Every template in the gallery carries one of two badges. They describe what the design is optimized for, and the choice is a real one.
ATS-strict
A single column. Standard section headings. No sidebars, no columns, no decorative rules, no photo. Type and spacing chosen to survive being read by software and printed in black and white.
Pick this when you're applying through a large employer's careers portal, a government or public-sector application, an agency, or any process where you upload a file into a form and never speak to a person first.
The tradeoff: it looks plain, because plain is the point.
Design-forward
More visual structure — a sidebar, an accent color, a distinct type treatment, sometimes a photo slot. Still typeset and still parseable, but the layout is doing work for a human eye rather than being maximally defensive.
Pick this when you're sending your resume directly to a person: a referral, a recruiter you're already talking to, a small company, a portfolio submission, or a design, marketing, or creative role where visual judgment is part of what's being assessed.
How to choose, quickly
| Your situation | Go with |
|---|---|
| Uploading to a big company's portal | ATS-strict |
| Public sector, or a formal application form | ATS-strict |
| Emailing a hiring manager or a referral | Either |
| Creative, design, or brand role | Design-forward |
| You genuinely don't know | ATS-strict |
When in doubt, ATS-strict costs you very little. A plain resume in front of a human still reads fine. A complicated one in front of a parser might not.
What's actually true about parsers
The badges are about risk, not magic. Modern screening systems mostly rank and surface candidates rather than silently binning them, and they handle a well-built single column reliably. What genuinely causes trouble is content trapped in tables, text boxes, images, and headers or footers — which is why our ATS-strict designs don't use any of those. See what "ATS-friendly" really means.
We won't quote you a parse-failure percentage. The numbers circulating online for that don't have real methodology behind them, and we'd rather tell you that than repeat them. See resume advice we won't give you.
The one that isn't a tradeoff
Recruiter eye-tracking research found that resumes performing worst with human readers were the cluttered, multi-column, low-whitespace ones — the same pattern that gives parsers trouble. Clean structure isn't only a machine concession. It helps on both passes.
Good to know
- Switching between the two costs you nothing. Your content carries across. See switch your resume template.
- ATS-strict templates never offer a photo. A photo can't be parsed and takes room from content. See add a photo to your resume.
- The badge sits on each card in the templates gallery, alongside the Free or Premium label.