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[Loud Whispers]

2x proficient miners [almost a mandatory requirement for most Fortresses]
1x proficient carpenter & proficient weaponsmith [to make copper equipment from raw material instead of having to buy tools pre-embark, carpenter for beds]
2x proficient herbalists & proficient growers [farmers]
2x proficient marksdwarves & proficient teachers [training as masons in their off time, while on duty they ward off early threats and teaching is a very valuable skill for getting a great military from as early as 1 year on]

[Deus Asmoth]

I generally go with

2 Competent Miners,
2 Farmers with a point in Weaponsmith for moods,
1 Mason,
1 Carpenter
1 Stonecrafter.

Depending on the points left over, I'd either give a farmer a point in Appraising or Record Keeping and spend the rest on cats, food and booze.

[slothen]

I usually give the starting 7 at least 2 skills each.  How I match up the skills varies.  Usually they're all at proficient but I might take a few points out of others to make a dedicated military instructor or something.  I never do woodcutting as I usually bring enough logs to last me until the first migrant wave, and I can always have the mechanic chop wood if necessary.

2 miners
1 brewer
1 planter
1 cook
1 mechanic
1 weaponsmith
1 mason
1 carpenter

[vanatteveldt]

I tend to focus on more difficult skills to acquire. E.g. woodcutting or stonecrafting will be learned quickly enough anyway.

1 or 2 miner(s) (they don't really need the starting skill, but they'll be busy doing nothing else anyway from day 0)
1 axeman+teacher
1 weapon+armorsmith.
1 diagnoser, plus bookkeeper/manager if he's capable, otherwise +something else, like mechanics
1 mason
1 farmer
0 or 1 carpenter(s)

The 'initially useless' dwarfs like axeman, smith and diagnoser take odd jobs as the fortress needs it, ie woodcutter, herbalist, brewer, stonecrafter, etc.

[TripJack]

lately ive gone with:
2 miners
1 woodcutter/trader
1 carpenter/doctor
1 mason/builder/mechanic
1 grower/brewer
and 1 grower/cook

needs some more tweaking to be 'ideal' though, some smithing skills would be nice and combining two very busy jobs like mason and mechanic into 1 dwarf isn't very efficient

[joeclark77]

2 warriors (usually swordsdwarfs)
2 miners
1 weaponsmith/armorer
1 planter/herbalist
1 appraiser (expedition leader and future dedicated broker)

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

1 miner/mason
1 miner/engraver
2 woodcutters/carpenter
1 farmer/brewer
1 doctor/broker/bookkeeper (the less needed nobility, the less space required, and the more time they have to actually do stuff)
1 in a state of flux that is modified to suit the needs the biome I am embarking in would require.

[Sir Crashalot]

Dwarves 1,2 & 3 : 5 mining
Dwarf 4 : 5 Axe , 1 fighter, 1 armour, 1 shield, 1 dodge, 1 weaponsmith (works as a lumberjack & initial farming)
Dwarf 5 : 1 Axe, 1 fighter, 1 armour, 1 shield, 5 dodge, 1 armoursmith (ditto)
Dwarf 6: 5 leadership, 1 appraise, 1 negotiator, 1 judge, 1 pacifier, 1 consoler (will be leader/ baron etc. works as carpenter)
Dwarf 7 : 5 diagnose, 2 suture, 1 dress wounds, 1 surgery, 1 bone setting. (works temp as mason then as a craftsdwarf)

[Centigrade]

Dwarf 1: Appraiser 1
Dwarf 2: Grower 5, Armorer 1, Brewer 1
Dwarf 3: Grower 5, Armorer 1, Cook 1
Dwarf 4: Axedwarf 5, Teacher 5
Dwarf 5: Marksdwarf 5, Teacher 5
Dwarf 6: Mechanic 5
Dwarf 7: Weaponsmith 5

Most of my embark points go to bringing a year's worth of alcohol and food, as well as some starting metal ore, ten dogs and some poultry birds.

[zehive]

2x miner
1x woodcutter/carpenter
1x mason/ engraver
1x Herbalist
1x Farmer/ brewer
1x Broker, gotta dump dem points into them. Depending on the embark I might turn this dude into a militia captain

[Remuthra]

2 miners
1 grower/herbalist
1 administrator
1 swordsdwarf with equipment
1 mason/woodcrafter/bonecrafter/mechanic/architect
1 carpenter/stonecrafter/woodcutter/butcher/tanner

[Oaktree]

I tend to higher level skills that deliver needed quality items early on - trade or defense oriented.  Other positions get a single level to indicate what their major job will be.  And also generally get the woodcutter some combat and axe dwarf skills so as to have someone to wear armor to deal with unruly wildlife.

So usually mix these skills among the seven:
  2 Miner 1
  1 Woodcutter 1
  1 Carpenter 1
  1 Mason 1
  1 Grower 4
  1 Mechanic 4
Cover the basics for fortress initial construction.  The more experienced grower will generate larger food batches and plant faster.  The mechanic will turn out higher quality mechanisms sooner - useful for traps and also trade if necessary.

  1 Potter 4 or Glassmaker 4 depending on embark
  1 Weaponsmith 3
  1 Armorsmith 3
  1 Blacksmith 2
Skilled positions for getting quality weapons, armor, trap components, or metal items for trade early.

