What to Include in Professional Resume Templates?

Having a professional resume format is a must for every job seeker. Choosing the right layout will help you present your qualifications in a clear, attractive way to hiring managers.

Be careful of using styles that may confuse recruiters or ATS systems. For example, using circle and diamond bullet points will look odd.

1. Basic

Oftentimes, the best resume templates do not use too many colors or graphics. They simply focus on your work experience, education, and qualifications.

One of the best basic resume templates is Influx, a favorite of blue-collar workers and marketing candidates. It features a neat bar for your name and branding statement, accented in the color of your choice. This single-column resume template is perfect for highlighting your work history and achievements.

This basic resume template uses thin borderlines, columns, and white space to make your information easy to read. It’s also ideal for those who need to present their work history in a non-linear way, like people with frequent gaps in employment or those seeking to change industries. Functional resumes may use shaded-in squares for skills sections and foreign language expertise.

2. Modern

If you want to showcase your work history in a way that doesn’t feel dated, a modern resume template is the format for you. This style focuses on your accomplishments and features a clean, professional look with an appealing color scheme.

Alternatively, opt for the functional resume template for an elegant design highlighting your skills over your job experience. It’s ideal for career changers or military transitioners who must emphasize their transferable skills.

A bold, contrasting header and subtle sidebar create a visually stunning layout in the Enfold template. The personal statement, job experience, and education sections get the space needed with this functional resume format. A bar chart is used for the skills and languages section to add a contemporary touch.

3. Creative

If you work in a creative field or another industry that emphasizes personality, consider adding a professional headshot to your resume. This is particularly important for freelancers, who will not meet their employers in person and need a way to distinguish themselves.

This eye-catching template showcases a compact, sophisticated layout with subtle pops of color. It also has plenty of space for the work experience section. This template is suitable for both entry-level job seekers and more experienced professionals.

This template includes the traditional list of job skills and responsibilities, but it also provides room for more in-depth information about your academic qualifications in the progress bar form. It’s ideal for recent graduates and students who want to showcase their education. This template also has room for volunteer and extracurricular activities, too.

4. Executive

As the most influential decision-makers in a business, executives are expected to bring a lot of expertise to their new role. As such, their resumes need to be able to showcase this experience clearly and logically, so that’s easy for hiring managers to read and understand.

This executive resume template does this perfectly by keeping the formatting simple. The personal statement and work history sections are clearly labeled and broken up into short paragraphs. This makes them much more manageable for recruiters to skim, which is especially important for applicants who must pass applicant tracking systems (ATS) screenings.

Using keywords in your work experience section is also good because it will help your resume stand out to hiring managers. However, remember that this section should only focus on your most relevant experience.

5. Functional

Functional resume templates are a good choice if you have gaps in your work history, are attempting to change careers, or are a first-time job seeker. They help you organize your skills in a meaningful way and accentuate the relevant experience that recruiters are looking for.

They include sections for your professional profile, a short, chronological work history section, and a skills summary that features tailored skills groups. You can also list your education and, if applicable, certifications. You can even add examples of your soft skills, such as leadership that you honed as captain of your high school track team or customer service acumen gained at a volunteer event. The result is a clean, professional-looking resume. The only drawback is that some recruiters may find it suspicious.