Irish CV format and cover letter: what employers expect

One to two A4 pages. JobsIreland, the public employment service, says the same, and gradireland tells graduates to aim for one page, with two as the absolute maximum. Irish employers use the word CV; a US-style one-page resume works too, but you will rarely need to cut that hard. The format is the same one UK employers use, so a good UK CV needs very little change.

Use reverse-chronological order: most recent job first. A layout that works for most experienced applicants:

• Name, phone number with country code, email, LinkedIn URL and your town or city. A full postal address is optional.
• A three- or four-line profile: your role, years of experience, one or two results and the job you want.
• Experience: job title, employer, location, month and year, then three to five achievement bullets per recent role.
• Education and training, with the full name of the degree.
• Skills and languages, with levels.
• Interests, only if they say something useful about you, and referees.

Keep one font, clear headings and no tables or text boxes, which confuse the applicant tracking systems many larger employers use. Our ATS-friendly CV checklist covers the technical side.

No photo. EURES, the EU’s job mobility network, notes that in Ireland you only supply a photograph if the application form asks for one. A photo takes up space that should hold evidence, and it is not what Irish recruiters are used to.

Leave out date of birth, marital status, children, religion and health. Irish employment equality law protects nine grounds, including age, civil and family status, religion, disability and race, in recruitment as well as at work. Employers are not supposed to decide on those grounds, so there is no reason to hand them the information. Nationality is the exception worth handling, and only through your right-to-work line.

This is the line most international CVs are missing, and its absence costs interviews. A recruiter who cannot tell whether you need a permit often assumes you do and moves on. Put one factual line under your contact details:

• EU/EEA, Swiss or UK citizen: “EU citizen: full right to work in Ireland.”
• Stamp 4: “Stamp 4: no employment permit required.”
• Graduate: “Stamp 1G: full-time work permitted until 06/2027.”
• Spouse or partner of a permit holder: “Stamp 1G: no employment permit required.”
• Needs a permit, in a Critical Skills role: “Eligible for a Critical Skills Employment Permit (occupation on the Critical Skills Occupations List).”

Only write what is true of your permission, which your IRP card and the immigration stamps page confirm. Check your occupation against the official list before you claim eligibility. The Ireland work permit guide explains the routes.

Irish qualifications are described by level on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ): an honours bachelor’s is Level 8, a master’s Level 9. NARIC Ireland, hosted by the qualifications agency QQI, keeps a free online database of over 2,000 foreign qualifications. For each one you can download a comparability statement that matches it to an NFQ award type and level.

Add the level your statement gives to the education line, for example: “BSc Civil Engineering, 2018 (comparable to NFQ Level 8, NARIC Ireland).” An Irish recruiter may not know your university, but will recognise the NFQ level. A comparability statement is advice, not a legal document, and it is not issued for professional licences. Regulated professions such as nursing or medicine need registration with the relevant Irish body. Our qualification recognition guide covers that.

Achievements, not duties. Irish recruiters scan quickly for scope and results, so each bullet should say what you did and what changed because of it: numbers of customers, budgets, users, time saved. For employers abroad, add one short line of context: sector, size and what the company does. A recruiter in Cork won’t know a regional bank in Manila or a hospital in Lahore.

Use Irish/UK spelling (organise, programme, centre) and job titles an Irish employer would recognise, with your original title in brackets if it differs. Explain gaps with one factual line. Our career gap guide has wording that works.

Either is accepted. JobsIreland says “References available on request” is fine, which saves space. Graduates often list two: one academic and one employer or personal referee. Whatever you write, have two referees ready before you apply, ask their permission first and tell them which jobs to expect calls about. If your referees are abroad, give an email address and note the time zone; a former manager who answers quickly is worth more than a senior name who doesn’t.

JobsIreland’s advice is to always send a cover letter with a CV, addressed to a named person and kept to one page. Aim for four or five short paragraphs:

• Opening: the job title, any reference number, where you saw it and one line on why you are a strong match.
• Evidence: two achievements that answer the posting’s top requirements. Do not retell the CV; pick the proof.
• Why them: one specific reason for this organisation, such as a product, a project or a value you can point to.
• Practicalities: your right to work or permit route, and your availability for interview.
• Close: a confident, polite sign-off. “Yours sincerely” is standard.

Find the hiring manager’s name on LinkedIn or by phoning the company; “Dear Sir or Madam” is a last resort. For structure and examples, see our cover letter template.

Application forms are widespread in Ireland. Civil and public service jobs are advertised through publicjobs.ie, and most graduate employers now use online applications rather than a CV alone. A late form may not be considered at all, so submit days before the closing date, not hours.

Forms often ask you to show competencies with examples. Answer each with a short situation, what you did and the result, and match your evidence to the competency named, word for word where it is true. The same stories become your interview answers, so write them once, properly.