or four lines.

• Recipient and date: company, address and the contact person’s name top left, date top right. Address the person by name and check the spelling.
• Headline: the job title from the posting, for example “Application for the position of project coordinator”. Plain beats clever.
• Opening: why this job, and, if you called, what you learned from the conversation.
• Match: the posting’s three most important tasks and how you would handle each, with one example from your experience. Hard skills first: Workindenmark says that if you are an engineer, recruiters expect to read that straight away.
• Motivation: why this company in particular. Workindenmark notes that Danish employers generally believe people who enjoy their work perform better, so this paragraph gets read.
• Who you are: a line or two on how you work with others. Personal, not private.
• Close: that you would welcome an interview, your phone number, and that references are available on request. Do not attach references.

Mention the phone call. Lederne recommends referring to the conversation in the opening, and the Danish Association of Social Workers’ model letter opens with what the applicant learned from the contact person. It shows initiative and lets you speak to what the manager actually cares about. How to make the call is covered in the Denmark job-search roadmap.

Write in the language of the posting. An English posting expects an English letter; a flawless Danish letter you cannot follow up in the interview sets the wrong expectation.

Confident, concrete and unhyped. Danish readers discount superlatives and reward evidence: instead of calling yourself passionate about youth work, mention the homework club you run on Tuesdays. The Danish Association of Social Workers advises language that is neither too formal nor so flowery it is hard to take seriously. Workindenmark adds that tone should fit the workplace: looser for an advertising agency than for a bank.

Drop two habits. The first is writing about what the job will do for your career; DM’s advice is that the letter should be about your contribution, not your dreams. The second is underselling: “I have some experience with budgets” hides a person who ran a DKK 4 million budget. Say what you did, plainly, and let the reader draw the conclusion.

You do not need to meet every requirement. Workindenmark says you can apply if you convincingly meet some of them and point to comparable skills for the rest: Python, say, when the posting asks for R.