CV Once

CV and résumé templates

Every template prints on A4 or US Letter with selectable text in reading order, which is what an applicant tracking system reads. Start with a single-column template if you're applying through job portals.

TemplateLayoutBest forPortals and ATS
ClaritySingle columnAlmost any job; your default for online applicationsSafe
LedgerSingle columnLaw, finance, the civil service, teachingSafe
MeridianSingle columnAnalysts, engineers, operations, most office rolesSafe
CompactSingle columnOne-page US résumés, early-career applicantsSafe
SidebarTwo columnsDesign, marketing, product; when you hand a CV to a personFine for most; single column is safer for older systems
SplitTwo columnsTech, consulting, project managementFine for most; single column is safer for older systems
ContinentalSingle column, optional photoGermany, Austria, Switzerland and other countries where photos are expectedSafe
AcademicSingle columnResearch, lecturing, PhD and postdoc applicationsSafe
ClaritySingle columnAlmost any job; your default for online applications LedgerSingle columnLaw, finance, the civil service, teaching MeridianSingle columnAnalysts, engineers, operations, most office roles CompactSingle columnOne-page US résumés, early-career applicants SidebarTwo columnsDesign, marketing, product; when you hand a CV to a person SplitTwo columnsTech, consulting, project management ContinentalSingle column · optional photoGermany, Austria, Switzerland and other countries where photos are expected AcademicSingle columnResearch, lecturing, PhD and postdoc applications

How the templates are tested

Each template is printed to PDF in headless Chrome on both A4 and US Letter, and the PDF's text is extracted with pdftotext, the way many parsers read a file. A template passes if every line of the CV is there as real text, in reading order, and nothing runs off the page. Results for every template and paper size.