Luxembourg CV format: rules for a trilingual job market#

Luxembourg is the market where the languages section of a CV stops being a footnote and becomes the headline. Hiring runs trilingual — French, German and Luxembourgish — with English as a genuine fourth working language in finance and tech, and listing your languages with honest levels matters more here than almost anywhere else. The document around that section is straightforward: one to two A4 pages, a photo that is common but optional, and a cover letter as part of the package. This guide covers the details; the wider picture across eleven markets is in our resume format by country guide.

The rules in brief#

• Language: match the vacancy; French is the most frequent default, English common in finance and tech.
• Photo: common, not mandatory — your call, guided by the employer.
• Date of birth, age: omit.
• Length: 1–2 pages.
• Page size: A4.
• Dates: day-first — 03/2021 – 06/2024 on the CV.
• Cover letter: normally part of the application package.
• File: Jordan_Avery_CV_LU_FR.pdf.

Which language, for which CV#

The rule is the same as in neighbouring Belgium: the vacancy's language decides. In practice:

• French is the most frequent default across the market — banking, services, public-facing roles.
• German appears in postings from firms oriented toward the German-speaking market and in some media and administrative contexts.
• Lëtzebuergesch matters most in the public sector and citizen-facing roles.
• English is a first-class application language in finance, fund administration and tech, where entire teams work in it daily.

For an English speaker this is one of continental Europe's most accessible markets: an English CV is genuinely viable wherever the posting is in English, which in the financial centre is often. But viable is not universal — a French-language posting still expects a French CV, and answering it in English signals that the day-one working language would be a problem. When you do write in French or German, keep European conventions: A4, day-first dates, and headings from the tables below.

The languages section: your most-read lines#

Whatever language the CV is in, its languages section will be read closely. Luxembourg's workplaces are multilingual as a matter of routine — a meeting can open in French and close in English — so recruiters screen for language combinations the way other markets screen for tools. Three habits pay off:

• List every language you work in, including your native one, with an honest CEFR level for each.
• Do not round up. Declared levels get tested in the first call, and an inflated B2 costs more than a truthful B1.
• If you are learning Luxembourgish or French, say so with the current level — in this market, visible progress in a local language is a real signal.

Photo and personal data#

A professional photo is still common on Luxembourg CVs, but it is a habit, not a requirement — and a photo-free CV loses nothing with an ATS. Let the employer and the sector guide the call: a traditional local firm sits closer to the photo convention, an international fund administrator does not care. Date of birth and the rest of the personal block are better left off; data minimisation is the safe default across the EU, and nothing in Luxembourg screening needs your age or marital status. City and country are enough for location — and for the many cross-border commuters applying from France, Belgium or Germany, a clearly stated location answers the feasibility question up front.

Structure and section headings#

The skeleton is the standard reverse-chronological one: contact details, a short profile, work experience, education, skills, languages, and further sections only where they earn their space. The headings in the three national application languages:

Length, page, dates and the file name#

One to two A4 pages. Luxembourg prints on A4; a US Letter export reformats the moment it meets a local printer and marks the document as prepared elsewhere.

Dates, day-first. Luxembourg numeric order is day-first — 14/03/2026. On the CV, use month-year numerics such as 03/2021 – 06/2024, or spelled-out months in the language of the document, and never US month-first numbers. Translate the current-role word into the CV's language: aujourd'hui in French, heute in German.

File name. Jordan_Avery_CV_LU_FR.pdf — or _LU_EN.pdf for an English application. ASCII characters and underscores.

Cover letter and application package#

A cover letter is normally part of the Luxembourg application package, written in the same language as the CV. Keep it short and specific — the company, the role, the two or three reasons the match works, and for cross-border applicants a plain sentence on location and availability. The frame in our cover letter structure guide applies unchanged. Certificates and diplomas are not attached unless requested.

ATS notes for the Luxembourg market#

Luxembourg's larger employers — banks, Big Four firms, EU institutions — screen at volume, so the machine-readability baseline applies in full:

• One text column, standard headings from the table above, normal reading order.
• Name, phone, email, city and links in the document body, not only in a header or footer.
• Selectable text; no scanned pages, no skill-rating graphics, no tables as layout.
• A text-based PDF unless the portal asks for DOCX.
• One date convention throughout.

The full mechanics are in our ATS optimization guide.

Luxembourg quirks worth knowing#

• The market is smaller than its neighbours and more international than either. A large share of the workforce commutes across a border every day, and applications from Metz, Arlon or Trier are entirely normal.
• Finance and tech run in English. Whole hiring pipelines operate in English in the financial centre — the clearest case in continental Europe where an English CV is simply the right document.
• The neighbouring markets differ. A CV built for Luxembourg travels well to Belgium, but check the language map before reusing it there — and Germany adds its own package conventions.
• Nothing is legally mandated. No template is required for private-sector applications; the vacancy and the employer's instructions always override the default.

Sources#

• EURES — Living and working conditions: Luxembourg