Free ATS-friendly resume templates for Word

Every file is built the way the app builds a download, and these are the things it does:

• One column, top to bottom. No sidebar, so software can’t read across the page and mix your skills into a job.
• Real text in ordinary paragraphs. No tables, text boxes, images or icons. Your name and contact details are typed text, not a picture.
• Standard section names: Summary, Experience, Projects, Education, Skills, Certifications. These are the headings applicant-tracking systems map to fields.
• Headings are marked as headings (Word’s Heading 2 style), and bullets are Word’s own list bullets, not typed symbols.
• One line per role. Title and employer on the left, dates pushed right with a tab stop, in one date format throughout.
• Common fonts. Arial for the sans layouts and Georgia for the serif ones, at 10 to 10.5 point body text, with margins of at least half an inch.

Before a file was saved here, the app read it back and confirmed the Word file and the PDF contain the same lines.

A clean file only makes sure software reads your resume correctly. It doesn’t make the resume a good match for a job. Recruiters search and filter for the skills and experience a posting asks for, and a person then skims the top of page one. What decides that is the content: the requirements you show, with a line that proves each one.

That is why the same resume should change a little for each application. Lead with the evidence that job asks for, use the posting’s names for tools you really use, and cut what doesn’t help. Our tailoring tool does this from your own lines and never adds a skill you haven’t confirmed.

1. Replace the header first. Your name, then phone, email, city and LinkedIn on one line. Skip a photo, date of birth and a declaration unless an employer asks for them.
2. Write each role on its own line, then press Tab before the dates so they move to the right margin. Keep the same date format everywhere, such as “Jan 2025 – Jun 2025”.
3. Two to five bullets per role. Start each with what you did, then what changed, with a number where you have a real one.
4. Delete every example line you didn’t replace. A leftover sample bullet is worse than a short resume.
5. Save as .docx or export to PDF, whichever the application asks for, and name it after yourself, such as Meera-Krishnan-Resume.pdf.

Freshers put education near the top with the CGPA or percentage, then internships and projects. The Modern Minimal file is laid out that way. Our resume format guide for India explains what to keep and what to drop for Naukri and company portals.

In IT services, list each employer once and put client projects underneath it. The Compact file shows this with two projects under one role.

With several years of experience, experience comes first and education moves down, as in the Classic Professional and US Standard files.

Once your details are in, paste the resume and the job posting into Resumeize. You’ll see each requirement matched to a line in your resume, or marked missing, with an ATS score and a recruiter score calculated in code. The score is free; one credit tailors one job application, and your first application is free. Try the keyword scanner.