ATS Resume Template: Free Simple Structure and Example (Download)

This is a free ATS resume template: a single-column structure with standard section headings and placeholder text, available as a .docx you can open in Word or Google Docs and fill in. It parses cleanly in applicant tracking systems because there is nothing in it that breaks parsing — no tables, no columns, no graphics — and it reads quickly for humans for exactly the same reason.

What's in the template

• Name and contact line — plain text at the top of the page body, never in the document header.
• Professional Summary — two to three lines naming the role type and your strongest matching evidence.
• Skills — one short block, grouped (Tools, Methods, Languages) so the terms carry context.
• Work Experience — each role as Job Title — Employer, Location, dates, with 3–5 achievement bullets.
• Education — qualification, institution, year.
• Certifications — official names with issuing body and year.

Why this structure parses cleanly

Every choice maps to a parsing rule: one column keeps reading order unambiguous, the headings are the labels parsing software is trained on, dates sit next to the roles they belong to, and everything is selectable text. The full reasoning — file types, what breaks parsing, and the keyword process that follows — is in the ATS resume format rules.

Example: the template filled in

A compact example of the experience section done properly, with placeholder details:

• A. Candidate — Manchester, UK · email@example.com · +44 0000 000000
• Customer Support Team Lead — [Employer], Manchester | Mar 2023 – Present
• Led a team of six handling around 400 tickets a week in Zendesk, keeping first-response times inside the SLA.
• Built a weekly escalations report in Excel used by the operations manager to reassign staffing.
• Trained four new starters on the complaints-handling process, cutting time-to-independence for new hires.

Notice what the bullets do: each one names a tool or method from a typical advert (Zendesk, SLA, Excel reporting, training) inside a real, checkable piece of work — that is the pattern to copy, whatever your field.

How to adapt it to a specific job

The template holds the structure; the content comes from each vacancy. Extract the keywords from the job description, rewrite the summary for the role, and reorder skills and bullets so the strongest matches lead — the step-by-step process is in how to tailor your CV to a specific job. Applying to the NHS? Use the NHS CV template instead — the same skeleton with registration, clinical experience, and audit sections added.

What to customize — and what to leave alone

• Customize: every [bracketed] placeholder, the order of skills groups, and the number of bullets per role (3–5 for recent, 1–2 for older).
• Customize: section order for your situation — career changers can move Skills above Work Experience.
• Leave alone: the single column, the heading names, and the plain bullets — they are what make it parse.
• Leave alone: contact details as body text. Moving them into Word's header area is the most common way a good template gets broken.

Frequently asked questions