Free Resume Templates

Every template here is free to use and free to download. Pick one and start writing — nothing asks for a card at the end.

Each preview below is generated by the same engine that builds your PDF, filled with a complete example resume. What you see is what downloads.

3 of these 4 are single-column and safe for applicant tracking systems. That matters more than how a template looks: if you are applying through a large company's careers portal, your resume is read by a parser before a person ever sees it, and a layout the parser mis-reads can put your job title in the wrong field or lose a section entirely.

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  Modern

  Single column · ATS-safe

  A clean single-column layout in a sans-serif typeface with one accent colour on the section headings. Reads as current without using the columns, tables or graphics that applicant tracking systems mis-parse.

  Use the Modern template
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  Classic

  Single column · ATS-safe

  A traditional single-column resume in a serif typeface. The safest choice for conservative fields like law, finance, government and academia, and the easiest for any applicant tracking system to read.

  Use the Classic template
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  Minimal

  Single column · ATS-safe

  No lines, no colour, and plenty of white space. A quiet single-column layout that puts all the emphasis on what you actually wrote, and fits more on one page than it appears to.

  Use the Minimal template
• 

  Sidebar

  Two columns · read out of order by some ATS

  A two-column layout with skills, certifications and contact details in a tinted sidebar. Best when a person reads your resume first, in design, marketing or agency roles. Some applicant tracking systems read two columns out of order, so use a single-column template when you are applying through a large company portal.

  Use the Sidebar template

How to choose

Start with the question of who reads it first. If you are applying through a company's own careers portal or a job board, a machine reads it first, and you want a single column with ordinary section headings. If you are sending it directly to a person — a small agency, a referral, a design studio — you have more freedom, and a two-column layout can use the page better.

Beyond that, the differences are typographic rather than structural. A serif face reads as more conservative and suits law, finance, government and academia; a sans-serif reads as more current. Neither will decide whether you get an interview, so do not spend long here — the writing does the work.

What "ATS-safe" actually means

An applicant tracking system converts your PDF to plain text before anything else happens. That conversion reads a page the way a screen reader would, and it is where two-column layouts fail: the parser can run straight across the page, interleaving your sidebar with your job history into text that means nothing.

These templates avoid the things that break that conversion:

• Real text, never an image. A resume saved as a picture has nothing for a parser to read.
• Standard section headings — Experience, Education, Skills — which parsers look for by name.
• No tables, which scramble reading order.
• Nothing important in a header or footer, which some parsers skip entirely.
• Contact details in the body of the page, where they will be found.

You can check any of this yourself: open your downloaded PDF, select all the text and copy it into a plain text editor. What you get is roughly what a parser gets. If it reads in a sensible order, you are fine.