Guide · Build your resume · Ireland
Irish CV Format: A CV Template for Jobs in Ireland
What Irish employers expect from a CV, what to leave off under Irish equality law, how referees and cover letters work, a copy-ready template and how to show your Stamp or employment permit status.
On this page›
- Irish CV format at a glance
- What to leave off your Irish CV, and why
- An Irish CV template you can copy
- Referees, cover letters and application forms
- How to show your right to work in Ireland
- Qualifications from outside Ireland
- How to tailor your CV to an Irish job
- Irish CV checklist
- Frequently asked questions
The Irish CV format is a reverse-chronological CV of no more than two A4 pages: your contact details, an optional short profile, work experience written as achievements, education, skills and interests, then referees or a line saying they are available on request. Leave off a photo, your date of birth, marital status and your PPS number, and use Irish (British) spelling such as organise and colour. Most employers expect a cover letter with it. If you are not an EEA, UK or Swiss citizen, add one line on your right to work, because most people from elsewhere need an employment permit.
A note on terms: Ireland uses the word CV, as the UK does, and gradireland says Irish and UK CVs follow the same format. If you’re coming from the US or Canada, it’s what you would call a résumé.
Irish CV format at a glance
Two guides are worth reading in full: the EU’s EURES guide to living and working in Ireland and Trinity College Dublin’s guide to making great applications. Their advice lines up:
| Element | Irish convention |
|---|---|
| Length | One to two pages (EURES). Trinity says a standard CV in Ireland and the UK should not exceed two A4 pages; gradireland suggests one page for graduates where possible. |
| Order | Education and employment in reverse-chronological order, most recent first (Trinity). |
| Contact details | Full name, current address, mobile number, a professional email and your LinkedIn or GitHub URL. |
| Profile | Optional, no more than four or five lines, naming your key skills and the job you want (Trinity). |
| Experience | Dates, job title and employer for each role, then what you achieved, with numbers where you can. |
| Skills | Concrete skills such as languages and software; generic ones only with evidence (Trinity). |
| Languages | Include them, especially if English is not your first language (EURES). |
| Interests | Positions of responsibility in clubs, societies or volunteering, with the skills they show. |
| Referees | Two referees, or “available upon request” (see below). |
| Photo and personal details | Leave them off (see the next section). |
| File name | Use your own name: gradireland warns that a file called “CV.pdf” can get lost. |
What to leave off your Irish CV, and why
Ireland’s Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015 ban discrimination in recruitment on nine grounds: Citizens Information lists them as gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race (which includes nationality) and membership of the Traveller community. Nothing on your CV should invite a decision on any of them.
| Detail | What to do |
|---|---|
| Photo | Leave it off. EURES says you only supply one if an application form asks for it |
| Date of birth or age | Leave it off |
| Marital or civil status, children | Leave them off |
| Nationality | Not needed; a right-to-work line tells the employer what matters |
| PPS number | Leave it off. EURES says anyone starting employment in Ireland must apply for one; it is for after you are hired |
An Irish CV template you can copy
[First name Last name]
[Address, or town and county] · [Mobile with +353 or your country code] · [Email] · [LinkedIn or GitHub URL]
Right to work in Ireland: [for example: Irish or EU citizen; Stamp 4; Stamp 1G until MM/YYYY; or: will need a Critical Skills Employment Permit]
Profile [optional, four or five lines]: [Your role, years of experience, two strengths the job asks for and the kind of role you want]
Work experience
[Month YYYY] – present | [Job title], [Employer], [City, country]
[One line on what the employer does, if it isn’t known in Ireland]
- [Achievement with a number, in the job ad’s own words where they fit]
- [Achievement]
- [Achievement]
Education
[YYYY] – [YYYY] | [Degree, subject and grade], [University], [City, country] [plus its Irish NFQ level, if you have a NARIC Ireland comparability statement]
[Four or five modules or a thesis relevant to the job]
Skills: [Software, tools, certifications and languages, with levels]
Interests and activities: [Clubs, volunteering or positions of responsibility]
Referees: [Name, job title, employer, location] · [Name, job title, employer, location] · Contact details available on request
Two Irish details from Trinity’s guide: recent Irish graduates leave out the Junior Certificate but include the Leaving Certificate, and it suggests listing the four or five modules most relevant to the role rather than all of them.
Referees, cover letters and application forms
Referees
Trinity’s guide says you don’t have to list referees unless asked and can write “available upon request”, but named referees add weight where space allows. Ask permission first, give each one’s name, job title, employer and location. Trinity advises international students to include an Ireland-based referee, such as a lecturer or a manager from part-time or volunteering work, and the same idea helps anyone new to the country.
Cover letters
gradireland’s advice is to always include a covering letter with your CV. Keep it to one page: why this role and employer, two requirements from the ad with real evidence, your right to work and start date, and a request for an interview.
Application forms
Some employers use their own form instead of a CV. EURES says these usually cover education and training, work experience and interests, that you only add a photo if the form asks, and that the form must arrive before the closing date. It also notes that some employers may be happy to interview you by phone.
