Resume builder
16 templates matched to your field, every detail adjustable, free as PDF and Word.
Use an example
Pick your field for a complete example in the template that suits it. Type over it to make it yours.
Upload your resume
Read here on your device and turned into sections you can edit. It is never sent anywhere.
PDF, Word (.docx) or JSON Resume, or drop it here
Or use an example: what do you do?What do you do?
Each field opens a complete example in the template that suits it best. Type over it to make it yours.
Choose a template
Each thumbnail is your resume in that template. Change any colour, font or spacing afterwards.
Show
One-column templates are what tracking systems read most reliably. Sidebar templates also download as a one-column PDF with the same content, for job portals.
Meridian · 1 page
In short
Start from a complete example in your field, or import the resume you already have, choose one of16 templates, edit the content and any part of the design, then download it as a PDF and a Word file, free. Every template downloads as a one-column PDF that tracking systems read in order, several resumes can be kept side by side, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
What ATS-friendly resume is
A resume an applicant tracking system can turn back into fields — name, contact details, jobs, dates, skills — without losing any. In practice that means real text rather than an image, content in reading order, standard section headings, and contact details in the body of the page rather than in a document header that parsers often drop.
What this tool does that others do not
Start from your field, or from the resume you have
Pick one of 16 fields and the builder opens a complete example in the template that suits it best, suggests two more with the reason for each, orders the sections the way its recruiters expect, and offers example bullets to adapt. Or import a PDF, Word file, JSON Resume or pasted text: it is read on your device, the sections it recognises are filled in, and the suggestions open so you can refine it.
16 fields × 3 ranked templates, and every one of the 16 templates is recommended for at least one field.
Change anything, and the PDF follows the preview
Colour, 18 fonts and 9 pairings, text size, line spacing, margins, header, heading and bullet styles, sidebar, skill bars, photo, date format. One layout engine places every line using each font’s real character widths, and the preview draws those same lines, so a bullet wraps in the preview exactly where it wraps in the file.
Sidebar templates, with a one-column twin
Two-column resumes read well to people and can be read out of order by some tracking systems. Each sidebar template also downloads as a one-column PDF with the same content, type and colour, and every build extracts both with pdf.js and fails if the order is wrong.
The order test checks 16 fields from the name to the last language, on every one-column template at A4 and US Letter and on every sidebar template’s twin.
Free downloads, nothing uploaded, no score
PDF and Word download straight away with no account or watermark. Resumes are stored only in this browser, as many as you like, with a copy button for tailoring one to a different job and a version history to step back through. Instead of an invented “ATS score”, the Download step lists suggestions with their reasons, each linked to the field it is about.
Reported prices in October 2026: a $1.95 trial renewing at $25.95 every 4 weeks at one leading builder, a $2.95 trial renewing at $29.95 a month at another.
How to use it
Start from an example or your own resume
Under Start, pick your field to open its complete example in the best-matched template, or import the resume you have. Every template thumbnail shows your own resume, or the example until you have typed something.
Write the content
Open each section and type over the example: contact details first, then two to five bullets per job, each leading with what you did and ending with what changed. Add, hide, rename or reorder sections, or add a custom one.
Adjust the design
Change colour, fonts, spacing and layout in the Design tab. A colour too light to read is darkened until it reaches 4.5:1, and “Fit on one page” tightens the spacing for you.
Check, then download both files
Read the suggestions, then send the PDF where a person reads it and the Word file, or the one-column PDF, to job portals. Download the JSON as a backup: resumes are stored only in this browser.
Worked examples
Real input, real figures.
A nurse choosing a template
You give it
Field: Nursing and healthcare
You get
Suggested Meridian, Timeline and Ledger, all one column, because hospital systems often use strict tracking software. Certifications move above Experience, and 8 example bullets such as “Precepted 5 new graduate nurses” are one click away.
A brand colour too light for text
You give it
Accent: #FFD400 (bright yellow)
You get
Darkened in OKLCH, hue held, until white text on it and it on white both reach 4.5:1, and the panel shows the colour actually used. Pale yellow headings at 1.4:1 never reach the page.
