Careers in accounting, administration, banking, HR, law and medicine favor traditional and straightforward resumes. Download one of our professional resume templates for free, or get started with our Resume Builder.
- Our customers have been hired by*
Best Resume Templates for 2024
Refined
An elegant and simple resume template that covers your core accomplishments and skills.
Original
A structured template that uses color-blocking and columns to separate your resume sections.
Professional
A traditional resume template that uses strategic page breaks and spacing to mark each resume section.
Trendy
A two-column template includes an image section to insert your professional portrait or logo.
Esteemed
A simple resume template with a minimal page border marks each resume section’s start.
Simple
This resume template features resume section borders and ranked skills to showcase your level of knowledge.
Managerial
A bold template uses a color-block, double-column design to showcase your skills, work history and ranked skills.
Standout
This elegant resume template uses a narrow column to mark the start of your resume sections and well-spaced line breaks.
Clean
A modern resume template uses bold borders to highlight your name and contact information and clear borders between resume sections.
Charismatic
A traditional template uses simple borders to highlight the start and stop of each new resume section.
Elegant
This two-column resume template prioritizes your contact information, professional summary, and work history.
Essence
A two-column template that uses a colorful header to highlight your name and contact information.
How Our Resume Templates Help Job Seekers
Our professional ATS resume templates feature the following benefits.
Designed with professional outlines and key resume sections to impress employers.
Access to section-by-section advice via our Resume Builder.
Pre-written text templates based on your past jobs, education and training.
A customization wizard where you can quickly restructure resume sections and lengths.
Professional Resume Templates
Modern Resume Templates
Modern resumes templates incorporate contemporary styles to create a fresh, cutting-edge look. These templates work best for IT, marketing and web development jobs.
Creative Resume Templates
Show off your originality with bold creative resume templates that work best for graphic design, video editing, fashion, fine art or animation.
Simple Resume Templates
Basic resume templates are elegant and clean, making them easy to read and scan. These templates work well in almost every industry!
What Our Customers Think
How to choose the best resume format
Your resume format dictates the structure and layout of your resume. Consider your years of experience and career goals when reviewing the three main resume formats:
- Chronological resume: Candidates with more than five years of experience will benefit from this layout as it highlights their work experience and career progression.
- Functional resume: Job seekers with less than two years of experience can showcase what they offer with this format by focusing on critical skills.
- Hybrid/combination resume: With a balance between the work experience and skills sections, professionals with more than two but less than five years of experience can spotlight all their qualifications.
How to write a resume summary with free resume templates
A resume summary is a brief elevator pitch at the top of your resume that hooks the reader into learning more about you. The key to an excellent summary is to include key skills the recruiter seeks and achievements that display your success as an employee.
Read the job description carefully and look for keywords that point to what the hiring manager looks for in a candidate. Tie those keywords to your skills and accomplishments to impress them into calling you for an interview.
Pro-tip: New to the job market? Try an objective statement instead!
How to showcase your work experience
When writing your work experience section, focus on past roles relevant to the position you’re applying for. Include two or three significant accomplishments with numbers to back them up while weaving in keywords from the job description. Use strong action verbs and bullet points to keep your work experience concise. If there are no achievements to mention, focus on the role responsibilities. Here’s how it should look:
Project Manager
Green Solutions Inc. | Chicago, IL
March 2018 – Present
-
Implemented agile methodologies across project teams, resulting in a 20% increase in productivity and a 30% decrease in project cycle times.
- Utilized stakeholder management techniques to effectively communicate project objectives, milestones, and deliverables, resulting in a 25% increase in client satisfaction scores.
How to list skills in your resume
Creating a skills section is simple. Carefully read the job description and identify critical skills that consistently appear; those are the ones you must spotlight in your skills section. Ensure you include six to eight soft, hard and technical skills. Pepper the rest of your skills throughout your resume sections.
Additional job-seeking resources
- Career path advice: These helpful “how-to-become” job guides cover optimal education paths, optional training, helpful membership groups, and career advice from a seasoned professional to help you prepare for a future job.
- Essential career guides: Once you have your education and training down, these career guides can help you apply for your first entry-level jobs.
- Interview preparation: Once your resume scores well with applicant tracking systems and human hiring professionals, you must prepare for face-to-face interviews. These guides offer both in-person and remote interview preparation advice.
- Common interview questions: If you have three to ten years of experience and wish to showcase skills and work history, study these combination resume examples and writing guide.
Resume Templates FAQ
Why should I use a resume template?
You should use a well-designed resume template like the downloadable formats here because the best resume templates serve two purposes.
- The pre-formatted sections act like fill-in-the-blank guides to help you add relevant career skills and accomplishments.
- The carefully designed sections, page margins, and paragraph breaks make it easy for hiring managers to scan and identify relevant information from your resume.
These professional resume templates help you highlight your qualifications without overstuffing a page, making it easier for employers to find relevant information.
What is an applicant tracking system (ATS)?
An applicant tracking system, or ATS, is an online program that scans and approves, or declines resumes before human employers see them. These programs are typically used by larger job boards such as Greenhouse, Glassdoor or Workday. Their exact methods of scanning resumes are trade secrets, but most ATS scan your resume based on the following criteria:
- Recognizable resume formats such as chronological or hybrid resumes.
- Standard resume sections such as skills, work history and education.
- Resume keywords related to the job description.
You can learn more about ATS-friendly resumes through our detailed ATS article.
What is the best resume template?
The best resume template uses a delicate balance of page margins, line breaks, and whitespace to help make each block of text pop without overwhelming the reader. Our professional resume templates minimize dense entries and help hiring managers easily read through your qualifications.
We gathered our favorite resume templates into the following libraries to help you choose the best template for your job search:
What should I include in my resume?
The sections you include on your resume will vary depending on which of the three resume formats you choose. However, all three resume formats will include the following sections:
- Name and contact information
- Professional summary or resume objective
- Work history
- Skills
- Education
Where can I get free resume templates?
Our Resume Builder includes all our featured resume templates and unlimited downloads. However, we also made a few of our most popular resume templates available for free. You can find these free resume templates here on the page.