What is wrong with Europass format and why you shouldn't use it? | Advice from Seniors

Europass format

What is Europass format?

In general, Europass format consists of five documents namely Curriculum Vitae, Language Passport, Eurpoass Mobility, Certificate Supplement and Diploma Supplement. The main idea of this is to make your skills and qualifications clearly and easily understandable in Europe. 

The Curriculum Vitae(CV) helps you to present the skills and qualifications more precisely and effectively. 

The Language Passport is a self-assessment tool for showcasing your language skills and qualifications.

The Europass Mobility helps you to portray the knowledge and skills that you might have acquired in another Europeanl country. 

The Certificate Supplement helps you to show your education and training certificates to back your claims in the CV. 

The Diploma Supplement is to show your educational degrees that you have acquired through out our career.

Who own the Europass website?

The Europass website is developed and maintainted by Cedefop. The Cedefop is also known as European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training backed by the European Union. As we know from the name, it is mainly for the Vocational training and not for professional education. 

Why everyone is using it?

If you are one of the candidate, who is applying to German universities then I am sure that you should have come across this Europass format and it has been so popular that, it has become one of the unwritten rules that, if you are applying to German universities then you need to use Europass format for your CV.

One of the main reason that it is so popular is, it is so simple to create your CV via the Europass website. You have to just enter the data and it generates you an CV.

Is it really necessary?

Does the universities ask for Europass format?

Is it mandatory to have your CV in Europass format?

Will the universities not accept your application, if you don't apply with Europass CV?

NO.

There is no where made mandatory that, Europass CV should be used or followed. It is just a way of representing your career achievements in a much efficient manner. 

What is wrong with it?

You might think, it is easy, efficient, accepted by many universities. Then what is wrong in using it?

If you have this question in mind, then you are missing the whole bigger picture. The important point of having a CV is to exhibit your skills in a eloquent way and convince the admissions committee that you are the best candidate for that particular course.

Lets assume that there are 100 applicants to a XYZ course at ABC university and around 90 applicants use EUROPASS format. When the admissions committee reviews your application, they would be fed up with seeing the same format all across the 90 applications. And as a candidate, you would definitely want your application to stand out from the crowd.

Recently, I had a discussion with a HR personnel and I asked her how does she feel when she sees an application with Europass format. She outrightly said that, it shows the candidate hasn't put any effort in preparing his CV and since this particular format is used exhaustively, it would definitely put a warning sign to the HR.

Even though this person wasn't from an admissions committee, the point she told made me think a lot. Referring to the previous paragraph, the main problem that I see with the Europass format is that, everyone is using it. 

If you need CV reviews, then send your CV to unofficialgermany@gmail.com 

What you should do?

If you want to convince the admission committee, then you need to make your CV stand out from rest of the crowd. As fas as I have seen, a major chunk of the applicants who use the EUROPASS format don't even bother to remove the "Europass" title present on the header of the CV.

You can definitely take inspiration from the format, but it would be lot advisable to edit it according to your career graph that best represents your profile. You need to put in some effort to enhance your CV, which doesn't look as same as the other person who is also applying to the same course.