Irish CV format: how to write a CV for jobs in Ireland

Who sets the Irish convention

No Irish law prescribes the layout of a CV. The convention is written down by the public employment service and by college careers offices. JobsIreland, the job site of the Department of Social Protection, publishes a short CV guide. Trinity College Dublin's Careers Service and the Careers Development Centre at South East Technological University (SETU) publish longer ones. This page reads all three side by side, as they stood on 13 October 2026.

Read together, they describe a document close to the British one with three local habits: the postal address stays in the header, education lists the modules that fit the job, and referees are often named rather than held back.

Covered by the other Ireland guides

The work permit for listed occupations has its own guide, and so does NMBI registration for nurses trained abroad. Both are linked at the end.

First step: find your degree on the Irish framework

An Irish reader judges a qualification by its level on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). Before you write the education section, find out what yours is called in Irish terms.

1. Open the NARIC Ireland Foreign Qualifications Database, run by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI). It is free and needs no account.
2. Choose your country and find the exact name on your diploma, for example Lisans Diplomasi for a Turkish bachelor degree.
3. Note the Irish award class and the NFQ level the database gives, and download the comparability statement if you want to attach it.
4. Write the level next to the original degree name on your CV, in brackets, as in the sample further down.
5. If you are not an EEA, UK or Swiss citizen, also decide what your work permission line will say; the critical skills guide covers the permit itself.

NARIC Ireland stresses that a comparability statement is advice, not a legal document, and that the decision to recognise a qualification belongs to the employer. For regulated jobs such as nursing, the professional regulator decides instead.

How the Irish layout works

One or two A4 pages

JobsIreland says a CV should be 1 to 2 A4 pages in length only. Trinity says a standard CV in Ireland and the UK should not exceed two A4 pages and suggests putting the most relevant skills and experience on page one. SETU allows up to 2 or 2.5 pages for its students.

The header carries your address

JobsIreland lists name, address, telephone or mobile and email as the personal details. Trinity adds a professional email address and a LinkedIn or GitHub link. SETU also asks for your driving licence status when the job needs it and your visa status where it applies. If you are still abroad, a town and country tell the reader where you are; once you live in Ireland, give the postal address.

What stays off the page

SETU's checklist is the most explicit Irish source: no 'Curriculum Vitae' title, no date of birth, marital status, nationality or gender, nothing that could discriminate, and no signature, because a CV is not a legal document. It also says no photo. None of the three sources lists a photo, an ID number or military service among the personal details.

The legal background is the Employment Equality Acts. The Workplace Relations Commission says they cover all aspects of work including recruitment, on nine grounds. IHREC lists the grounds as gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race (which includes nationality) and membership of the Traveller community, and names job advertising and access to employment among the areas covered.

Education with the modules that matter

Trinity asks for the four or five modules most relevant to the role, your overall grade, and any project or thesis that proves depth. SETU wants the full title of the award, such as BSc (Hons) or BEng, start and end dates, and the expected classification if it is good, for example 2:1. Trinity also tells Irish students to leave out the Junior Certificate but keep the Leaving Certificate; for a foreign applicant the equivalent is to drop school results once you hold a degree.

Work history in months, newest first

All three sources put the latest job on top. Trinity asks for the full span, such as May 2023 to August 2023 rather than Summer 2023, because applicant tracking systems calculate experience from dates. Trinity and SETU both suggest splitting jobs into Relevant Work Experience and Other Work Experience when your best example is not your latest one.

Referees are named more often

JobsIreland says it is acceptable to write 'References available on request'. Trinity agrees you do not have to list referees unless asked, but says named referees add weight where space allows, and suggests one academic and one work referee for recent graduates. It advises international students to include an Ireland-based referee, such as a lecturer or a part-time employer, to look local to the employer. SETU's checklist expects two named referees with job titles and contact details, asked in advance.

A profile of a few lines

JobsIreland describes the personal profile as a short paragraph near the top, adapted for each job. SETU caps it at three sentences or three to four bullet points; Trinity at four or five lines.

