An ATS-friendly resume template keeps all of your text in one reading order, uses plain section headings like Experience and Education, puts your contact details in the body of the page rather than in a header, and never turns words into images, icons or text boxes. Design is allowed as long as it is decoration: the parser has to get every word, in the right order, from the text layer of the file. Our Basic template does exactly that and downloads free without a watermark.
Eight properties to check before you use any template
An applicant tracking system does not look at your resume. It extracts the text, splits it into fields such as name, job titles, dates and skills, and stores it so recruiters can search it. Each property below protects one step of that.
One reading column for the body text
Parsers read top to bottom. A layout that places two blocks of text side by side can come out interleaved, with half a job description glued to your skills. Sidebars are safe only when the text in them is short and self-contained, such as contact details.
Standard section headings
Summary, Experience, Education, Skills, Certifications, Languages. The parser uses these words to decide which field a block belongs to. "Where I have been" and "My toolbox" are read as body text, and your jobs can end up unclassified.
Every word is real text
Nothing that matters may be inside an image, a logo, an icon font or a chart. If you can select and copy it in the PDF, a parser can read it. If you cannot, it does not exist for the ATS.
Contact details in the body, not in a page header
Some parsers skip the header and footer areas of a document entirely. Your name, e-mail and phone belong on the page itself, as the first lines of text.
Dates in one consistent format
MM/YYYY or "Mar 2022", the same everywhere, next to the role they belong to. Parsers compute your years of experience from them, and an unusual format or a date floating in a separate column can be dropped.
Common fonts and real characters
Use a standard font and ordinary characters. Decorative fonts and symbol glyphs can come out as garbage in the text layer, so a phone number drawn with special digits or a heading in a novelty font may not survive extraction.
Plain bullets and simple formatting
Round bullets, bold and italics are safe. Custom bullet images, arrows and emoji sometimes turn into stray characters that break a line in the middle of an achievement.
The file type the posting asks for
A text-based PDF is read by most modern systems and keeps your layout intact. If the posting or the upload form asks for Word, send Word. A scanned or "printed to image" PDF has no text layer at all and fails every time.
What an ATS reads from our Basic template
This is the text layer of a PDF exported from the Basic template, extracted with pdftotext, the same kind of text extraction an ATS starts from. We run this check on every template before a change goes live.
Name first, then the contact details, then the summary, then each job in order with its title, employer and dates together, then education, skills, languages and certificates, each under a plain heading. Links keep their label next to the full URL. That is the order a parser expects and the order a recruiter searching the database will see.
Five CV templates, checked against that list
All five are generated from the same fields, so you can switch between them without retyping anything.
| Template | Layout | Best for | Free PDF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | One column, no photo, no colour, plain headings. | Online applications through an ATS, and any time you know nothing about the employer. | Yes, no watermark. |
| ATS Pro | One reading column with a dark header, photo, timeline and skill tags. The graphics are decoration; every word is text. | When you want some design and still apply through online forms. | Yes, with a watermark. |
| Classic | One column with uppercase section rules and dates beside each role. | Traditional industries: finance, law, the public sector. | Yes, with a watermark. |
| Minimal | One column, wide-tracked headings, no rules or fills. Fits the most text per page. | Long careers that need to fit on one or two pages. | Yes, with a watermark. |
| Modern | Two columns: a sidebar with contact details, skills and languages beside the main column. | Applications you send to a person directly, by e-mail or at an event. | Yes, with a watermark. |
Modern keeps its sidebar short and self-contained, so it still parses: your name comes first, but the contact details are read after the main column. Parsers usually find an e-mail and a phone number anywhere by their pattern; the four single-column templates simply keep the standard order. If you are applying through an online form, pick one of those. See all templates filled in →
Why a template that looks clean can still fail
Most templates from Word, Google Docs, Canva and marketplaces are built for how the page looks, not for the order of the text underneath it. These are the six things to look for before you use one.
Text boxes
Designers use them to place blocks freely on the page. The text inside a text box is stored separately from the main flow, so a parser may read it last, out of context, or not at all.
