The Professional resume template

Why this one is the default

It solves the problem most resumes have, which is that a reader cannot tell where one role ends and the next begins. The timeline spine does that work visually: dates on the left, a marker on the spine, content on the right. You can see the shape of a career in about two seconds without reading a word.

It also holds a lot. Three roles with four bullets each, education, skills, languages, projects and certifications fit without feeling crowded, because the spacing is set by the layout rather than typed by hand.

What it looks like filled in

• Header — name in the accent colour at around 34px, job title under it, contact row with icons, optional photo top-right.
• Left rail — date ranges, right-aligned so they form a clean column.
• Spine — a thin vertical rule with a square marker at each entry.
• Main column — role title in bold, employer and location in the accent colour, then description text.
• Skills and languages — a two-column grid rather than a tag cloud, so long skill names do not wrap awkwardly.

Filling it well

Use the summary. Three or four lines at the top, and make them about direction rather than adjectives. "Product leader with nine years in data-heavy B2B, twice from zero to eight figures of ARR" is worth reading. "Motivated self-starter with excellent communication skills" is not.

Keep the date format consistent. The rail only looks clean if every entry uses the same shape — 2021 - Present and 2018 - 2021, not one of them as Jan 2018.

Three to five bullets on your current role, one or two on older ones. The spine makes uneven entries obvious, which is useful: if your 2016 job has more detail than your current one, you can see it immediately.

Turn the photo off for US, UK, Canada and Australia. The header rebalances automatically. In much of Europe and Asia, leave it on.

Accent colour

The default blue is safe everywhere. If you want to change it, the six presets are picked to stay readable in print:

• Blue — default, safe in every sector.
• Teal — softer, common in health, education and non-profit.
• Violet — tech and product.
• Coral — creative and marketing. Slightly warm for finance.
• Gold — senior, luxury, hospitality.
• Ink — near-black. Effectively the conservative choice, and the best pick for law, banking and anywhere a resume gets printed in mono.

When to pick something else

• Applying through a large-company portal where software screens first — use ATS Friendly or Chronological from the ATS collection.
• Long career that must fit one page — Compact or Consulting.
• Want the same structure but more contemporary — Impact or Metro from the modern collection.
• Design or creative role where a person reads first — see the creative templates.

Switching costs nothing. Your content is stored separately from the design, so every section, date and bullet carries across.