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The best resume template in 2026 is one that passes ATS screening, is easy to edit and matches your career stage and industry. Below are 7 professionally designed templates that do exactly that, each ATS-friendly, editable in Word, Google Docs, Canva or Apple Pages, and priced under $10 with instant download.
Quick pick:
- Most people / any industry → ATS-Friendly Resume Template
- Nurses / new grads → New Grad Nurse Resume Template
- Developers / engineers → Software Engineer Resume Template
- Experienced professionals → Professional Resume with Photo
- Office / admin roles → Administrative Assistant Resume Template
- Want a headshot on your resume → ATS Resume Template with Photo
- Prefer Microsoft Word → Word Resume Template Bundle
1. ATS Resume Template for Word, Google Docs, Canva and Apple Pages
Best for: any industry or career stage who need a modern, ATS-friendly resume
Works in: Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Canva and Apple Pages
This is the template to start with if you're actively job hunting. It's built from the ground up to pass ATS screening: no text boxes, no parser-breaking columns, no graphics that make automated systems skip your skills section. The scanner sees a clean, structured document; the hiring manager sees a polished, modern resume. It works across industries and levels, and because it opens in Google Docs, Word, Canva and Apple Pages, you can edit it on whatever you already use. A matching cover letter is included, so your whole application looks intentional. For a deeper explanation of what "ATS-friendly" actually means, see our ATS resume template guide.
2. New Grad Nurse Resume Template
Best for: RNs, nursing grads and healthcare
Works in: Word, Google Docs
Nursing resumes aren't general resumes. Healthcare hiring managers scan for specific things: clinical rotations, licensure (NCLEX/RN), certifications (BLS/ACLS), specialties and patient-care experience, and they need to find them fast. This template leads with clinicals and skills instead of years of experience, which is exactly what a new grad needs. It's ATS-friendly for hospital portals like Workday and Taleo, editable in Word and Google Docs, and includes a matching nurse cover letter, references page and a new-grad nursing guide.
If you want a full breakdown of how to structure each section, write the summary, and handle the no-experience problem, our nursing resume guide walks through it for both new grads and experienced RNs.
3. Software Engineer Resume Template (ATS-Friendly)
Best for: developers and software engineers
Works in: Word, Google Docs, Canva
Tech resumes need room for your stack, projects and GitHub, not just a job history. This template gives developers dedicated skills, projects and links sections, so hiring managers see what you can actually build. It's ATS-friendly for tech applicant tracking systems like Greenhouse and Lever (no tables that break parsing), works for front-end, back-end and full-stack roles, and is editable in Word, Google Docs and Canva with a matching cover letter.
How to Make a Tech Resume Pass ATS (Software Engineers & Developers)
Tech hiring runs through some of the strictest ATS platforms, including Greenhouse, Lever and Workday, and a resume that looks great in Canva can still fail to parse correctly if it isn't built with those systems in mind. A few habits make the biggest difference.
Match the job description's exact keywords for languages, frameworks and tools, since most tech ATS platforms rank candidates by keyword overlap before a recruiter opens the file. Spell out acronyms at least once (for example, "Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)") so both the parser and a non-technical recruiter can follow it. Avoid tables and multi-column skill grids, even though they look organized, since they're one of the most common reasons a tech resume gets misread.
The Software Engineer Resume Template above already builds in a dedicated skills, projects and links section, so you're not fighting the layout to include your stack. Spend your editing time tailoring the keywords and project bullets to each role instead.
4. ATS Resume Template with Photo
Best for: anyone who wants a headshot, kept ATS-safe
Works in: Word, Google Docs
Some regions and roles expect a photo, but photos can trip up strict ATS. This template balances both: a clean, parse-safe structure with all key details in text, plus a professional headshot space. The photo is optional and easy to remove. Editable in Word and Google Docs, with 1- and 2-page versions, a matching cover letter and references page.
5. Word Resume Template Bundle
Best for: people who work in Microsoft Word
Works in: Word, Google Docs, Pages
If you edit in Word, this bundle is built with native Word styles and a single-column layout, so nothing shifts when you type. A single column is the safest structure for ATS parsing. It's fully compatible with Google Docs and Apple Pages too, and includes 1- and 2-page resumes, a matching cover letter and a references page (US Letter & A4).
