CV and Resume Templates

A CV is read in about seven seconds before anyone decides to keep reading, and almost all of that time goes on the top third of the page. Each of these four layouts puts the name, the role and the profile line in that space, and keeps the rest of the page quiet enough to scan.

All four are A4 by default and switch to US Letter in the editor. They hold three roles and two qualifications comfortably; any field you leave empty disappears rather than leaving a gap, so a shorter CV still looks deliberate rather than unfinished.

Applying through an online form? Most large employers run CVs through applicant tracking software before a person sees them, and that software reads a single column far more reliably than two. Clean Classic and Plain Serif are single-column for that reason; Studio Sidebar and Split Header put a column beside the main one, which looks better on a desk than it parses on a server. Whichever you pick, use Print to PDF rather than the PNG download when you upload: the PDF keeps your words as text that can be read and searched, and the PNG is a picture of them.

The layout is the easy half. What belongs in each section - and what to cut - is where most CVs are won or lost, and if the advert said resume rather than CV, that word changes the expected length in North America only.