Professional Resume Templates and Examples for 2024
Your resume can open up doors to various career opportunities, but if you don’t refine your resume, it can also lock you out from potential positions. If you polish your resume, customize it for individual job descriptions, and eliminate unnecessary information, your chances of landing a job will significantly increase.
Professional resume templates can save you a lot of time by providing you with a high-quality foundation. This guide will show you how to use these templates to build the perfect resume and generate as many interview callbacks as possible.
Professional Resume Templates
A professional resume template is a premade document that helps you as a job seeker create a streamlined, well-organized resume. These templates are easy to use and customize, which saves time and energy. Also, it can be adapted across industries for the vast majority of people looking for work. The only exceptions might be people who are better suited to use a functional or combination resume format, such as career switchers or those with large career gaps.
One of the primary benefits of using a professional resume template is that it can help you stand out in a competitive job market. A well-designed resume with clear headings and bullet points will highlight a candidate’s qualifications and experience, allowing recruiters and hiring managers to identify their strengths quickly.
Another major advantage of using a professional resume template is that it can help you avoid common mistakes. For example, some job seekers include too much information or irrelevant details in their resumes, which makes it harder for recruiters to assess their qualifications. Using a template can focus you on the most important information and ensure your resume is concise and well-organized.
What Makes a Professional Resume Template?
A professional resume template is versatile in that it can work for a diversity of people in various stages of their careers. What makes it unique, however, is that it shines the spotlight on your qualifications and experiences. This is different from other templates that may be more focused on academic credentials or skills.
Top eight attributes of a professional resume template:
- Contact information and website/professional profile pages are on top
- A succinct summary of professional accomplishments and competencies
- A brief list of key skills, utilizing keywords that match desired job descriptions
- A job history with bullet points that highlight a candidate’s qualifications and experience
- Quantifiable figures when describing past job responsibilities and accomplishments
- Degrees listed, as well as certifications relevant to the job
- Clear section headings to make the resume easy to scan
- Professional font choices and white space throughout to keep the resume looking clean and crisp
When To Pick a Professional Resume Template
Top five reasons to choose a professional layout:
- You have a typical employment history with limited gaps between jobs
- You’ve mostly stayed within the same industry/field
- You are targeting employers that might use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
- You want to showcase how your past experiences have prepared you for the roles you are seeking
- You can use data and metrics to illustrate the value you can bring to an organization
How to get the most out of this template
Crafting a compelling professional resume can be challenging if you start from scratch since you may be unsure about which details to include. If you’re a job seeker, following a professional resume template can help you highlight the most impactful past accomplishments along with the skill sets you’ve developed in your career thus far. The professional resume template also shares information in order of importance, with your most recent accomplishments front and center. Lower down on the template, there is still ample space to include your academic degrees and relevant training or certificates.
More Resume Templates
Looking for a different resume template? Check out this list:
Frequently Asked Questions: Professional Resume Templates
For a professional, the best resume template is one that uses a chronological format. The employment history section begins with your current or most recent job and works backward. This format is universally used across industries and is most recognizable to both human recruiters and ATS.
Human resources professionals, specifically talent and recruitment specialists, look for candidates who have the right level of experience for their roles. As of February 2024, there were more jobs available than job seekers – 6.5 million unemployed people vs. 8.8 million job openings – according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). This is why it’s important to craft your resume so that it matches with a specific employer. Depending on the job posting, they also look closely at skills, credentials, and a pattern of growth and development.
A professional resume template should be easy to scan, and there are a few ways to do this. Clear section headings and bulleted items are easier on the eyes than large blocks of text. It’s also OK to leave some white space in between sections and keep descriptions concise.
Resume Templates offers free, HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.