6. Professional Resume Template with Photo (for Experienced Professionals)
Best for: experienced professionals and managers
Works in: Word, Google Docs, Canva
When you have 10–20 years of results, a generic layout either forces you to cut what matters or buries your achievements. This corporate template is structured to foreground career progression and measurable achievements, with an optional photo section you can keep or remove depending on your region and role. Fully editable in Word, Google Docs and Canva: colors, fonts, section order, with 1- and 2-page versions, a matching cover letter and references page.
7. Administrative Assistant Resume Template (ATS-Friendly)
Best for: admin, office and executive-assistant roles professionals
Works in: Word, Google Docs
Built for admin assistants, office assistants, executive assistants, receptionists and clerical roles, this template highlights the things office employers screen for: organization, scheduling, communication and software skills. It has a dedicated skills section for tools like MS Office and scheduling systems, is ATS-friendly with standard headings, and includes a matching cover letter and references page (Word + Google Docs).
Are Canva Resume Templates ATS-Friendly?
Not automatically, and this trips up a lot of job seekers. Canva makes it easy to build an eye-catching resume, but many of its free templates use multi-column layouts, icons, graphics and text boxes that applicant tracking systems can't parse correctly. If an ATS can't read your resume, it may drop entire sections or reject the file before a human ever sees it.
Three templates in this list are Canva-compatible: the ATS-Friendly Resume Template, the Software Engineer Resume Template and the Professional Resume Template with Photo. The first two use single-column, parser-safe layouts built to survive ATS screening even though you're editing them in Canva. The Professional Resume Template with Photo uses a two-column design with a sidebar, which looks great for print, LinkedIn and networking, but isn't the safest choice for online applications that route through an ATS.
If you're applying through a company's online portal, stick to the ATS-Friendly or Software Engineer templates. Save the two-column Canva design for situations where a person, not a scanner, sees your resume first: referrals, career fairs, or when you're emailing a hiring manager directly.
Which resume template is right for you?
The right choice depends on your career stage and target role:
- Applying across industries at any level? The ATS-Friendly Resume Template covers the widest range and edits anywhere.
- In nursing or healthcare? The Nurse Resume Template is built for clinical hiring, don't force a generic template into a credentialed field.
- In tech? The Software Engineer Resume puts projects and stack front and center.
- Experienced or managing? The Professional Resume with Photo gives your career the weight it deserves.
- Starting out or in school? See our high school and first-job resume template guide.
Best Resume Templates for Google Docs
If Google Docs is your main tool, three templates in this list work natively without formatting breaking when you type: the ATS-Friendly Resume Template, the New Grad Nurse Resume Template and the Word Resume Template Bundle (which despite the name is fully compatible with Docs). All three use single-column layouts, which is what keeps a resume stable when you edit it in Docs instead of desktop Word.
Canva-based templates, including the Software Engineer and Professional Resume with Photo templates, aren't editable directly in Google Docs since they're built on Canva's design platform. If you want to stay entirely inside Google's ecosystem, the ATS-Friendly template is the safest all-purpose pick, and the Nurse template if you're in healthcare.
What makes a good resume template in 2026?
ATS compatibility is non-negotiable. With applicant tracking systems screening most applications before a human sees them, the best templates use clean, parser-friendly layouts: single-column or simple two-column, standard section headers, no text boxes, no graphics that block parsing. If the ATS can't read your resume, your qualifications are invisible.
Visual hierarchy wins the six-second scan. Once past the ATS, a hiring manager spends about six seconds before deciding to keep reading. Your name, title and most recent role should be immediately visible.
Your career stage should drive your choice. A new grad and a C-suite executive shouldn't use the same design. The best templates are built for a specific level, the sections that matter and the space given to experience vs. skills should reflect where you are.
Editability without friction. A template you can't customize fast isn't useful. The best ones are built for tools people already know: Canva, Google Docs and Word, so you update in minutes, not hours.
Which Resume Format Passes ATS in 2026?
Resume formats fall into three types: chronological, functional and combination. Chronological lists your work history in reverse order and is what most ATS software and recruiters expect. Functional groups your experience by skill rather than by job, which can confuse ATS parsing since it looks for dated job entries. Combination blends both, leading with a skills summary before a chronological work history.
For ATS purposes, chronological or combination formats are the safer choice in 2026. Every template in this article uses one of these two formats, since a pure functional resume is the format most likely to get flagged or misread by scanning software.
If you're a new grad or changing careers and worried a chronological format exposes gaps, the fix isn't switching to functional. It's leading with a skills or clinical summary section, the way the New Grad Nurse Resume Template does, while keeping the underlying structure chronological and ATS-readable.
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