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ATS-friendly resume templates, tested in PDF

These 16 templates passed our check: one column, no photo, and a PDF whose text reads back in the right order, with your name first and every heading intact. The other 10 failed at least one rule, and this page says which and why.

Plain contact line

The safest choice. Contact details are plain text with a simple separator, which is what our ATS formatting guide recommends.

Jake

One column, Computer Modern

The reference layout: small-caps headings, one contact line, and dates on the same row as each job.

Use this template: Jake

Minimal

One column, Times

Entries have no bullet markers, so there's nothing to turn into a stray character. Dates end each role line.

Use this template: Minimal

Garamond

One column, Garamond

Jake's top-to-bottom order in Garamond, for a softer look with the same clean text.

Use this template: Garamond

Tech Engineer

One column, Computer Modern

Adds a job title under your name and a justified summary. Both read back exactly in order.

Use this template: Tech Engineer

Professional

One column, Charter

Steel-blue capital headings in Charter. The color is only paint: the text underneath reads the same.

Use this template: Professional

Orest

One column, Helvetica

Helvetica with dash bullets, which stayed ordinary dashes in the PDF text.

Use this template: Orest

Generic

One column, Source Sans

Fits the most on a page. Its skills table still reads label first, then list.

Use this template: Generic

Campus

One column, Helvetica

Bold capital headings and one line per role, in the plain style university career offices use.

Use this template: Campus

Biotech

One column, Lato

Plain ruled sections with room for publications, for science and research applications.

Use this template: Biotech

With contact icons

These passed the same check. The icons are drawn as graphics, so they add no stray characters to the text. If you want no doubt at all, use a template from the group above.

JV

One column, Computer Modern

Two centered contact lines and bold sentence-case headings in Computer Modern.

Use this template: JV

Russel

One column, Source Sans

A light centered name, grey body text and bold headings that run into a rule.

Use this template: Russel

What we checked

We exported each template's sample resume to PDF through the same print path the app uses, then read the text back with PyMuPDF, an open-source PDF library. A template had to meet every rule here:

  • One column, with no sidebar.
  • No photo. A photo holds no text, but US and UK employers don't expect one.
  • Your name reads back first, on one line, followed by your contact details, each one unbroken.
  • Section headings read back as whole words.
  • No table for core content, and each date follows the job it belongs to.
  • No ornamental symbols in the text. A plain dot, bar or dash between items is fine.
  • Every word matches the page, with no garbled characters.

This tests the file, not any one vendor. We didn't run these through commercial applicant tracking systems, and no template can promise how every system will read a file. We checked each template with its own sample on November 4, 2026, so a very long email address or job title of yours can still wrap differently.

Templates we left out, and why

Templates that failed the PDF text check, with what the check found
TemplateWhat we found
InsiderTwo columns and a photo.
Deedy ColumnsTwo columns. Narrow columns wrap more lines, which can split a date or a job title.
CharlesA photo. Its text read back cleanly, but US and UK employers don't expect a photo.
Data ScienceContact details read back before your name, and the sample's email address wrapped mid-word.
Entry LevelContact details read back before your name.
KyvernetesYour first and last names read back on separate lines, and contact details sit in a grid.
DeveloperDates read back before the role they belong to, and contact details sit in a grid.
InstituteEducation is a table, and its cells break apart in the text.
Elegant SpacedLetter-spaced capitals read back as "S U M M A R Y", so a parser may not see the heading.
ElegantA decorative star between contact details lands in the text.

Leaving a template out doesn't mean no system can read it. Most of these still produce readable text, and they're fine when you're sending the file straight to a person.

What a template can't do for you

A clean file only gets your details into the right fields. Recruiters then search those fields, so your words matter as much as your layout. Compare your resume with the posting using the keyword scanner, and run the ATS resume checker before you apply. Common ATS myths explains what these systems actually do.

You can test any finished resume yourself. Copy all the text from the PDF and paste it into a plain text editor. Your name, contact details, headings, job titles and dates should appear in a sensible order.

Common questions

Are all Resume Trail templates ATS-friendly?
No. 16 of the 26 on this site passed our check. The rest have a second column, a photo, or a layout whose text reads back out of order. The table on this page names each one and the reason.
Can an applicant tracking system read the PDF?
The PDF export has selectable text, so there is a text layer to read, and most modern systems read text-based PDFs. If a posting asks for a Word file, follow the posting. This builder only exports PDF.
Does color or a serif font hurt?
No. Parsers read the characters, not the typeface or the color. Layout is what causes trouble, which is why our check looks at reading order and not at how plain a template looks.

Template credits

Each design is modeled on a CV template shared on Overleaf and rebuilt in HTML. The sample text is our own.