How to write a CV for Irish employers (2026)

The short version

• Length: up to two A4 pages. One is fine early in your career.
• Leave out: photo, date of birth, marital status, PPS number and your full home address.
• Spelling: Irish and British (“organise”, “colour”, “CV”), not American.
• Layout: one column, clear headings, latest job first.
• Each job: three to five lines on what you achieved, not a list of duties.

How long should a CV be in Ireland?

Up to two pages. Much of the advice on Reddit and US sites says one page, but that is the North American norm. Irish recruiters expect up to two, and more than two is usually too long. If you have a long career, cut older jobs down to one line each.

What to put at the top

• Your name, then phone, email and your town or county. Your town is enough: leave out your street and Eircode.
• A short intro of two or three lines: what you do and what you are good at. Say what you offer, not what you are looking for.
• Answers employers screen for, if the job asks: whether you can work in Ireland without a visa, a full driving licence, and when you can start. Many job sites ask these as yes-or-no questions before anyone reads your CV, so a clear line near the top helps.

What to leave off

• A photo. Irish employers don’t expect one, and most recruiters prefer none. It’s normal in some other countries, so check if you are applying abroad.
• Date of birth, marital status, nationality and PPS number. None of these are needed to judge your application. Employers ask for what they need later.
• “References available on request.” Employers ask for references when they need them, so the line takes space and adds nothing.
• School results such as your Leaving Cert, once you have a degree or a couple of years of work. Keep them if they are your highest qualification.

Write your experience as results

For each job, write three to five lines on what you did and what changed because of it. A rough number helps: how many customers, people, orders or hours.

Use Irish and British spelling throughout. American spellings like “organize” or “optimized”, and terms like “GPA”, stand out to Irish readers.

Keep the layout plain

One column, standard headings (Experience, Education, Skills), and a PDF saved from Word or Google Docs so the text can be read. Avoid skill bars, icons and side columns: they look good but are slower to skim, and some screening software reads two columns in the wrong order.