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Basic Resume Template: Pros and Cons
A basic resume template can be very effective due to several benefits. However, it’s also important to understand its drawbacks as well.
Basic Resume Cons
Can fail to impress: A simple and basic resume template is the ideal choice for most conventional jobs, but if you’re pursuing a job in a creative industry, it doesn’t indicate your personal or professional style. Your job search would benefit more from using a creative or portfolio resume.
Makes errors noticeable: The simple design of a basic resume template means there’s nothing to distract the hiring manager from the document’s content. A basic resume makes the error more visible and can negatively impact your job search.
Basic Resume Pros
Universal appeal: Basic resumes typically have a very classic and traditional tone. While they may have touches of color to add emphasis, in general they are designed to have universal appeal and can be used in a variety of industries.
Easy to read: A basic resume template clearly communicates your job history, work experience, accomplishments and education — in the order you desire. We have free resume templates in the top three resume formats — chronological, functional and combination, to allow you to focus the reader’s attention where you desire.
Easy to make: An easy resume layout means you won’t be spending hours trying to nail down the perfect resume.
ATS-friendly: The clean layout and simple design of our simple resume examples are easy for applicant tracking systems to read. This means you can be sure to avoid unnecessary errors that could filter you out of consideration.
How to Choose & Customize a Basic Resume Template
Selecting and personalizing the right resume template is essential for showcasing your professional strengths effectively. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you choose a high-quality, engaging simple resume template and customize it to meet your career goals.
Choose the Right Format
The format of your resume significantly impacts how your professional details are presented. Consider these three primary resume formats:
- Chronological: This format lists your job experiences in reverse chronological order, highlighting your career progression. It is preferred for its clarity and straightforward layout that focuses on your professional journey.
- Functional: Ideal for those new to the workforce, changing careers, or with gaps in employment history, this format focuses on your skills rather than your chronological work history, emphasizing abilities that are transferable to new job roles.
- Combination: Merging elements of both chronological and functional formats, this style allows you to highlight both your stable employment history and the skills you’ve developed, providing a balanced view of your qualifications.
Customize Your Template
Once you’ve chosen a template, customize it to reflect your unique professional persona:
- Personalizing Your Contact Information: Place your contact information prominently at the top of your resume. Include your full name, phone number, email address, and, if applicable, a link to your LinkedIn profile or professional website. This helps potential employers contact you easily.
- Highlighting Your Skills Effectively: Tailor your skills section to the job description. Include industry-specific keywords and organize your skills into categories like technical skills, management skills, and interpersonal skills, making them easy to identify and understand.
- Describing Your Experience: Use reverse chronological order to list your job experiences, focusing on relevance and quantifying achievements wherever possible. Start each bullet point with a strong action verb to highlight your active contributions in previous roles.
Know Your Audience
Understand the expectations of your industry and choose a resume template that aligns with these standards to make a positive impact.
Complement Your Qualifications
Select a resume template that best showcases your experiences and strengths. Whether you have a robust work history or are transitioning to a new field, pick a format that highlights your most relevant skills and experiences.
Ask for Feedback
Utilize our wide selection of free resume templates by trying out different formats and asking for feedback from peers in your field. This can help you determine which format best presents your qualifications.
Remember, with our extensive collection of simple resume templates, you have the flexibility to customize and refine your resume to best meet your career objectives. Explore other resume templates or seek out basic resume examples specific to job titles for further guidance and inspiration.
Want to create your resume now but still need help? Then save yourself the stress and try our Resume Builder. We feature a variety of templates that auto-format your information. Just answer a few simple questions, and your resume is done in minutes.
Helping Job Seekers Like You
Basic Resume FAQ
Updated: January 02, 2025
A basic resume follows the standard resume structure. This includes:
- Contact information: A hiring manager needs to quickly locate your name and contact information for any potential follow-up.
- Professional summary: Also known as a summary statement or professional profile, this two to three sentence summary introduces your key strengths and what value you bring as a job candidate.
- Work history: There are a few ways to structure this information based on the resume format you use. The most common method is to highlight your past job title and period of employment, name and location of your former employer, and list three accomplishments or responsibilities for each job.
- Skills: Normally you will want to share six to eight soft and hard skills relevant to the job description. We compiled a list of hiring managers’ most commonly requested skills to consider adding to your resume.
- Education: This includes a combination of formal degrees, job-training seminars and specialized certifications related to your work.
You can learn more about how to write each of these resume sections by reading our resume-writing guide.
A basic resume template can be used for any profession. Still, the following industries are best for a basic resume template because the minimal design focuses on your technical skills and professional accomplishments:
- Banking
- Finance
- Administrative
- Accounting
- Research
- Computer software
- Health care support
- Food service
- Retail
- Nursing
- Statistics
- Law
- Safety and security
- Inventory management
A basic resume should look clean, standard and professional. The document design and construction follows the same conventional layout as academic assignments.
A basic resume may include some, in not all, of the following design elements:
- Standard 1-inch margins
- Standard 1.5 or double line-spacing
- Conventional fonts (Times New Roman or Arial)
- Size 10-12 font on the main body
- Size 14-16 font for section headers
- Little to no added pops of color
- Clear space or borders between resume sections
- Vertical lines to highlight sections
- Columns, tabs and plenty of white space to make it easy to read
- No photos and graphics, but some include simple skill meters
The basic resume style in a chronological format is the easiest to read and write. It is easy for the reader to follow because your work history logically flows from the most recent to the next experience. It is also the easiest to write because the minimal design can allow you to have more control over what you include.
The three most common resume styles are chronological, functional, and combination.
- Chronological resumes: Here your job history is the primary focus. It is especially effective for those with a steady work history with little to no work gaps. Chronological resumes are also the most familiar layout and therefore are preferred by recruiters and employers.
- Functional resumes: If you want to highlight your professional achievements, abilities and work-related skills, you’ll benefit from a functional resume. This format is perfect for you if you took a work gap to focus on personal responsibilities such as family, education or wellness.
- Combination resumes: If you’d like to focus on both your skills and formal work history, use the combination format. The skills get priority without stripping information from your previous employment. This is perfect if you have consistent work history, but have worked less than 10 years.
Yes, for two reasons:
Versatility of Templates: Our basic and simple resume templates are designed to be versatile and can be used for a wide range of job types across various industries. They provide a professional and clean layout that suits most professional environments.
Customization Advice: While these templates are broadly applicable, we recommend customizing the resume to the specific job and industry. This might involve tweaking the design slightly, choosing a template that matches the formality of the industry, or emphasizing different aspects of your experience based on the job description.
Citations
Olivia Crosby, “Resume, Applications, and Cover Letters,” Occupational Outlook Quarterly, 2009, https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2009/summer/art03.pdfM.
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