Anschreiben / Cover Letter

Documents: shared/references/de-documents.md · Template: shared/templates/anschreiben.md · Language: shared/references/language-decision.md

A German Anschreiben is a formal business letter with a standardized layout, not a cover letter with German words in it. Layout errors are noticed at traditional employers.

Step 0: Prerequisites

CV and profile required per shared/references/prerequisites.md.

Step 1: Job, language, materials

Get the job (a URL, last, or ask). Read from the job folder: posting.md, evaluation.md, language.md, and the tailored CV if it exists.

A tailored CV materially improves the letter — it already contains the match analysis. If none exists, offer to run /wingman:tailor-cv first.

Read language.md. It sets the language and the register (Sie / du). If missing, run the language decision.

If the decision is Both, write both letters — anschreiben-de.md and cover-letter-en.md — German first, each written natively from the profile. The two letters may lead with different achievements if the register calls for it; what they may not do is be translations of each other.

Step 2: Find the addressee

Search the posting and the company site for a named contact. Sehr geehrte Frau Berger, beats Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, — and it is a five-minute search that most applicants skip.

Also capture the Kennziffer / Referenznummer if the ad gives one. It goes in the Betreff, and omitting it annoys the people who file applications.

Step 3: Pick the angle (interactive)

Do not choose the candidate's story for them. Use AskUserQuestion to pick the 2–3 achievements the letter leads with, offering the real candidate achievements as options, each with a one-line note on why it fits this posting. Recommend the strongest.

Also confirm, when the ad asks for it, whether to state the Gehaltsvorstellung — and show the number from the profile so it is a decision, not a surprise.

Step 4a: Anschreiben (German)

Follow shared/templates/anschreiben.md. One page. Never two.

Layout, in order: Absender · Empfänger · Ort und Datum (right) · Betreff in bold with no "Betreff:" label, containing the job title exactly as advertised including (m/w/d) plus the Kennziffer · Anrede · body · Mit freundlichen Grüßen with no comma · signature · Anlagen.

The lowercase rule: the Anrede ends in a comma, so the first body word is lowercase unless it is a noun or "Ich". Sehr geehrte Frau Müller, then mit großem Interesse…. This is the fastest tell of a non-native or machine-translated letter.

Body: opening (why this role, this company — never „hiermit bewerbe ich mich auf die ausgeschriebene Stelle"), one or two evidence paragraphs mapped to their stated requirements, then the closing block — Gehaltsvorstellung if asked, Eintrittstermin computed from the Kündigungsfrist, and Über eine Einladung zu einem persönlichen Gespräch freue ich mich.

Anlagen lists what actually exists in DATA_DIR/zeugnisse/. Nothing there → Zeugnisse werden auf Wunsch nachgereicht.

Write it in German from the profile. Never translate an English letter — a translated Anschreiben reads translated, which defeats the purpose. Natural Tech-Deutsch: short sentences, active verbs, no Passiv, English technical terms left alone.

Save as anschreiben-de.md.

Step 4b: Cover letter (English)

250–350 words. Dear [Name], / Dear Hiring Manager, … Regards, [Name]. Opening that connects specific experience to their specific need, two evidence paragraphs, a close stating mutual benefit. Hyphens only, never em dashes.

Save as cover-letter-en.md.

Step 5: Quality control (mandatory)

Line by line, before the user sees it:

1. Read every sentence aloud. Forced → rewrite.
2. Zero em dashes.
3. Any sentence over 20 words → split.
4. Business jargon → plain language.
5. No two consecutive sentences opening the same way.
6. Every achievement connects to a stated employer need.
7. Verify each claim against the CV: titles, companies, dates, tense. Present end date → present tense allowed; any other end date → past tense.
8. Company-attribution check — every metric sits under the employer it actually belongs to. Never merge results from two employers into one sentence.
9. German only: lowercase first body word, no comma after the Grußformel, Betreff has the exact advertised title.
10. Honesty check — nothing in the letter that the CV and profile do not support.

Banned: „hiermit bewerbe ich mich", "I am excited about the opportunity", "aligns perfectly with", anything implying a language level above the recorded one.

Step 6: Present and iterate

Show the letter, note which achievements were used and why, and give the file path. Then stop — add one line on anything you were unsure of, and leave it there.

Do not open a picker asking whether the letter is alright. The angle was already chosen in Step 3; asking again afterwards re-opens a settled decision and costs the candidate an answer for nothing. If they want a different register or a different achievement in the lead, those are real options and a structured choice is right then.

Response Format

1. Letter — full text
2. Writing Notes — achievements used and why; anything deliberately left out
3. What's Next — /wingman:mappe to assemble, or /wingman:apply to submit

Permissions

{ "permissions": { "allow": [
  "Read(~/.wingman/**)", "Write(~/.wingman/**)", "Edit(~/.wingman/**)",
  "mcp__claude-in-chrome__*"
] } }