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Professional resume templates by field

These six templates keep to what most hiring managers expect: one column, clear headings and restrained color. Each preview shows a sample from a different kind of job, so start with the one closest to yours.

Professional

One column, Charter

For engineering and technical roles. Charter body text, steel-blue capital headings and each job title on its own line.

Use this template: Professional

Elegant

One column, Computer Modern

For management and product roles. Serif type with navy italic headings and indented entries.

Use this template: Elegant

Graduate

One column, Helvetica

For sales and business roles. Dense Helvetica with employers in capitals and bold dates, from a business-school format.

Use this template: Graduate

Orest

One column, Helvetica

For operations and hospitality. Helvetica with a blue small-caps name, shown with a hotel manager's resume.

Use this template: Orest

Biotech

One column, Lato

For science and research hiring. Modeled on a template recommended by recruiters Scismic, with room for publications.

Use this template: Biotech

Elegant Spaced

One column, Lato

For client-facing roles. Letter-spaced capitals, blue rules and dashed lines between jobs. Those capitals failed our ATS check, so send this one to a person.

Use this template: Elegant Spaced

Serif or sans?

Either one looks professional, and software reads both the same way. Serif type such as Charter or Computer Modern tends to feel traditional. Sans-serif type such as Helvetica or Lato tends to feel current. Match what's normal where you're applying.

Starting typeface, size and margins for each professional template
TemplateTypefaceStarting sizeMargins
ProfessionalCharter10.5pt0.5 in
ElegantComputer Modern10.5pt0.6 in
GraduateHelvetica10pt0.5 in
OrestHelvetica10pt0.5 in
BiotechLato10.5pt0.6 in
Elegant SpacedLato10pt0.55 in

What makes a resume read as professional

  • Consistency. One date format, one bullet style, and the same order of title, employer and place in every entry.
  • Standard headings. Experience, Education and Skills are easier to scan than clever labels.
  • Results over duties. Numbers show scope faster than adjectives do. See how to write bullet points.
  • A clean header. Name, phone, email, city and LinkedIn are usually enough. The resume header guide covers the details.

Before you send it

Follow the posting's file instructions first. If it doesn't give any, a text-based PDF is a safe default, as PDF or Word explains. Name the file with your name, such as Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf, because people see the file name even though software doesn't care.

Common questions

What font should a professional resume use?
One plain, common typeface, with body text around 10.5 to 12 points. Every template here starts with a suitable font, and you can change it in the design toolbar.
Does the sample have to match my job?
No. The sample only shows how the layout fills a page. Your resume starts with that sample text, and you replace it with your own.

Template credits

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