What (m/w/d) means: reading a German job ad in English

September 27, 2026 · Fewer

A German job ad carries a handful of abbreviations and set phrases that nobody explains. Most of them tell you something useful about the job; a few tell you nothing at all. Here is what they mean, in English, and how to read an ad properly in two minutes.

What (m/w/d) means

The letters after the job title stand for männlich, weiblich, divers: male, female, diverse. You will also see (w/m/d), (m/w/x), (m/w/i), (gn) for geschlechtsneutral, gender-neutral, and "(all genders)"; and inside the title itself, spellings such as Mitarbeiter:in, Entwickler*in or Sachbearbeiter/in do the same job.

It says nothing about the role. It is there because Germany's General Equal Treatment Act requires job ads that exclude nobody on grounds of sex (AGG §11). The law prescribes no wording, which is why every company writes its own. When reading, skip it. When searching, leave it out: typing (m/w/d) only finds the companies that use exactly that variant.

Vollzeit, Teilzeit, befristet, unbefristet

These words often sit in the title ("in Vollzeit", "(Vollzeit/Teilzeit)") or in a line above the description, and they are the first thing to check:

• Unbefristet is a permanent contract. Befristet means the contract ends on a stated date; the length is often given ("befristet auf zwei Jahre", fixed-term for two years), sometimes the reason ("Elternzeitvertretung", cover for parental leave).
• Vollzeit is full time, 35 to 40 hours a week depending on the collective agreement. Teilzeit, part time, without a number of hours means: ask.
• Minijob or geringfügig is marginal employment up to a small monthly earnings limit, not a career role.
• Schicht (shifts), Wochenende (weekends) and Bereitschaft (on-call duty) are usually stated plainly when they apply.

Ausbildung, Werkstudent, Praktikum, Trainee

These look like jobs and are not, at least not for experienced people. Ausbildung ("Ausbildung zum Industriekaufmann", "Azubi") is vocational training, usually three years. Duales Studium combines a degree with work at a company. Praktikum is an internship, time-limited and poorly paid or unpaid. Werkstudent is a job for enrolled students, up to 20 hours a week during term. Trainee is an entry programme for graduates, one to two years.

With ten years of experience, filter these words out of the title. The big job boards are full of them, because many companies advertise the same training places every year.

Location, Raum, bundesweit, Home-Office

The place is usually a postcode and a city, sometimes a region: "Raum München", "Großraum Stuttgart". Bundesweit or deutschlandweit, nationwide, almost always means field work with travel, not remote work. Working from home has no single term: Home-Office or Homeoffice, mobiles Arbeiten, remote, hybrid. The qualifier matters: "Home-Office möglich" means occasionally, "bis zu drei Tage Home-Office", up to three days a week, is a commitment, and "100 % remote" is rare and then spelled out.

Salary: usually not stated

Most German ads give no figure. "Nach Vereinbarung" (by agreement), "attraktive Vergütung" (attractive pay) and "nach Tarif" (under the collective agreement) are the norm; under a collective agreement the figure can be looked up when the pay group, the Entgeltgruppe, is named. A salary range shown by a job board is the board's estimate, not the employer's statement.

As of September 2026 there is no obligation in Germany to state pay in a job ad. The EU Pay Transparency Directive had to be transposed by 7 June 2026, and a German law implementing it is not yet in force. So a missing figure is not a signal either way.

Muss and Kann: reading the requirements

The section is called "Ihr Profil", "Das bringen Sie mit" or "Anforderungen". The wording shows what is hard and what is not:

• Hard: "zwingend" (mandatory), "erforderlich" (required), "vorausgesetzt" (assumed), "abgeschlossenes Studium" (a completed degree), "mindestens fünf Jahre" (at least five years), "verhandlungssicheres Deutsch" (business-fluent German).
• Soft: "wünschenswert" (desirable), "idealerweise" (ideally), "von Vorteil" (an advantage), "gerne" (welcome), "Kenntnisse in … sind ein Plus" (knowledge of … is a plus), "erste Erfahrung" (some first experience).

A line with "mindestens zehn Jahre" is a number the company will check. A line with "idealerweise" is one you can miss. The honest reading of an ad counts the hard lines you meet and takes the soft ones for what they are.

How much German you need

The levels, from the top: verhandlungssicher (business fluent, good enough to negotiate), fließend (fluent), gut (good), Grundkenntnisse (basic). "Deutsch verhandlungssicher" in the requirements is a hard line. Roles where English is the working language are often advertised in English throughout, which is the clearest sign; an English ad that still asks for "sehr gute Deutschkenntnisse", very good German, means German is needed after all.

Where German companies publish

Almost every larger German company has its own careers page, usually at karriere.company.de, company.de/karriere or /stellenangebote; the menu link says "Karriere", "Jobs", "Stellenangebote" or "Offene Stellen". Behind it runs an applicant system: Personio at small and mid-sized companies, d.vinci, softgarden, rexx and umantis in the Mittelstand, SAP SuccessFactors and Workday at large groups. The company's own page is always the most complete source; job boards show a selection, often late.

The large boards are the Federal Employment Agency's Jobsuche, StepStone, Indeed, XING and LinkedIn. For people moving from abroad, the government's Make it in Germany portal covers visas and the recognition of qualifications.

How Fewer reads these ads

Fewer reads the careers pages of the companies you name every week and checks each ad line by line against your profile, in German or in English. It drops the (m/w/d) marker, and turns "Praktikum", "Werkstudent" or "befristet" into marks your rules can act on. Every hard line you do not meet is shown with the quote from the ad; every one you meet, with the evidence from your profile. What it throws out is listed with the reason, so you can disagree. What Fewer is · How it scores · This guide in German.