Resume templates
24 starting points, in three groups: ones to pick on looks, ones shaped by where in the world you are applying, and ones shaped by the field you are in. Every one downloads free as a Word file or a PDF, with a sample resume in it to write over — or opens in the builder, where you fill it in and download it as yourself.
They do not differ in structure. Every one is a single column of real text with standard section headings, because that is the arrangement software reads most reliably — and a template that looked more interesting by putting your job titles in a table would read worse for the only audience that matters first. What changes between them is the typeface, the paper size, how much fits, and the order a person meets your sections in.
General purpose
Pick on how it looks to a person. They differ in typeface, in where the header sits, in how section headings are set, and in how much fits on a page.
AtlasThe default, and the one to keep if you are unsure. Neutral sans-serif, everything where a reader expects it.
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ChanceryLaw, finance, academia and government — fields where a serif is the convention and departing from it is the thing people notice.
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LedgerA long career that has to fit. Compact spacing and a quieter heading, so ten years take the room eight used to.
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CampusStudents and recent graduates. Education and projects lead, because that is where the evidence is before there is a job history.
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WorkbenchSoftware and hardware roles. A precise sans-serif and an accent bar that survives being read on a phone.
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QuartoWriting, design and editorial work, where the document itself is a sample of your judgement.
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PlainspokenThe least decorated option. No rules, no bars, nothing between the reader and the words.
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PivotChanging field. Skills lead, so what you can do is read before where you did it.
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MeridianSenior and executive roles. Centred header, generous spacing, and a summary that is expected to be read rather than skipped.
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FoundryTrades, operations and logistics. Larger body text and wide margins, because these are printed and read on paper more often than most.
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LatticeResearch and engineering with a long publication or project list. Compact, technical, and built to carry a lot of entries.
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BeaconA first resume with very little on it yet. Centred, roomy, and shaped so a short document does not look like an empty one.
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ClarionLarge type and open spacing, for anyone who wants this readable at arm's length — including the person who prints it out. The most legible option here.
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Where you are applying
Paper size and length, which is where hiring conventions genuinely differ. The United States and Canada use Letter paper and expect one page; most of the rest of the world uses A4, and several markets read two or three pages as normal.
HarborThe United States and Canada. Letter paper rather than A4, and tight enough that a full career still lands on one page, which is the expectation there.
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ThamesThe UK and Ireland. A4, a personal statement at the top, and spacing that assumes two pages — normal there, rather than something to squeeze out.
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TasmanAustralia and New Zealand. Roomy, because applications there run to two or three pages and often answer selection criteria in full.
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HansaGermany, the Netherlands and the Nordics. Formal, centred and on A4. It adds no photo or date of birth — some employers there still expect both, and this will not put them on for you.
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MonsoonIndia, the Gulf and Southeast Asia. A4, and dense enough to carry the two or three pages of detail those markets ask for without becoming four.
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What you do
The same document, reordered. What a reader meets first is the one thing a template can change that actually matters, and in some fields there is a right answer — a licence is checked before a job history, a publication list is the work rather than a footnote.
VitalsNursing, allied health, aviation and the licensed trades. Certifications sit above your work history, because in those fields they are a requirement to be checked rather than a footnote.
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ScholarAcademic and research posts. Education leads, publications and projects get room, and compact spacing keeps a long list from running to five pages.
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CohortConsulting, banking and graduate schemes, where the institution is read before the job history and one page is the unwritten rule. Serif, centred, tight.
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CivicGovernment and public sector applications, which are read against a written specification. Plain and dense, so the detail those forms ask for actually fits.
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EnsignLeaving the armed forces or another uniformed service. Skills lead, so what you can do is read before a rank and a unit name a civilian reader may not decode.
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RelayContract and freelance work. Skills lead and the type is small, because ten short engagements need more room than three long ones.
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What a template does not change
Your downloads. PDF, Word and plain text are free on every template, permanently, with or without an account — there is no version of this where picking the good-looking one costs money.
And it does not change what a parser reads. You can check that yourself rather than take our word for it: drop a finished resume into the checker and see the text a machine gets out of it.