Against a typical online resume builder
| Aspect | This tool | A typical builder |
|---|---|---|
| PDF download | Free in every template, no watermark | Behind a trial that renews monthly |
| Word download | Free | Paid plan |
| Account | None | Required before download |
| Where your details go | This browser only | The company’s servers |
| Design control | Every setting, 18 fonts, any colour checked for contrast | Often colour and font size only |
| Two-column templates | Each with a one-column twin for portals | One file, whatever the portal |
| Score | None; suggestions with reasons | An “ATS score” with no published formula |
Guides and measurements
- What makes a resume ATS-friendly, and the 75% rejection mythApplicant tracking systems rarely auto-reject, but they do mangle columns, tables and header text. The format that parses, and how to test your own PDF.
- CV vs resume: the difference, country by countryIn the US a CV is a long academic record; in the UK and Europe it is the everyday job document. What each word means where, and what changes on the page.
- How long should a resume be? One page or two, with the evidenceThe one-page rule is folklore past your first job. What a 482-recruiter study found, when two pages win, when one is right, and when a CV runs longer.
- How to write a resume, step by stepEight steps from a blank page to a finished resume: what goes at the top, how to word each job, where education and skills go, and what to check before sending.
- Resume bullet points that get interviews: verbs, numbers and rewritesHow to turn duties into results: the X-Y-Z formula, action verbs grouped by what you did, where to find numbers, and before-and-after rewrites.
- Resume photo: which countries expect one and which discourage itLeave the photo off in the US, UK, Canada and Australia; it is customary in Germany, much of Europe, the Middle East and East Asia. Rules, evidence and specs.
- Resume summary examples by field, and how to write your ownFourteen original resume summaries for nurses, engineers, teachers, designers, career changers and more, plus the three-sentence pattern behind each one.
- Resume templates by profession: which layout suits your fieldSixteen fields, the three resume layouts that suit each one, and why: strict hiring portals want one column, portfolio fields can carry a sidebar with a backup.
- How to write a resume with no experience: students and first jobsNo paid work yet? Lead with education and projects, turn coursework, volunteering and part-time shifts into evidence, and fill one honest page without padding.
What it will not do
- The PDF fonts cover Western European languages. For any other script, download the Word file, which takes any language.
- The Word file is the editable one-column version: it keeps the content, order and accent colour, but not the sidebar, photo or decorations.
- Resumes are saved in this browser only. Clearing site data deletes them, so download the JSON if you want a copy elsewhere.
- Import reads the text in a file. A scanned PDF is a picture with no text in it, so paste the text for those, and check the filled-in sections: layouts with columns or tables can put a line in the wrong place.
16 templates, one engine
Each is a starting point: every setting can be changed afterwards.
MeridianOne column
Clean and modern, with a thin accent bar across the top.
AuroraOne column
A full-width colour band carries the name.
AtelierSidebar, with a one-column twin
Coloured sidebar with photo and skill bars, for creative roles.
QuillOne column
Editorial serif with a large centred name.
LedgerOne column
Bookish serif with contact details set to the right.
TerminalOne column
Monospaced headings and chevron bullets, for engineers.
SwissOne column
Section labels in the left margin, grid-aligned.
TimelineOne column
Experience on a vertical line of dots.
MonogramOne column
Your initials as a mark beside the name.
HorizonSidebar, with a one-column twin
Tinted right sidebar with skill dots.
CascadeSidebar, with a one-column twin
Warm tinted sidebar with a square photo.
StudioSidebar, with a one-column twin
Dark sidebar, bright accent, round photo.
CompactOne column
Dense and tidy: the most on one page.
HeritageOne column
Traditional centred serif in the standard PDF fonts.
BoldOne column
A very large name, solid section labels and a corner mark.
AcademicOne column
A CV layout for publications, teaching and research.
Matched to your field
16 fields, each with a complete example resume, three suggested templates, the section order its recruiters expect, and example bullets.