  Appraiser 1
  Record keeper 1
  Diagnostician 1
Assigned to indicate the the initial noble assignments.  The last is the obvious CMD and that is after checking the dwarf personalities to see if one "enjoys helping others".
 

[Black_Legion]

Usually my embarks are always tweaked at least a little bit to account for what I *think* I may face.

For "normal" embarks - given some initial indications of metals, supply of wood/burn able fuel, and the presence of a brook or stagnant pools:

   2x 'Delver' - Proficient Miner, Competent  Mechanic; quick expansion then gadgets and gizmos
   1x 'Supplier' - Grower, Brewer, Herbalist
   1x 'Stonefist' - Mason, Engraver, and Architect (only two points... I heard it speed up building bridges)
   1x 'Forester' - Woodcutter, Carpentry... a few points in the Axe skill and functions as second 'Thane'
   1x 'Outfitter' - Armorsmith, Weaponsmith
   1x 'Thane' - Proficient Weapon user, Competent Armor & Shield User, the rest in Teacher.

This build allows for relatively rapid expansion with the two delvers, the supplier allows me to be self-sufficient until I hit around 30-40 dwarves and then need more growers. The outfitter allows me to have quality equipment ready when I find materials and the Thane with teaching skills gives me a good base for having a well run and well skilled militia. The Thane usually is skilled in a sword or spear to balance out the choppiness of the Axe wielding woodsdwarf/thane. The rest are just there because high quality beds, engravings, and cabinets help offset any initial grumbling should various accidents, surprises, or otherwise occur. Overall it's a fairly standard, balanced build. It can handle most of the needs for a fortress well until I receive a substantial amounts of new migrants.

As an aside all the starting seven are given those job titles after a 'Caravan' identifier telling me they are indeed the founders if I need to search more quickly for them or find out if they are still alive.

For "dangerous" embarks having either good chances of early visitors or suffering from plagues of unearth  the builds as follows:

  3x 'Thanes' - Proficient Hammer Weapon Skill, Competent Armor and Shield Users
  1x 'Outfitter' - as above
  2x 'Delvers - Miner, Mason, Mechanic
  1x 'Quartermaster' - Grower, Brewer, Trader, Appraiser, Judge of Intent (1 points enough)

The blunt weapons of the Thanes help me ensure I'm not increasing my troubles as far as making more undead pieces to deal with, The Delver and their picks can act as an additional 'reserve' should the 3 thanes not be enough. The Outfitter keeps them as kitted up as I can manage given the materials on site. The Quartermaster is a catch all 'provider' to allow for me to help keep the dorfs fed and liquored up while allowing to take full advantage of any traders. After all if I'm going to try and colonize a cursed piece of zombified hell on earth I'm damn well going to take full advantage of anyone stupid enough to follow me there.

[Xinael]

Imo it's most important to take skills where quality is really important for the function the items serve; then you should make sure that you're taking as few dwarves with moodable skills as possible so you can maximise your chances of getting the moods you want, which will almost always be weapon and armorsmithing. Mining is really easy to train, isn't actually used that much past the initial excavation, and is a moodable skill, so I don't take it at embark. So I take:

1 5 weaponsmith 5 armorsmith - (this guy can mine until you get your metals industry going but don't let mining overtake his smithing skills so that if he gets a mood, smithing will be chosen)
2 5 mechanics, 5 of some other skill such as mason, carpenter, glassmaker
3 5 grower 5 brewer (takes one job of armorsmith)
4 5 grower 5 cook (takes one job of weaponsmith)
5 5 diagnostician 1 negotiator 1 judge of intent 1 appraiser 1 pacifier 1 other social skill (takes one job of weaponsmithing and cuts wood if necessary)
6 5 teacher 2 dodger 2 shield user 1 axedwarf (mines)
7 5 teacher 2 armour user 2 axedwarf 1 fighter (mines)

Once the major mining operations are done or migrants show up, I draft my military guys and migrants will do any future mining. Three miners all working together make short work of most early excavation. Once they're military, they can't mood, so their mining levels don't cause problems.

The only other dwarf with a moodable skill is the mechanic - everyone else does one job of armor or weaponsmithing as early as possible to increase the chances of that being their mood. Same for migrants without moodable skills - they do one job of weaponsmithing or armorsmithing and then only do non-moodable skills after that.

Mechanics, glassmaking and cooking are probably the skills I'd say points are best invested in. Carpentry and masonry create better items, but quality isn't very important early on so it's better just to not take any points. Cooking is important for happiness levels and isn't moodable, so go wild. Glassmaking is quite labour-intensive to train with all the hauling involved and the number of bags you need, so skipping some of that hassle is nice. Mechanics creates lots of waste mechanisms that you have to dispose of somehow (using metal to make them is a waste unless you're swimming in it). They're all good skills to stick points in.

[StLeibowitz]

I usually go with

3x Adequate Miners, one minoring in Mechanics and one in Masonry and one in rock crafts
1x Adequate Woodcutter/Carpenter
1x Manager/Bookkeeper/Broker
1x Adequate Grower/Brewer
1x whatever-comes-after-adequate grower

This usually gives me a decent core to delve secure lodgings and start expanding. Low starting skills means I can bring more food and drink and thus have more freedom in early fort design - I don't need to get farms up immediately, and can focus on more creative expressions of dwarven civilization, such as abnormally long trap hallways or forts in the shape of a dwarf.