Personal Assistant CV Example (Ireland)

A Personal Assistant CV in Ireland is usually read twice: once by a HR or office manager screening for the systems and the years, and once by the director or partner you would work for, who is reading for judgement. Both want to see who you have supported, at what level, in what kind of organisation, and the evidence that you ran their week without being asked. Write the level of the principal in each role, the size of what you managed around them, and one or two moments where your decision saved them time or embarrassment.

The Sample CV below is for a Personal Assistant with seven years supporting a managing partner at a Dublin professional services firm and, before that, a director in a semi-state body. Its bullets describe a diary across three time zones, board and committee papers, travel, expenses and the quiet work of keeping a principal informed, and each one carries a detail the next employer can picture.

Match the vacancy's tone. A legal or accounting firm wants confidentiality, billing systems and a formal style; a semi-state or public body wants committee procedure, freedom of information awareness and records management; a founder-led company wants speed and the willingness to cover whatever comes. The US counterpart of this page is the personal assistant resume example, written for American executives, with a different idea of what the role covers and a different page size. The Prime template keeps a PA CV orderly and quick to scan.

Updated . The person and employers in this Sample CV are fictional. Written for applicants in Ireland; the page for applicants in the US is the personal assistant resume example.

Personal Assistant sample CV

Drawn at A4 proportions, the paper an Irish CV is printed on.

Róisín Delahunty

Personal Assistant to a Managing Partner, seven years supporting board-level principals

Dublin 15roisin.delahunty@example.com083 555 0149

Summary

Personal Assistant with seven years supporting principals at managing partner and director level, currently running the office of the managing partner of a 120-person professional services firm. Manages a diary spanning clients in Ireland, London and New York, prepares the papers for the firm's management board and partners' meetings, and handles the confidential matters that cross a managing partner's desk, from partner admissions to client complaints. Known in the firm as the person who knows where the managing partner is, what she needs next and what she has not yet been told.

Experience

Personal Assistant to the Managing Partner, Fitzwilliam Lane Advisory

– Present

Dublin 2

  • Manage the managing partner's diary across three time zones, protecting preparation time before client pitches and board meetings and resolving the weekly conflicts with the heads of department directly.
  • Prepare and circulate the papers for the monthly management board and the quarterly partners' meeting, take the minutes and track the actions through to the next meeting, with a standing summary the managing partner reads on the train.
  • Arrange travel to London and New York for the managing partner and two other partners, including visas, itineraries and expenses reconciled through the firm's finance system within the month.
  • Handle confidential correspondence on partner admissions, client complaints and a regulatory inspection, drafting first replies for the managing partner's signature.
  • Organise the firm's annual client dinner for 180 guests and the partners' off-site, from venue and budget to the seating plan, both within the agreed budget two years running.
Personal Assistant to the Director of Operations, Midland Waterways Authority

–

Tullamore, Co. Offaly

  • Supported a director responsible for 300 staff across the midlands, managing the diary, the correspondence log and the preparation for Oireachtas committee appearances.
  • Coordinated the papers for the authority's board subcommittees and maintained the records to the public body's freedom of information and records management standards.
  • Processed the director's travel claims and purchase orders under public procurement rules, with no audit queries in three years.
Administrator, Phoenix Park Dental Clinic

–

Dublin 15

  • Ran the front desk and the appointment book for four dentists, handling patient records, payments and insurance claims.
  • Set up the clinic's online booking and reminder system, which reduced missed appointments noticeably within the first quarter.

Education

QQI Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Business Administration

Castleknock College of Further Education, Dublin 15

Modules in minute taking, business law, payroll and bookkeeping.

