Free CV Template

Please feel free to download our CV templates for Ireland below – we have CV examples for a recent graduate and for someone with about 10 years of experience. Both C V template examples are designed to be compatible with most Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). ATS is software used by many companies to extract information from your CV into a database upon which they can then search through using key words.

You can also read about the Europass CV here and download a sample Europass CV.

C V Templates – Key points

To be ATS compliant we recommend not using any “fancy” formatting – so no lines, boxes, columns, outlined margins, etc. Don’t use headers or footers, and especially do not put your contact details into a header or footer. Tailor your CV to the keywords likely to be used by recruiters in searching for people that would be a good fit for the role. Use long and short versions of acronyms, for example, software development life cycle (SDLC). Use standard section titles like work experience and education. It is recommended that you submit your CV as a word document and not a PDF to facilitate ATS software.

Contact details – make sure you have your email address, contact phone number and postal address included. If you have a LinkedIn account you can also include your URL if you like.

Profile – Recruiters generally skim read your CV on the first round. The profile is an opportunity to draw attention to your key selling points. Try to tailor this to the role you are applying for, highlighting where you have demonstrated some of key skills required for the role for instance.

Include your education and work experience in reverse chronological order with the most recent first. If you are a recent graduate you may want to have your education section appearing before your work experience section.

Make sure you are demonstrated where you have developed and used the skills required for the job you are applying for – this can be through past work experience, education or extra-curricular activities. If possible quantify your achievements (for example – achieved cost savings of €20,000 per annum).

Skills – if you have technical or language skills or other relevant skills for the job you can include them in an additional skills section.

References – “References available upon request” included as standard sign off, unless requested to include references. This is both from a GDPR requirement but also it gives you the opportunity to give your referees a heads up if they are going to be contacted (and gives them a chance to think about how awesomely to describe you!)

Formatting – make sure you use consistent formatting throughout – same font, same type of bullet, same indentations. You do not need to write “Curriculum Vitae” on the top of your document – just start with your name.

Grammar – make sure past experiences are described in the past tense. Spell check and proof read a few times and try to get someone else to do this for you also. Try to avoid overuse of the personal pronoun “I”.

Length – generally CVs should be 2 pages in length. If you do not have much experience 1 page is ok. If you have extensive management experience (like senior executive experience) or are applying for academic or medical jobs than CVs over 2 pages are acceptable.

Big picture – Are you presenting yourself the way you want to? E.g. Motivated, driven, commercially aware, good fit for the role? Does the CV demonstrate you understand the role and have put in effort to tailor the CV? Have you made a list of the skills the employer is looking for and tried to demonstrate you have as many as possible?

Finally – if you are short on time and would like us to write your CV for us you can book a CV writing package below or check out all of our services here.