How to show your right to work in Ireland
Citizens Information says that if you are from outside the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, you need permission to work in Ireland, which in most cases means an employment permit. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment issues nine types; the two most job seekers meet are these:
| Permit | For | Minimum salary |
|---|---|---|
| Critical Skills Employment Permit | Highly skilled roles in short supply, such as ICT professionals and engineers; the job offer must be for at least two years | €40,904 for the occupations on the Critical Skills Occupations List (a relevant degree is required); over €68,911 for most other occupations |
| General Employment Permit | A broad range of jobs not on the Ineligible List of Occupations | €36,605 a year from 1 March 2026, with lower rates for a few named roles |
For a General Employment Permit, Citizens Information explains that the employer usually has to run a Labour Market Needs Test first, advertising the job for at least 28 days, including on Jobs Ireland and EURES. Jobs on the Critical Skills Occupations List and jobs paying more than €64,000 are among the exceptions. It also says Stamp 4 holders don’t need an employment permit.
If you graduated in Ireland, the Third Level Graduate Programme (Stamp 1G) lets non-EEA graduates with a level 8 or 9 award from a recognised Irish awarding body stay for twelve months to look for graduate-level work and apply for an employment permit; level 9 graduates can qualify for up to 24 months in total.
On the CV itself, one line under your contact details is enough, such as “Right to work in Ireland: Stamp 1G until 09/2027”. This is general information, not legal advice; check the official pages for your own situation. Before you apply, read the ad for sponsorship lines: Leepo’s “Can you apply?” check reads the work permit and visa sponsorship lines, the years of experience, where the company hires and degree requirements, and tells you in words whether you qualify.
Qualifications from outside Ireland
NARIC Ireland, hosted by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), gives advice on the academic recognition of foreign qualifications and, where possible, compares them to a major award at a level on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). If your degree is in its database, you can download a comparability statement and add the NFQ level next to the degree on your CV, which saves an Irish recruiter from guessing.
How to tailor your CV to an Irish job
Trinity’s guide says to tailor your CV to each company, use some of the employer’s language from the job description, and put your most relevant skills and experience on the first page. Our guide to tailoring your CV to a job description walks through the method, and Leepo’s free CV checker compares your CV with one job ad and shows the matched and missing keywords.
Worked example
A shortened, fictional job ad:
Junior Software Engineer, Galway. You will build and test features for our web platform in TypeScript and React, write automated tests and take part in code reviews. Requirements: degree in computer science or similar; 1+ years’ commercial experience; TypeScript or JavaScript; SQL. Desirable: AWS. Candidates must have the right to work in Ireland.
Arjun, a fictional graduate, finished an MSc in Computing at an Irish university, holds Stamp 1G, and worked for two years at a software services firm in Pune before that:
| The ad asks for | Arjun’s evidence | His change |
|---|---|---|
| Degree in computer science | MSc Computing (Ireland); BTech (India) | MSc first, with his thesis in one line |
| 1+ years’ experience | Two years as a developer in Pune | A line on what the firm does and how big it is |
| TypeScript, React, tests | Built React screens and wrote Jest tests | Name all three in his first bullet points |
| SQL | Wrote reporting queries in PostgreSQL | Add a bullet point |
| AWS (desirable) | Only a college project | List it under the project, not as work experience |
| Right to work | Stamp 1G until 09/2027 | One line under his contact details |
Before: Software Developer, [Company], 2022 to 2024. Worked on client projects. Did testing.
After: 07/2022 – 08/2024 | Software Developer, [Company], Pune, India
Software services firm of about 400 people building web apps for retail clients in the UK and India.
- Built 20+ React and TypeScript screens for a retailer’s stock management web app
- Wrote Jest tests that took the main module’s test coverage from 40% to 75%
- Wrote PostgreSQL reporting queries and reviewed teammates’ pull requests every week
Every number is Arjun’s own, and the AWS gap is shown honestly as a college project.
Irish CV checklist
- No more than two A4 pages, most recent first, in Irish (British) spelling
- No photo, date of birth, marital status, nationality line or PPS number
- A short right-to-work line if you are not an EEA, UK or Swiss citizen
- Foreign degrees with their NFQ level where NARIC Ireland gives one
- Two referees, ideally one based in Ireland, or “available upon request”
- A one-page cover letter written for this employer
- Applying elsewhere too? See our English CV for Germany and Canadian resume format guides.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a CV be in Ireland?
Two A4 pages at most. The EU’s EURES guide to Ireland says one to two pages, and Trinity College Dublin’s careers service says a standard CV in Ireland and the UK should not exceed two A4 pages. Graduates can often fit everything on one.
Do you put a photo on a CV in Ireland?
No. A photo is not part of the standard Irish CV, and EURES notes that on application forms you only need to supply one if the form asks for it. Leave off your date of birth and marital status too: age and civil status are protected grounds under the Employment Equality Acts.
Should I put references on my CV in Ireland?
You can list two referees with their name, job title, employer and location, or write that references are available on request. Trinity College Dublin’s careers service says listed referees add weight where space allows, and advises international students to include an Ireland-based referee if they can. Always ask your referees first.
Should I put my visa or Stamp on my Irish CV?
Yes, in one short line, if you are not an EEA, UK or Swiss citizen. Most people from other countries need an employment permit, so saying up front that you hold Stamp 1G or Stamp 4, or which permit you would need, saves the employer guessing. Keep the detail for the cover letter.
Is a CV the same as a resume in Ireland?
Yes. Ireland, like the UK, calls the one-to-two-page document for job applications a CV, and gradireland says Irish and UK CVs follow the same format. What Americans and Canadians call a résumé is the same document.