Leaving Certificate

Tolka Vale Community College, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15

Skills

  • Diary management across time zones
  • Board and committee papers
  • Minute taking and action tracking
  • Travel, visas and itineraries
  • Expenses and purchase orders
  • Confidential correspondence
  • Event organisation and budgets
  • Microsoft 365, Teams and SharePoint
  • Practice management and finance systems
  • Records management and freedom of information
  • Touch typing at 75 words per minute

Certifications

  • Certificate in Minute Taking and Corporate Governance, Irish Institute of Executive Support,
  • GDPR for Administrators, Data Protection Training Ireland,

Start yours from this example

Opens this sample in the editor, in one of the templates below. Swap in your details, then tailor it to each vacancy in about two minutes.

Use this example

How an Irish CV differs

An Irish Personal Assistant CV is written for a profession where the title is used broadly: the same advert may say PA, executive assistant or office PA, and the role may support one principal, a partner group or a whole department. The reader wants the level of the principal, the sector and the systems, and expects the Leaving Certificate and any QQI or Chartered Institute qualification in an education section near the end. Public sector and semi-state PA posts bring their own vocabulary, such as committee procedure, freedom of information and public procurement, and the CV should use it where it applies.

For a personal assistant in Ireland

  1. The principal's level in every role

    Write who you supported and where they sat: managing partner, director of operations, chief executive. The level of the principal is how the next employer judges the level of the role.

  2. Sector vocabulary

    A law or accounting firm reads for partners, billing and client matters; a semi-state reads for board subcommittees, Oireachtas committees and freedom of information. Use the words of the sector you are applying to.

  3. Numbers around the principal

    A 120-person firm, a diary across three time zones, a dinner for 180 guests. The size of the environment tells a reader what you can handle.

  4. Qualifications in an Irish frame

    Leaving Certificate, QQI levels and any secretarial or executive support diploma, with the years. An employer may not know an overseas qualification; give it one line of explanation if you have one.

  5. Referees from the principals you supported

    Irish employers take references from the person you worked for, not from HR, and will ask for them. Write referees available on request and have two principals ready to speak for you.

Every CV in Ireland

A4 paper
The page is A4. Irish employers print and file on A4, and a Letter-sized PDF is the first sign a CV was written for the US.
Two pages is normal
Two pages is the norm for an Irish CV. Graduates fit one; nobody needs three unless the role is senior.
No photo
No photo, date of birth or marital status. Irish employers do not ask for them, and leaving them off keeps the page about the work.
Dates as DD/MM/YYYY
Day, month, year where a full date appears; month and year for each role. The US month-first order confuses the reader.
Irish English
Irish English follows British spelling: organise, programme, centre, licence, specialise.
Town or Dublin postal district, not a street address
"Dublin 8" or "Cork" is enough on the contact line. A full address is not expected, and the US-style "City, ST 12345" line never is.

More on applying in Ireland, with every CV example for it, on the Ireland page.

Templates for the personal assistant CV

All templates

Every template exports on A4. The previews are drawn on Letter; the editor sets the page size when you export.

How the CV changes with experience

The same personal assistant CV, written at three levels: a profile and three bullets for each.

Entry level

Zero to two years, or a first post in the title

Administrator with two years in a busy medical practice and a QQI Level 6 in business administration, applying for a first Personal Assistant post supporting a manager or a small team.

  • Managed the appointment book and the correspondence for a practice of four clinicians, with the practice manager relying on her for the weekly rota.
  • Took the minutes at the practice's monthly meeting and kept the action list current.
  • Booked travel and accommodation for the practice's conference attendance and reconciled the expenses.

Mid level

Three to seven years, owns a process or a workload

Personal Assistant with five years supporting two directors in a construction company, used to a fast diary, site visits and a principal who is rarely at a desk.

  • Run the diaries of two directors who split their week between head office and sites in three counties.
  • Prepare tender submission documents and board reports to the directors' deadlines.
  • Manage the company's vehicle fleet bookings, travel and expenses for the senior team.

Senior

Eight years or more, leads people, budgets or programmes

Executive Assistant to a chief executive with twelve years at board level in financial services, managing the chief executive's office and a small team of assistants.