Tables used for layout
A two-column look is often a hidden table. Some parsers read it row by row across both columns, which splices your job descriptions into your skills list.
Icons instead of labels
A phone icon followed by the number is fine for a person. For a parser, the icon is nothing, and the number is an unlabelled string it has to guess about. Keep the icons if you like them, but make sure the text around them still makes sense on its own.
Name and contact details in the page header
Templates love a big name in the header area of the document. Parsers that skip headers then find a resume with no name and no e-mail address.
Skill bars, stars and pie charts
Four and a half stars for Excel carries no information once it is extracted: the skill name survives, the level does not. Write the level in words, or leave it out.
Creative section names
"My journey" and "What I bring" read well to a person and mean nothing to a parser. Use the standard name as the heading, and put the personality in the sentences underneath.
Start on the Basic template, no account needed
Paste your experience as it is. The AI turns it into resume wording on the Basic template, and the PDF downloads free without a watermark. Every other template is one click away and reads your same fields.
Questions about ATS-friendly templates
What is an ATS resume?
An ATS resume is a resume formatted so that an applicant tracking system can extract its text correctly: one reading order, standard headings, real text rather than images, contact details in the body, and consistent dates. It is not a different kind of document, just an ordinary resume without the layout tricks that confuse parsers.
Is PDF or Word better for an ATS?
Most modern applicant tracking systems read text-based PDFs without trouble, and a PDF keeps your layout exactly as you made it. Some older systems and some upload forms still prefer Word. Follow the posting: if it asks for a .docx, send one. Never upload a scanned PDF or one exported as an image, because it has no text for the parser to read.
Are two-column resumes ATS-friendly?
Sometimes. A narrow sidebar with short, self-contained items such as contact details and a list of skills usually parses. Two columns of full paragraphs side by side often do not, because the parser can read across the columns line by line. When you apply through an online form, one column is the safe choice.
Can an ATS-friendly resume have a photo?
The photo itself does not break parsing; the parser simply ignores it. Whether to include one is a question of the market you apply in: expected in much of continental Europe, and best left off in the US, the UK and Canada.
Are Canva resume templates ATS-friendly?
Some are, many are not. Canva designs place every element freely on the page, so the text order in the exported PDF follows how the design was built rather than how it reads. Export one, open the PDF, select all the text and paste it into a plain text editor: if it comes out in the right order, it is fine.
Are Google Docs resume templates ATS-friendly?
The simple single-column ones generally are. The ones with a coloured sidebar are often built from tables. Use the same test: export a PDF, copy all the text, and check the order in a plain text editor.
Does an ATS reject resumes automatically because of the template?
A template rarely gets you rejected outright. The damage is quieter: a badly parsed resume ends up with missing job titles, dates or skills in the database, so it does not show up when a recruiter searches or filters for exactly the experience you have.
Applying to several jobs? A CV builder, a job-match checker and a personal website cost about $90 a month together on their cheapest plans. The Job Search Pack does all of it for $29, paid once, for 30 days: clean PDFs, cover letters, the full ATS check and your own CV website. That is $1.45 per application if you send 20.
More features
- Free AI CV builder
Paste your experience and get a finished CV in under a minute. No account needed.
Learn more - CV templates and web cards
Eight CV layouts in your own colours and fonts, plus three web templates for your online business card.
Learn more - AI text enhancement
Rewrite bullet points into clear, professional wording. The AI rephrases, it never invents facts.
Learn more - ATS compatibility check
See how well applicant tracking systems can read your CV, and what to fix.
Learn more - Tailor your CV to a job
Paste a job posting, see your match score and missing requirements, and accept rewrites in the posting's words.
Learn more - AI cover letters
Generate a cover letter tailored to a specific job posting from the CV you already have.
Learn more - Online CV and QR sharing
Publish your CV as a web page with a short link and a QR code for print or business cards.
Learn more - Visitor analytics
See how many people opened your public CV, when, and from where.
Learn more - Translate your CV
Translate the whole CV with AI into a new copy, or write it in any of 60+ languages.
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