About the 8 Best Google Docs Resume Templates and How to Use Them (2023)

Maybe that's your strategy: find someone with a great resume and make it yours. I won't deny that it worked well for me and I continue to use the same model to this day.

Read more: This free worksheet makes it easy to create (or update) your resume

But if you've never made a resume and don't have someone else's to work with, you may need a template. We've rounded up eight of our favorite Google Docs resume templates that are fun and inexpensive (if not free!), as well as some tips for using them to your advantage.

You want to choose one that is visually appealing, easy to use, and allows you to include all the necessary resume sections. But you must also choose oneresume templatethat can be easily "read" by an applicant tracking system (ATS). ATS is software that most employers use to store, archive, and search candidate resumes to help them organize and find candidates that meet the widest range of qualifications. These programs are quite advanced, but they are far from perfect, and certain types of formatting can make it difficult or impossible for an ATS to accurately analyze your resume.

So, for the best chance of moving on to the next round of hiring, make sure any template you choose doesn't include any of these formatting elements:

• mesas
• text boxes
• Images,including photos (US United States.), logos,graphics, charts, other images or text contained in any of these elements
• Headers and footers
• less commonsources
• columns:ATSs are programmed to read from left to right, so they generally read columns in a straight line rather than reading each column from top to bottom. If that doesn't change the experience of reading your resume, columns might do.

Read more:Beat the Bots: How to Get Your Resume Bypass the System and Into Human Hands

Do you want to make it easy to create a resume in Google Docs? Choose one of Google's pre-made resume templates. If you're on docs.google.com, just click "Template Gallery" in the top right corner of the page and scroll down to see your resume options. If you're already in a Google Doc, click "File" > "New" > "From Template Gallery" to see all the options.

While Google has five built-in templates, we only recommend three of them to get through any ATS you might come across.

1.Google Docschoral curriculum template

Need something super simple? Look no further than this resume created directly from Google Docs. With just a splash of color and clear guidance on what goes where and how to best organize your information, you can't go wrong with this template. To make sure the ATS doesn't get confused, just remove "Hello" and "I'm" from the top of the page. So it's your choice whether you want your name in black or coral.

Cost:Book

2.Google Docs Mint Green Resume Template

What we love most about this resume template is that the skills section comes first, making it perfect for career changes.

Why ask? Listing your skills at the top allows you to emphasize what you bring to the table (i.e. yourtransferable skills), especially for a hiring manager who might not be able to tell you how your past experiences apply to your job posting. (Thatresume format, where your skills are listed above your work history, is called a hybrid orcombined curriculum.)

If you're using this template as a career change, make sure you keep it relevant to the job you want. This could mean removing certain jobs and skills that don't add to your qualifications for the position you're applying for, and possibly renaming the "Experience" section to "Relevant Experience".

And do not forgetadapt to answerto apply for job requirements.

Cost:Book

3.Google DocsModern Writer Resume Template

This is the third and final standard Google resume template we recommend. Like the "Spearmint" template above, skills are at the top of the page, but remember that you can always rearrange the order of a resume template to suit your situation (just copy and paste to move! up or down if needed!).

Cost:Book

4.Muse's Resume Template

Yes, we made a resume template in Google Docs! It's free, easy to enter your own information, and explains where everything should go and how, from what your markers look like to whatskillsyou must enumerate.

Just click "File" > "Make a copy" to create your own copy.

Cost:Book

5.Mindy's Resume Template from Career Reload

This Google Doc Career Reload Template makes it easy for anyone reading your resume to identify the section they are looking for. Just change theoutdated resume objectiveforcurriculum summaryand you're good to go.

Cost:Book

6.Resume Template by Josh from Career Reload

Here's another career reload option that uses whitespace to change the visual appearance of your resume. This is a great option if you're early in your career or want to focus on just a few experiences, as the format creates less overall text space. You'll notice that the section headings in this template are in columns, but this is an example of ATS-compatible columns, as reading text from left to right still makes sense.

Cost:Book

7.Google Docs Resume Template by ResuStudio

If you're looking to up your game (and you're willing to pay a little more to do so), this template introduces an extra level of elegance and professionalism without being too much for the hiring manager (or ATS) to filter through. If you're a little further along in your career, this template also has a two-page version. But be sure to remove the "References available on request" bit from whatever version you use, you're just wasting valuable space. When employers want your references,they know they can apply for them.

Cost:$3.80 (with frequent changes)

8.Google BestResumes Document Resume Template

For a very reasonable price, this template offers color, an ATS-compliant layout, and plenty of ways to emphasize your most important qualifications. In addition, with your purchase, you will also receive a two-page template, onecover letter template, it is areference sheettemplate to match your resume design.

Cost:$6.36 (with frequent changes)

9. Any ATS Compliant Resume Template You Want

None of these models do it for you? Alright, you have options. Etsy has many more designer-made paid resume templates, and you can search for ATS-compatible ones.

You can also use almost anyMicrosoft Wordor another resume template you can find on Google Docs with a few easy steps:

1. Download the template.
2. Ordocs.google.comand click the folder icon to open the file picker.
3. Choose "Upload" at the top of the box that appears and select the file.
4. Save the file as a Google document.

Or if you're already on a blank Google Doc, click "File">"Open" and follow steps three and four above.

Some formats won't translate well between programs, so be sure to check that the template still looks good in Google Docs.

It shouldn't seem too obvious, but using these templates is about more than plugging in your skills and experience and calling it a day. You will have to follow a few steps:

1. Replace everything in the template with your own informationOtherwise, the hiring manager will wonder why you say "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet" in your education. That means proofreading your resume a few times, then asking a friend or two to check it for mistakes, too.
2. make your model, whatever that means to you. If you don't like the color of the headers, change them. If you feel your name is too big and taking up space that could be used for bullets, go ahead and make your font size smaller. If you want to add your own section, either for “Certifications"o"Projects” or some other category relevant to the job description, feel free to convert an existing section you don't need or modify the template to fit it. Templates should be personalized, not followed to the letter.
3. focus on content. Beautiful resumes are great, but if what they say doesn't fit the job, isn't fully proofread, or at least something interesting to read, you won't get the interview. So make sure you're typingstellar resume bullet pointsand following theseimportant resume tips.

How does all this sound? Great, now get out there and make your resume shine! Teenage Alyse would be so proud.