Free Resume Template

What Is a Resume?

A resume is a structured document that summarizes your work experience, skills, education, and accomplishments for the purpose of applying for jobs. It is the single most important document in a job search because it determines whether you get an interview. Recruiters and hiring managers typically spend between six and ten seconds on an initial resume scan, so every word, bullet point, and design choice needs to work in your favor.

A strong resume does more than list your employment history. It tells a story of professional growth, quantifies your impact with numbers and results, and positions your skills in the context of what the target employer needs. It is not a biography. It is a marketing document, and the product is you. The best resumes are tailored to a specific role, clean in design, and honest in content.

Our template gives you a professional foundation that works for any industry and career level. It follows the formatting conventions that recruiters expect and is optimized to pass through applicant tracking systems (ATS) that many large employers use to screen applications before a human ever sees them.

Resume Preview

The preview below shows the layout of a standard professional resume. Your final document will be customized with your information, experience, and skills.

Essential Resume Sections

How to Write a Resume

1. 1

   Start with the job description

   Read the posting carefully and identify the keywords, skills, and qualifications the employer emphasizes. Your resume should mirror this language naturally.

2. 2

   Lead with a professional summary

   Write two to three sentences that capture your experience level, strongest skills, and the type of value you bring. This replaces the outdated objective statement.

3. 3

   Quantify your accomplishments

   For each role, write bullet points that start with a strong action verb and include a measurable result. 'Managed a team of 12' is stronger than 'Responsible for team management.'

4. 4

   Tailor for each application

   Adjust your summary, skills, and bullet points to match the specific job. A generic resume sent to 100 companies will underperform a targeted one sent to 20.

5. 5

   Keep the design clean

   Use a single-column layout, consistent fonts, clear section headings, and enough white space. Fancy graphics and multi-column layouts often break in ATS software.

6. 6

   Proofread everything

   Read the resume aloud, then have someone else review it. Check for typos, inconsistent formatting, and the correct spelling of company names and job titles.

Strong Action Verbs for Your Resume

Starting each bullet point with a strong action verb makes your accomplishments concrete and compelling. Avoid weak starters like "responsible for" or "helped with." Here are verbs organized by category:

ATS Optimization

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are software tools that many employers use to filter resumes before a recruiter sees them. Over 90% of large companies and a growing number of small businesses use some form of ATS. If your resume is not formatted for these systems, it may be rejected automatically, no matter how qualified you are.

To optimize for ATS, use standard section headings like "Experience," "Education," and "Skills." Avoid tables, text boxes, images, headers and footers (many ATS tools cannot read content placed in header/footer areas), and unusual fonts. Use keywords from the job description naturally throughout your resume, especially in the skills section and work experience bullet points. Submit in PDF or .docx format depending on what the employer requests.

Our template uses a single-column, ATS-friendly layout that is designed to be parsed correctly by the most common screening tools, including Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, and Taleo.

Formatting Tips

Frequently Asked Questions

Official Resources