The one rule: skill plus proof
A skill on its own is a claim. A skill with a number, a system name or a certificate date beside it is something a manager can picture and check at interview. Compare the two columns.
| Claim (weak) | Skill plus proof (use this) |
|---|---|
| Cash handling | Till and cash reconciliation, up to €6,000 a day, no unexplained variance in two years |
| Customer service | Resolved 20+ complaints a week, 90% closed same day |
| Computer skills | Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP), Sage 50 invoicing, Outlook diaries for three partners |
| Health and safety | Safe Pass and Manual Handling, both in date (2025) |
| Languages | Fluent Polish, conversational Irish |
| Team player | Trained 8 new starters on tills and service standards |
Notice that the strong versions are often the same lines that belong in your work experience bullets. That is fine. The skills list is where a recruiter checks a box; the bullets are where they read the story.
Skills examples by job
Pick your job type, keep the lines that are true of you, and fill in your own numbers and dates. Seven lines per group is a ceiling, not a target.
Retail and customer service
- Till and card payments, cash reconciliation (up to €6,000 a day)
- Stock control and deliveries, stock-loss counts
- Merchandising and planograms
- Complaint handling (90% resolved same day)
- Click-and-collect and returns processing
- Opening and closing as a keyholder
- Training new starters on tills and service standards
Healthcare assistant and care work
- Personal care: washing, dressing, toileting, feeding
- Safe moving and handling, hoists and transfers
- Observations: temperature, pulse, blood pressure, fluid intake
- Dementia care and de-escalation
- Care plan documentation and handover reporting
- Infection control and hand hygiene
- Garda vetting in place (date)
Hospitality: bar, kitchen, front of house
- Section service for 8 to 10 tables at full capacity
- Till and table-management systems (name the one you used)
- Cocktail and wine list knowledge
- Food safety and HACCP records, allergen information
- Grill, larder or pastry section experience (covers per night)
- Stock rotation and ordering
- Handling cash and closing the bar
Office, admin and reception
- Microsoft Word, Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP), Outlook diary management
- Switchboard and front desk for a 40-staff office
- Filing systems, GDPR-compliant record handling
- Invoicing and purchase orders (name the software: Sage, Xero, SAP)
- Minute taking and meeting scheduling
- Typing speed (words per minute, only if fast)
- Irish and one other language, with level
Construction and trades
- Safe Pass (in date), Manual Handling (year)
- Working from drawings, method statements and RAMS
- Groundworks, formwork, steel fixing, block laying: name your actual trades
- Power tools and plant you are ticketed for
- Site clean-down and waste segregation
- Working at height and confined space training, if held
- Full clean B licence, own transport
Driving and logistics
- Licence categories held (B, C1, C, CE) with any CPC dates
- Multi-drop route work, 60 to 80 drops a day
- Handheld scanners and proof-of-delivery apps
- Load securing and vehicle checks
- Clean driving record, years without an at-fault incident
- Forklift or counterbalance certificate, if held
- Customer-facing delivery and cash-on-delivery handling
Irish certifications worth their own line
Some Irish jobs cannot start without a specific card or check, and a recruiter will look for it on the CV before anything else. Give the name and the year, and put it in the skills section or in a short “Certifications” block just above it.
- Safe Pass. A one-day health and safety awareness programme run under SOLAS. The Construction Regulations 2013 require it for craft and general construction workers and for on-site security work, so no card usually means no site start (source: HSA, Safe Pass).
- Manual Handling. Asked for in care, warehouse, retail and hospitality roles as well as construction. Give the year of your most recent course.
- Food safety (HACCP). Kitchens, delis and food retail expect it. Name the level and year.
- Garda vetting. Required for relevant work with children or vulnerable persons under the National Vetting Bureau Acts 2012 to 2016; the employer or organisation applies for it, not you (source: National Vetting Bureau). If you hold a recent one from a previous role, say so with the year, and expect the new employer to run their own.
- Driving licence. “Full clean B licence” is a skill for any job with a site, a van or a client visit in it. List higher categories (C1, C, CE) with any Driver CPC dates.
- First aid, forklift, working at height. Only if held and in date. Name the course and year.
Skills that waste a line
- Microsoft Word, email, internet. Assumed for anyone applying online. Excel earns a line only with detail.
- Hardworking, motivated, reliable, team player. Adjectives, not skills. Prove them in the bullets with attendance, pace or training figures instead.
- Star ratings or skill bars. Software cannot read them and a person cannot compare them. “Fluent French” beats four stars.
- Hobbies dressed as skills. Keep interests to one line at the end of the CV, and only if they say something specific (captaining a team, running a club’s accounts).
- Anything you could not demonstrate on Monday. If a skill is on the list, expect to be asked about it in the first ten minutes of the interview.
Matching the list to the job ad
Read the ad twice and underline every skill it names. Your list should carry those words, in that order, first. Most Irish employers using an applicant tracking system search on the exact phrase from the ad, and a human skimming the CV is looking for the same thing. Everything else on your list comes after.
The how-to-write guide covers the achievement bullets that back the list up, the personal statement examples show how the strongest skill becomes your opening line, and the free builder has a skills box that lays them out as a clean single column on the A4 sheet. For a full CV in your sector, see the CV examples by sector.
Frequently asked questions
How many skills should I put on a CV?
Six to ten, all relevant to the job you are applying for. A skills section is a short list a recruiter scans in a few seconds, not an inventory. If you have more, keep the ones the job ad mentions and drop the rest.
What are the best skills to put on a CV?
The ones in the job ad, worded the way the ad words them, with proof beside each. For most Irish jobs that means a mix of the practical (till, care, tools, software, licence) and one or two working habits shown with a number: attendance, pace, cash handled, customers served.
Should I list soft skills like communication and teamwork?
Not on their own. "Good communication skills" is a claim; "Resolved 20+ complaints a week with a 90% same-day close rate" is the same skill with evidence. Put the evidence in your work experience bullets and leave the bare adjective off the skills list.
Where does the skills section go on an Irish CV?
After work experience and education, before references. If you have no work history yet, it can move up under the profile, as long as each skill has something concrete beside it.
Should I put Microsoft Word or a driving licence on my CV?
A full clean licence, yes, whenever the job could involve driving or getting to a site. Microsoft Word, no, unless the job is about documents. Excel is worth a line if you can name what you do with it (pivot tables, lookups, budgets).