  • Run the chief executive's office, including the board calendar, regulator correspondence and the preparation for the annual general meeting.
  • Line manage three personal assistants and set the standards for executive support across the company.
  • Act as the first point of contact for the board, the regulator and the media office on the chief executive's behalf.

Skills to put on the personal assistant CV

Hard skills

Diary management
The diary is the job, and a principal wants to know you will protect their time and solve the conflicts without bringing each one to them.
Board and committee papers
Preparing packs, taking minutes and chasing actions is the most visible work a PA does, and the quality of the minutes is how a board judges you.
Travel and expenses
A trip that goes wrong costs a principal a day, and an expense claim that goes wrong costs them an audit query; employers ask how you handle both.
Confidential correspondence
A PA sees everything, and a firm needs to trust that what you draft, file and overhear stays in the office.
Microsoft 365 and the organisation's systems
Outlook, Teams and SharePoint are assumed; the practice management or finance system is named in the advert and experience with it shortens your first month.
Event and meeting organisation
Client dinners, off-sites and conferences land on the PA, and a reader wants evidence you can run one to a budget.

Soft skills

Discretion
It is the first word in most PA adverts, and the interview will test it with a question about something you were asked to keep quiet.
Anticipation
The best PAs have the papers ready before they are asked for, and a principal who has had one wants another.
Firmness with senior people
Protecting a principal's time means saying no to partners and directors politely, and a reader wants to know you can.
Calm when the day changes
Flights are cancelled and meetings are moved; a PA who reorganises the week without drama is the one the principal keeps.

Mistakes that cost personal assistant interviews

  1. Duties instead of the principal

    Diary management, travel, minutes could describe any PA. Write the diary of a managing partner across three time zones, and the reader has a picture of the role and of you.

  2. No sign of judgement

    A principal hires a PA for the decisions they take alone. Include one or two bullets where you drafted a reply, resolved a clash or handled a difficult caller, so the reader can see your judgement, not just your typing.

  3. A personal statement full of adjectives

    Highly organised, proactive and discreet appear on every PA CV in the country. Replace them with what you ran and for whom, and let the reader draw the adjectives.

  4. Naming confidential matters

    Show discretion by describing a partner admission or a regulatory inspection in general terms, never the people or the client involved. A reader notices a PA who says too much.

  5. Leaving out the systems

    The advert names its practice management, finance or HR system. If you have used it, say so by name; if you have used a competitor's, say that, because it is the first screening question.

Write bullets with the XYZ formula: what changed, the number that shows it, and how you did it, in one line.

Questions about the personal assistant CV

What is the difference between a Personal Assistant and an Executive Assistant in Ireland?

In practice the titles overlap. Executive assistant tends to be used in larger companies and for support at chief executive or board level, and personal assistant in professional firms and the public sector. Read the advert for the principal's level and the duties, and use the title the employer uses on your CV.

Is two pages right for a PA CV in Ireland?

Two pages of A4. Put the current principal and the fullest set of bullets on the first page, give earlier roles two or three lines each, and keep the education and systems sections short at the end.

Will an Irish firm hire a PA without a business qualification?

Not formally. Employers look for experience supporting senior people and for the systems they use, and a QQI Level 5 or 6 in business or office administration, or an executive support diploma, helps a first application. After a few years the principals you have supported matter more than any certificate.

Should I mention typing speed or shorthand?

Typing speed is worth one line in the skills section if it is fast. Shorthand is rarely asked for now, but a minute-taking qualification is, because board minutes are the most scrutinised document a PA produces.

How do I write a PA CV for a public sector or semi-state post?

Use the sector's vocabulary: board subcommittees, committee papers, freedom of information, records management, public procurement and travel under the civil service rates. These posts often use an application form, so keep the CV consistent with it and lead with the examples the competency questions will ask for.

How do I tailor a PA CV to a specific principal?

Read the advert for what the principal travels for, meets about and worries about, and move the matching bullets to the top. Paste the advert into Resume Master and the CV is reshaped around that principal's week.

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