Ireland CV Format (2026): Irish CV Layout, Rules and Example

Irish employers need to know who you are and how to reach you, and nothing more at this stage. Include your name, mobile number, a professional email address, your town or county, and a LinkedIn or portfolio link.

What to leave out, and why

Ireland's Employment Equality Acts protect nine grounds: gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race, and membership of the Traveller community. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) explains that this protection covers access to employment, including advertising and the questions asked during selection, and gives asking a candidate's date of birth at interview as an example of how age discrimination can arise.

So leave these off your CV:

Leave out	Reason
Photo	Not expected, and it reveals several protected grounds at once
Date of birth or age	Age is a protected ground
Marital status, children	Civil and family status are protected grounds
Religion, health, disability	Protected grounds; disclose later only if you want to request accommodations
PPS number	Only needed after you're hired; an identity-theft risk

Nationality is a special case. Irish employers can't discriminate on race (which includes nationality), but they do need to know whether you can work in Ireland. If you're an EEA, Swiss or UK citizen, there's nothing to add. If not, a single line about your immigration permission saves the recruiter a question (see "Applying from abroad" below).

Irish recruiters, many of them working for agencies or the HR teams of multinationals, read CVs quickly and look for evidence. A few things make a big difference:

1. Two pages, maximum. Graduates should aim for one. Recruiters rarely read a third page.
2. Achievements over duties. Each bullet should say what changed because you were there.
3. Irish qualifications explained. Name the NFQ level for Irish awards (for example "BSc Computer Science, NFQ Level 8, University of Galway"), and give a short equivalent for overseas degrees.
4. Regulated professions show registration. Nurses and midwives list NMBI registration status, engineers their Engineers Ireland grade, accountants their professional body.
5. Local terms. Use "CV", "mobile", "programme" and "organise". Write "Leaving Certificate", not "high school diploma".

Weak: Worked in customer service for an insurance company.

Strong: Handled 50+ customer calls a day for a Dublin motor insurer, keeping first-contact resolution above team target for 18 consecutive months.

Referees on Irish CVs

Irish CVs often end with two referees, especially for graduate, public sector and healthcare roles. Many experienced candidates write "References available on request" instead. Either is fine, but never list someone without asking them first, and make sure their details are current. Employers typically contact referees near the offer stage.

The main routes into Irish jobs:

• Jobs Ireland, the state's job-matching service linked to Intreo, where you can search vacancies and post a profile.
• publicjobs.ie for civil service, local authority, Garda and many other public service roles. These competitions often use their own application forms and competency-based questions rather than a CV alone.
• HSE and hospital careers pages for health roles, which also tend to use application forms.
• Commercial job boards and LinkedIn, such as IrishJobs.ie and Indeed, where most private-sector roles appear.
• Recruitment agencies, which fill a large share of professional, technology, pharma and finance roles. They'll often reformat your CV for their client.

Multinationals with Irish operations usually screen applications with an applicant tracking system (ATS) such as Workday or Greenhouse. These systems read plain, single-column layouts most reliably, so avoid text boxes, tables and graphics, and use the job advert's own words for your skills. Our guide to making your resume ATS-friendly explains the details, and every EZProCV template exports a text-based PDF that these systems can read.

Yes, unless the application portal gives you nowhere to put one. Irish employers and agencies commonly expect a short cover letter or a cover email, and it's your chance to explain relocation, a career change or your work permission.

Keep it to one page and four short paragraphs: the role and where you saw it, your two strongest pieces of evidence, why this employer, and a polite close. Address a named person where possible ("Dear Ms Murphy") and sign off "Yours sincerely"; use "Yours faithfully" only after "Dear Sir or Madam".

Opening that works: I'm writing to apply for the Staff Nurse (Medical) post at your Limerick hospital. I hold NMBI registration and have four years' experience on a 30-bed acute medical ward in Manila, where I precepted new graduate nurses and led our falls-prevention audit.

For structure and more openings, read how to write a cover letter that gets read, or see the nurse cover letter example.

Citizens of the EEA, Switzerland and the UK can generally live and work in Ireland without an employment permit. According to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, a non-EEA national must hold a valid employment permit unless they're exempt. The main types include the Critical Skills Employment Permit and the General Employment Permit, and both depend on a job offer from an Irish employer. Your permission to live in Ireland is handled separately by Immigration Service Delivery.

What to put on your CV:

• If you already have permission to work, add one line under your contact details: "Work permission: Stamp 4 (no employment permit required)" or "Stamp 1G, valid to March 2027".
• If you'd need a permit, say so plainly in your cover letter, and mention if your occupation appears on the Critical Skills list. Recruiters for hard-to-fill roles often welcome this.
• Show your relocation plans: "Based in Bengaluru, India; relocating to Dublin from February 2027".
• Use international formats for phone numbers and explain overseas qualifications and grading.

Permit types, salary thresholds and eligible occupations change. As of October 2026, check the official employment permits and immigration sites before applying. This page is general guidance, not legal or immigration advice.