Simple Resume Templates

What is a simple resume template?

A simple or basic resume template is a clean way for formatting your resume, with a highlight of your professional qualities in a clean and easy-to-read manner. This type of resume excludes decorative and intricate fashion formatting. The key to a basic resume is to keep it simple, which allows the content itself to be the focal point while making your document easy to read and navigate. After all, if the formatting is taking focus away from the content, it is not doing the job.

The simple resume template typically includes a summary, skills section, work history, and education. You may also list any awards or accomplishments you have received throughout your career.

As you may know, most of the recruiters and hiring managers are using ATS to narrow down the flood of applications, saving them time and resources. Many applicants get rejected for using resume templates that ATS can’t read.

Some fancy templates usually get scrambled in the system. It’s crucial to pick a tried-and-tested ATS-friendly template. In this case, you never go wrong using a simple resume template builder.

When to use a simple resume template?

Sometimes a resume with beautiful fonts, specially formatted indents, and nice graphics on the border might look attractive to you, but it does not look good to the recruiters and hiring managers. A well-formatted and clear resume is almost every time the safest way to go.

Hiring management in the big corporate offices wants simplicity in resumes. One to two simple fonts, maximum. No fancy borders or colors. Interviewers want the resume to be easy to read. A simple resume can be beneficial for many reasons, one of which is that it highlights your qualifications for a position and potential employers can easily note your skills and experience. By keeping your resume simple and neat, your future employers can easily see and understand your qualities will be beneficial to their company.

It is appropriate to use a simple resume template when you are applying to a physical or technical field, in these cases you need to focus your resume on the content, not the creative looks. This resume format is also a very good choice for people with no professional experience.

The Essence of simple resume templates

A good resume format presents all the important information upfront and convinces the hiring manager that your information is worth reading. Simple and effective formatting begins with a few key tips that can be applied when you write your simple resume template:

• Simple resume templates use standard document formatting with no colors to simplify formatting and focus on the content. Keep the colors in black to grayscale.
• Use standard, a professional font like Times New Roman, Cambria, or Calibri. Keep 11-12 pt the font consistently throughout, including headers, footers, and visual labels. 14 pt font for section headings (and “Summary” or other document labels within header)
• To ensure a better reading experience, use single or 0.15 line spacing, with no indentation on the first line of the paragraph, an additional line break between them, and left-justified body text.
• Keep the background clean and free from graphics, adhere to the standard business document formatting. Use white space after each section for a neat and easily scannable appearance, and avoid using large blocks of text.
• The simple templates are versatile and work well across various fields and job titles. The header section comes at the top of the page, followed by the summary section to help you market yourself and highlight your best qualities.
• Experience and education are listed in reverse-chronological format.
• To highlight your unique qualities and relevant job history, add an accomplishments or skills section.
• The tone of voice you use should be highly professional, serious, and straightforward.
• Keep the document as clear as possible, and do not add a photo unless it is deliberately asked as part of your application.

Tips to build the best simple resume template

Design

Because simple resume templates don’t have any graphics and icons, they rely on efficiently organized formatting. Place more emphasis on the body of the resume instead of the top. Include the five standard sections that give the hiring manager the basic information they need to determine whether you qualify for a job - contact information; summary or profile; work experience; education and skills. Places extra space between each section and use italics sparingly for emphasis instead of bold, underlining, or all capital letters.

Font

Regular font size for resumes is 12 points, typically in Times New Roman or another classic, easy-to-read font. Larger fonts are acceptable for headings, your name, or titles of sections.

Colors

Simple resume templates follow the business document formatting, which applies to the colors. Use white for the background, black for the text, and a third color to highlight important parts that can be in the grayscale.

Select the best layout

As we mentioned before, for simple resume templates, the most essential thing is the formatting and the organization of the text.

Begin by listing your full professional name followed by your contact information - phone number and email address, so the recruiter can know how to contact you. Include your current city, and if you have a professional website or social media link, you can add it. Do not add a headshot unless otherwise is required by the recruiter.

Keep this section no more than five statements, to tell your professional story - either why you are qualified for the job or what your professional goals are. If you are entry-level or a student, use the resume summary to describe what you want to do with your career. Keep your summary short but, at the same time, try to emphasize your best qualities sought-after by the recruiters.

The work experience section of a resume is essential to demonstrate to potential employers that you have the work history to back up your credentials. Work experience is a major component of any successful resume. Ultimately, your work history will contain your job position, company name, location, start/end date, and by using a bullet points you can list your achievements and responsibility at this position. When writing out your work experiences, it is important to consider how relevant your previous experience is to the job you are currently applying for. Your most relevant experience should always be the most emphasized and focused on.

The next section is to lay down your educational background, by listing the most recent or advanced degree first, working in reverse chronological order. There are some exceptions if your degree is not relevant to your current working field, but you recently completed coursework specific to your current professional experience, you can list that first to grab the recruiter’s attention. If you have some significant certification for the current position that can impress the haring management, you should add them in different sections.

Dedicated the last section of your resume to your key proficiencies. Listing your skills it’s a great way to show off your professional experience at a glance, especially if you haven’t been able to include them elsewhere in your resume.

The simple resume template has only one column, and because of the big spaces between each section (paragraphs), it will be no more than two full pages. However, if you are an entry-level candidate or still a student, you should be able to place all the needed information on one page.

Simple resume template pros and cons