Your cover letter should reflect your motivation and personality. Convince your interviewer before the interview that you are the right person for the job!

Make it clear in your cover letter why you have applied for this position and this company. The best way to do this is to check the company's website and the job advert.

What do you bring to the company? Include your personal strengths in your cover letter and justify them with examples from your life.

Show the company that you are committed. You can do this by emphasising your practical experience, such as internships or mini-jobs. The more practical experience you have, the more interesting you will be to the company.

Make sure you include the correct recipient and contact person in your cover letter. Nothing is worse than addressing the wrong person or the wrong company in your cover letter.

The last sentence in the application letter is the most memorable. Therefore, create a meaningful final sentence so that you stand out from all the other applicants and are remembered!

Do not use the subjunctive mood in your letter of application, as this expresses uncertainty. Instead of "I would look forward to being invited for an interview", you could write "I look forward to being invited for an interview", for example.

A common thread should be recognisable when reading the cover letter. Therefore, structure your cover letter in meaningful paragraphs so that it looks more appealing and clearer.

Leave out unnecessary information in your letter of application and focus on the important things that could be of most interest to the other person. One A4 page should be sufficient for an application for an apprenticeship.

You should definitely plan enough time for a perfect application. This includes preparatory work such as researching the training company as well as writing and proofreading the application documents.

You should send your application documents in full. This includes a CV, cover letter, a letter of motivation if applicable and references and certificates.

Before sending your application documents, you should sign all the documents you have created. You should also label your documents with a date and place.

In order to send your application documents as error-free as possible, it is a good idea to have various people such as your parents, siblings or friends proofread them.

A personalised application stands out from other applications and will be remembered. You should therefore not copy all the wording or design elements from templates and think of something of your own.

Always save your documents in PDF format. This means that nothing can shift within the files, any computer can open the file format and your application documents cannot be manipulated so easily.

Prepare well for the interview and be aware of your strengths. It is helpful to find out about the company on the internet and make a short list of your strengths in advance.

To show your interest, you should think about a few questions you can ask the company before the interview. These could be questions about the company, the position or your future working life, for example.

If you don't like speaking in front of strangers, it can help to practise a trial interview with friends or your parents beforehand. This will make you a little more relaxed and you will have a rough idea of what to expect.

You are usually quite nervous the day before the interview. To relax a little, you should do something good the evening before to take your mind off things.

You should definitely dress neatly and look well-groomed for the interview. If you are unsure about what to wear, you can ask friends or find out more on the internet.

Even when we are not talking, our body is still communicating. That's why you should maintain an upright posture and a positive facial expression to radiate self-confidence.

The gaze is also an important aspect of non-verbal communication. Focus on the conversation and maintain eye contact with the other person. This shows interest, respect and sympathy.