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The reference that says the opposite
German employees are legally entitled to a written reference, the Arbeitszeugnis, when they leave a job, and it must be both truthful and benevolent — you may not write anything that would damage the person's prospects. Those two requirements are contradictory, so a coded language grew up to resolve them, and it is widely understood. Stets zu unserer vollsten Zufriedenheit — always to our fullest satisfaction — is the top grade; drop "fullest" to "full" and it means good, drop it again and it means adequate. Er hat sich stets bemüht, "he always made an effort", is a polite disaster. The system has been tested repeatedly in labor courts, which have ruled on what particular phrases actually mean. An application in Germany also normally includes the full set: a covering letter, a tabular Lebenslauf, and scanned copies of school certificates, degree certificates and every previous Arbeitszeugnis. Photographs on CVs were traditional and are now discouraged under anti-discrimination law, though plenty of people still include one.