Free Resume Templates to Get You Hired Faster

The best resume template is one that fits your career level, industry, and experience. If you’re early in your career, choose a template that highlights your education and relevant skills.

Experienced professionals should opt for a template that emphasizes measurable accomplishments and work experience directly related to the role.

Consider your field, too. Creative roles benefit from modern designs, while traditional industries favor classic, straightforward formats.

Resume templates are designed to help your skills, experience, and achievements stand out while making it easy for recruiters and ATS to read. A high-quality template should include:

• ATS-optimized structure: Templates should be formatted to pass ATS by using standard headings, minimal graphics, and proper keyword placement.
• Customizable layouts and styles: Select templates that enable you to customize fonts, spacing, and sections to align with your career level, industry, and personal brand.
• Clearly defined headings and sections: Distinct sections for work experience, education, skills, and certifications ensure your resume is easy to navigate.
• Professional, readable fonts and formatting: Using legible fonts and consistent formatting creates a polished look that reinforces your professionalism.
• Sample content or guidance: Templates with example phrasing, bullet points, and section suggestions help you articulate achievements with industry-relevant language.

By including these elements, a good resume template ensures your application is visually professional, easy to read, and optimized to impress recruiters and hiring managers.

Downloading resume and CV templates from Monster is a simple and fast process. Start by browsing templates using helpful filters such as career level, resume type, style, and layout.

Click on a template to preview the sample content and formatting, ensuring it aligns with your career goals. Once you’ve selected a template, choose your preferred file format (PDF, DOC, or TXT) depending on how you want to edit and submit your resume.

After downloading, personalize the template by adding your skills, experience, and achievements, then save it for use in your job applications.

Yes, our resume templates are fully editable, giving you complete control over the layout, fonts, colors, and sections when you customize them using your preferred text editor.

Add or remove sections to highlight your experience and qualifications and create a resume that is unique to you and relevant to your industry.

Be sure to tailor the content for each job you apply to, emphasizing the skills and achievements most relevant to that role. This ensures your resume makes a strong impression on employers.

All of Monster’s free resume templates are optimized with best practices for passing applicant tracking systems (ATS). Key features that make our templates ATS-friendly include:

• Clean and simple formatting: Our templates avoid complex graphics, tables, or unusual layouts that can confuse automated screening systems.
• Standard headings and section titles: Each template includes clear, conventional headings, allowing ATS software to categorize your information accurately.
• Consistent structure and clean fonts: With a clear, organized flow and professional resume fonts, our templates are easy for both ATS and recruiters to evaluate quickly.
• Keyword-optimized content: Our templates include sample content with industry-relevant language and keywords that improve your resume’s visibility in ATS.

Using our ATS-friendly templates can help increase the likelihood that your resume will reach real recruiters and stand out during the initial screening process.

Choosing the right resume template for your industry starts with understanding the expectations of employers in your field. For example, creative industries, such as design or marketing, often benefit from modern, visually engaging templates that showcase personality and creativity.

On the other hand, traditional fields like finance, law, or administration typically require clean, straightforward layouts that emphasize experience and qualifications. You can choose a one- or two-page resume based on your years of experience in your field.

Consider the role you’re applying for and select a resume or CV template that matches the expectations of that field. Using industry-specific templates can also help ensure your resume resonates with recruiters and stands out during their initial review.