- Software engineering: Terminal, Meridian, Compact
- Design and creative: Atelier, Quill, Studio
- Marketing: Aurora, Horizon, Bold
- Sales and business development: Bold, Aurora, Monogram
- Finance and accounting: Ledger, Meridian, Compact
- Nursing and healthcare: Meridian, Timeline, Ledger
- Teaching and education: Timeline, Monogram, Aurora
- Project and product management: Meridian, Timeline, Swiss
- Data and analytics: Terminal, Compact, Meridian
- Customer service and support: Meridian, Horizon, Timeline
- Hospitality and retail: Cascade, Horizon, Bold
- Student or first job: Aurora, Bold, Meridian
- Executive and senior leadership: Ledger, Quill, Monogram
- Engineering (civil, mechanical, electrical): Compact, Meridian, Swiss
- Law and compliance: Heritage, Ledger, Quill
- Academic and research: Academic, Heritage, Ledger
The 75% rejection figure has no source
The claim that applicant tracking systems reject three resumes in four traces back to a 2012 sales pitch from Preptel, a resume-optimisation company that closed the following year and never published a method. When Enhancv asked 25 US recruiters in 2025 how they set up their systems, 23 said they do not configure automatic rejection on resume content at all.
Resumes go unread mostly because of volume. What a tracking system can do is mangle a resume it cannot parse: shuffle the reading order of a two-column layout, drop contact details placed in a document header, or find no text at all in a PDF that is really a picture. This builder avoids each of those by construction, and does not sell you a score.
What breaks parsing, and what this builder does instead
- Columns and sidebars can scramble the reading order. 12 templates are one column, and every sidebar template also downloads as one column. The build fails if a test extraction of any template comes back out of order.
- Tables and text boxes are often skipped. Dates sit on the same line as the job title, positioned rather than tabled; in the Word file, through a right-aligned tab stop.
- Contact details in the page header are often dropped. Here they are in the page body.
- Image-only PDFs have no text to read. Every character in these PDFs is real, selectable text, in one of 18 fonts embedded as a subset or in the standard PDF fonts.
- Widely spaced capitals extract as single letters, “E X P E R I E N C E”. No template uses letter-spacing, for that reason.
- Icons in place of words read as nothing. Email, phone and links are written out in full.
Questions people ask
Straight answers. Each one links directly: copy the address after opening it.
Is the PDF download really free?
Yes, and so is the Word file, in every template. There is no trial, no watermark and no account. The page is static and runs in your browser, so there is nothing to charge for at the download button: the file is made on your own device.
Is my resume uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything you type, including a photo, stays in this tab and is saved in this browser’s own storage so you can come back to it. A resume you import is read on your device too. “Delete from this device” removes a resume. Download the JSON if you want a copy that survives clearing your browser data.
Can I start from the resume I already have?
Yes. On the Start step, use “Upload your resume”: choose or drop a PDF, a Word file (.docx) or a JSON Resume file, or paste the text. The builder fills in the sections it can recognise, lists what it filled and anything worth checking, and opens the suggestions so you can improve the wording, then pick a new design. A scanned PDF has no text to read, so paste the text for those.
Can I keep more than one resume?
Yes. My resumes lists every resume saved in this browser. “Make another from this” copies the open one so you can tailor it to a different job while the original stays as it is, and each can be renamed or deleted. Its version history keeps earlier states of the open resume, so you can step back to one, and undo that too.
Which template should I choose?
Pick your field under Start and the builder opens a complete example in the template that suits it, and suggests two more, with the reason for each. Fields hired through large tracking systems (healthcare, finance, engineering, government) get one-column templates first; portfolio fields such as design get a sidebar template that also downloads as one column. 12 of the 16 templates are one column.
Are two-column resumes bad for applicant tracking systems?
They can be: some systems read the two columns out of order, splicing sidebar skills into the middle of a job. So every sidebar template here also downloads as a one-column PDF with the same content, type and colour. Send that one to job portals, and the sidebar version to people.
PDF or Word: which should I send?
Send the PDF where a person will read it, because it looks the same everywhere. Use the Word file where a job portal asks for one or rejects PDFs; some of the strictest tracking systems handle .docx most consistently. The Word file is the editable, one-column version of your resume.
Should a resume be one page?
Not necessarily. In a study of 482 recruiters run by ResumeGo, two-page resumes were preferred 2.3 times as often overall, and the gap widened with seniority. If you want one page, the Design tab can fit it for you by tightening size, spacing and margins a step at a time.
Should I add a photo?
It depends where you apply. Photos are usual in much of Europe and Asia and discouraged in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, where employers avoid them to reduce bias. The photo is optional, off in most templates, and left out of the Word file and the one-column PDF.
Can I move my resume to another tool?
Yes. Download JSON saves it in the open JSON Resume format, which other resume tools read, and the import under Start opens a JSON Resume file made elsewhere.