How to apply for jobs in Italy

EURES describes the Italian application as an up-to-date CV tailored to the position, plus a cover letter that personalises it by highlighting your strengths and objectives. The Europass template is one option: Europass is a free European Commission service, available in 31 languages, that lets you build the CV online. A clean, reverse-chronological CV with a short profile, experience, education, languages on the CEFR scale and IT skills works just as well. Unless the employer asks, there is no need to attach a photograph or copies of your certificates. The Italian CV format guide shows layout and personal details.

Italian CVs traditionally end with a sentence authorising the processing of personal data, and EURES still recommends one. The law has moved on: under article 111-bis of the Personal Data Protection Code, in force since September 2018, consent is not required to process the personal data in a CV you send spontaneously to start an employment relationship. Instead, the employer must give you its GDPR article 13 information notice at the first useful contact. Keep the line short if you add it, or leave it out unless the advert asks. The cover letter builder drafts the letter from your CV.^[1][8][16]

Article 8 of the Workers' Statute (Law 300/1970) forbids employers, for hiring purposes and during employment, to investigate a worker's political, religious or trade-union opinions, or facts that are not relevant to assessing professional aptitude, including through third parties. Article 10 of Legislative Decree 276/2003 goes further for agencies and other authorised intermediaries: they may not investigate or pre-select candidates on grounds such as beliefs, sex, sexual orientation, marital or family status, pregnancy, age, disability, ethnic or national origin, health or disputes with previous employers, even with the candidate's consent, unless the trait is an essential requirement of the job.

The Equal Opportunities Code (article 27) bans sex discrimination in access to work, including selection criteria, and covers discrimination through references to marriage, family status or pregnancy. Public competition notices must state that posts are open to candidates of either sex. In practice, you can decline questions about plans for children or your religion and steer the conversation back to the role.^[9][10][11]

If a week or two passes after the interview with no news, one polite email to the recruiter or agency is fine. Keep a record of each application, agency and competition deadline in the job tracker so nothing slips. When salary comes up, talk in gross annual terms and ask which collective agreement applies: the law sets no minimum wage for all workers, and minimum pay normally comes from the national collective agreement (CCNL) for the sector.

Your employer must give you the main terms of the job in writing, in the contract, the letter of appointment or another document, including the length of any probation period, which may be set by reference to the collective agreement. Under article 2096 of the Civil Code, hiring on probation must be agreed in writing, and during probation either side can end the relationship without notice or severance. Article 7 of Legislative Decree 104/2022 caps probation at six months, or less where the collective agreement says so; on fixed-term contracts it must be proportionate to the contract's length. Once you pass, the time already worked counts towards your seniority.^{[1][4][12][13]}

EU citizens can take up a job in Italy without a work permit. For most others, employment comes first: the employer requests a nulla osta (entry clearance) from the Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione, which issues it together with a job contract and sends them to the Italian embassy or consulate, where you then apply for the work visa. Ask a prospective employer early whether it has started that request, because the visa cannot move without it.

Qualifications are a separate question. Citizens of the EU, EEA and Switzerland may practise a regulated profession in Italy only after the competent authority recognises their qualification under Legislative Decree 206/2007; the Department for European Affairs runs an assistance centre for these procedures. For academic degrees, CIMEA, Italy's centre in the ENIC-NARIC networks, can issue statements of comparability. If your CV is not yet in Italian, translate your resume and keep an English version for international roles.^[1][14][15]