File type and applicant tracking systems

Trinity suggests writing the CV in Word and saving it as a PDF, and warns that Canva or Overleaf files, columns, graphics and background tables can confuse an applicant tracking system. SETU asks for a plain Word document without fancy templates, which it says scramble in HR systems. If an advert names a format, use that one.

Turkish qualifications on the Irish framework, from NARIC Ireland

We queried the NARIC Ireland database for Turkey on 13 October 2026. These are the entries a job applicant from Türkiye is most likely to need, with the Irish award class and NFQ level the database gives.

The NFQ level is what Irish rules refer to. A Critical Skills permit for a recent graduate, for example, needs a degree at level 8 or above, and an advert asking for a level 8 qualification is asking for what NARIC Ireland compares with a Turkish Lisans.

A sample CV for an engineer from Türkiye

The person is invented: Burak Yıldız, a process engineer in Bursa with five years in automotive plastics, applying to a medical device manufacturer in Galway. Each line follows one of the Irish sources above.

Keep ı, ş, ğ and ü in names as they are written. Use the English degree title from your diploma supplement and the NFQ level in brackets, not a translation you made up.

What each Irish source says, read 13 October 2026

The JobsIreland and NARIC pages show no date. The Trinity guide is undated; the SETU checklist PDF was created in January 2026.

When this format is the wrong one

• HSE and other public health posts: the HSE Career Hub says every campaign has a job specification and points applicants to modules on filling in the application form and preparing for a competency-based interview.
• Research, lecturing and teaching posts: Trinity describes the academic CV as a different document, with research, funding, teaching and publications.
• Investment banking: Trinity says a one-page US-style résumé is the preferred format there.
• Regulated professions: the HSE Career Hub says nurses, doctors and health and social care professionals must register with their regulator before they practise in Ireland.
• If the advert asks for a form, a format or a page limit, follow it; it outranks every source on this page.

Where to get help and what to do next

• JobsIreland: CV, cover letter and interview advice, and a link to Intreo, which it describes as the single point of contact for employment and income supports.
• Your college careers service, if you study or studied in Ireland. Trinity, for example, runs 15-minute CV clinics in person and online.
• NARIC Ireland, to download the comparability statement for your degree and link it in an application.
• CitedCV: it writes the CV in English from facts you confirm. It has no separate Irish setting; its UK setting leaves out photo, date of birth, marital status and nationality as the Irish sources advise, and also drops the full street address, so add yours to the Word export if the employer wants it.

If you are not an EEA, UK or Swiss citizen, check the permit before you tailor anything: the critical skills guide lists the occupations and salary floors. Nurses start with the NMBI guide.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. JobsIreland (Department of Social Protection): Tips and advice, preparing your CVjobsireland.ie/en-US/TipsandAdvicePage
2. Trinity College Dublin Careers Service: Your Guide to Making Great Applications (PDF)www.tcd.ie/media/tcd/careers/pdfs/Your-Guide-To-Making-Great-Applications.pdf
3. SETU Careers Development Centre: CV checklist (PDF, January 2026)www.setu.ie/Craft/assets/general/SETU-CV-Checklist_2026-01-05-104336_ahuk.pdf
4. QQI / NARIC Ireland: Recognition of foreign qualificationswww.qqi.ie/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications
5. NARIC Ireland Foreign Qualifications Database (search: Turkey)qsearch.qqi.ie/WebPart/Search?searchtype=recognitions
6. IHREC: Your rights guide, the Employment Equality Acts (PDF)www.ihrec.ie/app/uploads/2022/08/IHREC-Employment-Rights-Leaflet-2019-WEB.pdf
7. Workplace Relations Commission: Employment Equality and Equal Statuswww.workplacerelations.ie/en/what_you_should_know/equal-status-and-employment-equality/employment%20equality%20and%20equal%20status/
8. HSE Career Hub: International recruitmentcareerhub.hse.ie/int_recruitment/