Resume templates a hiring manager would pick. Free, ATS-safe.

Six free resume templates, and who each one is for

Word files open in Word and Google Docs. PDF files are ready to send.

Why six templates, not six hundred

Template galleries offer hundreds of designs. You need one. Across 10,000+ screened resumes, the ones that got read had the same plain shape: one column, black text, clear headings, newest job first.

Four qualities get a resume read.

Nobody reads a resume top to bottom on the first pass. The eye jumps. First the name and contact line, then the summary with title and years, then the latest role, then the skills, looking for the job post's words.

If those four spots say "this person fits", the reader goes back for the bullets. If not, the next resume opens.

The rest of the formatting is about not getting in the way. Put the newest job first and give the most space to what matters for this job. Keep one bullet style and one date format. Leave out the photo, the date of birth and any skill ratings.

The template is the smallest part of getting an interview. Andrey's own resume shows it. It got him interviews at large tech companies, and every bullet was about product analytics.

Then he read a post for a marketing analytics manager. He had every skill on the list. He would still lose to a candidate whose bullets said marketing KPIs, channel dashboards and campaign data, in the post's own words.

How to use these templates in Word or Google Docs

Word and Google Docs have their own free resume galleries too. In Word, go to File, New and search "resume". In Google Docs, open the template gallery from the Docs home screen. Many of those designs use two columns, icons or a sidebar. Before you send one, paste its text into a plain text editor and check the order (the test is in the next section).

Send a PDF unless the application form asks for a Word file. Name it Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf, so the recruiter finds it in a folder of 200 files called "resume.pdf".

What ATS-friendly means, and the 60-second test

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is the software an employer uses to collect applications. It stores your file, reads its text into fields like name, titles and dates, and lets the recruiter search and sort candidates. A resume is ATS-friendly when its text comes out in the right order.

All six templates here follow the right-hand list. Then test your own file in 60 seconds: open it, select all, copy, and paste into Notepad or TextEdit. If your name, titles and dates come out in this order, you're fine.

You've probably read that 75% of resumes get rejected by an ATS. We found no published study behind that number, so we don't use it. In the forms we submit on, the system stores and sorts, and a recruiter searches it for the job post's words.

Best resume format: reverse-chronological for nearly everyone

One page for most people, two for 10+ years. Across 1,000+ interviews, a third page was rarely needed. Each extra page lowers the chance that anyone reads all of it. The Compact template shows that 12 years can still fit on one. An academic CV follows its own rules.

What to put in each part of the template

Header

Your name, city and state, email, LinkedIn URL and, if you like, a phone number. Add GitHub or a portfolio link if you have work to show. A street address, a photo and your date of birth don't belong here.

The summary

Two or three lines: your title, your years, 3 or 4 core skills, and one line on what you do best. Write it for the job you want next. This is the second place a hiring manager looks, so it does the most work per word.

Experience

Newest job first, with 2 to 4 bullets per role and the most for your recent, relevant roles. Start each bullet with an active verb.

End it with a result, or with a purpose when you have no number: who used the work, and what they decided with it. Skip "assisted", "participated" and "helped", because they hide what you did.

No metric? Give the purpose and the scale: "Analyzed claims data from 4 systems so the finance team could set next year's budget by region." If you're applying for a bigger role, put the bullets that show that scope at the top of each job. Leading people, owning a decision and working with other teams all count.

Skills

Two or three groups, such as technical skills, tools and languages. Use the job post's names for things: if the post says "A/B testing" and you wrote "ran experiments", change it. Stars, bars and "intermediate" only tell the reader where you're weak.

Education

Degree, school, year, one line. It sits at the bottom, unless you're a student or a recent graduate. Then it moves to the top, with projects right after it, as in the New grad template.

Seven mistakes that get a resume skipped

• A photo, a date of birth or your age.
• Stars, bars or "intermediate" next to a skill.
• Three or more colors, or a mix of fonts and bullet styles.
• Bullets that start with "assisted", "participated" or "helped".
• A bullet that describes a process with no result or purpose.
• An unexplained gap, or two different titles for the same job.
• Typos. Read it aloud once, then have someone else read it.

Want full resumes by role? See resume examples for software engineers, nurses, data analysts, teachers and more.

A template gets you read. Tailoring puts the job post's words on the page.

Recruiters search their hiring system for the job post's words. A resume rewritten for that post contains them.

Andrey coached 500+ people personally and saw tailored applications get them hired faster, because they use the words the recruiter searches for.

Resume template questions

Keep going

• How AirCareer tailors your resume to each job
• How AirCareer applies for you