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CreateCVOnline

ATS-friendly · Single column · ATS 5/5

ATS Simple CV template

Plain single column with exactly one piece of colour: the section headings.

This family exists for one situation: your file is read by software before any person sees it, and everything decorative has been removed on purpose. One column and no portrait: the plainest structure a CV can have, and the one that travels furthest across markets.

Live preview of the ATS Simple template, rendered at full page size with an example CV. The preview is the same code that generates your PDF.

The design

About the ATS Simple layout

ATS Simple keeps the bones of a plain-text CV and spends its entire colour budget in one place — section headings set in your accent with a fine rule beneath, which gives a recruiter something to scan without giving a parser anything to misread. Contact details sit on two short left-aligned lines, direct contact first and links second, so a long email address and a LinkedIn URL never collide in one wrapped run. Everything below the header is a single flow of body text with no icons, panels or graphics.

Who it’s for

The readers and situations this layout was drawn for.

  • Mid-level professionals applying online
  • Candidates who want colour without parsing risk
  • Referrals and internal applications

Key features

What is actually different about this template on the page.

  • Accent-coloured headings over a 1.5px accent rule
  • Two-line left-aligned contact block
  • Monochrome body text below the headings
  • Plain-text skills, grouped by your categories

ATS score 5/5 · Excellent

How this layout behaves in an applicant tracking system

Everything on this page is text a parser can lift: real headings, one linear reading order, and no content that exists only as a graphic. It scores 5 out of 5 because there is nothing here for a parser to guess at.

Sections stack in a single flow, so the order you set in the editor is the order the parser records: summary, then experience, then education, then whatever you put next.

There is little left to fix here. If you want to see how the rest of the parser-safe range compares — and what a 5 out of 5 is actually measuring — the ATS CV templates page scores every layout on the same criteria.

Parsing checklistATS score 5 out of 5
Reading order
Single flow
Headings
Real text
Tables
None
Images
None
Selectable text
Yes

Scores are our own assessment of how a parser handles the layout — never a guarantee about one specific employer’s system.

In practice

Three situations ATS Simple is the right answer to

Templates are chosen badly when they are chosen in the abstract. Here is what sending this one actually looks like.
Case 1

A public-sector or graduate scheme

Structured schemes score CVs against fixed criteria, often mechanically. A conventional document with conventional headings lets the assessor find each criterion where they expect it to be. The obvious case: Mid-level professionals applying online.

Case 2

For the machine that reads first

Plain headings, plain lists and one text flow mean the file you upload is the file the system reads back: no reordered sections, no dropped job titles, no dates attached to the wrong employer.

Case 3

An anonymised or blind-screening process

Public bodies and larger employers increasingly strip identifying detail before review. A layout with no portrait slot survives that process unchanged, which is one less way for your CV to arrive looking damaged. ATS Simple has no photo slot to remove, so the same file works in every market you send it to.

Make it yours

Customising ATS Simple

The template sets the structure; everything inside it is yours. Colours, fonts, spacing, section order and paper size are all controls in the CV builder, and the preview updates as you change them — nothing is applied blind.

Accent colour

ATS Simple ships with #1f2937 as its accent. Colour is deliberately minimal. A dark accent on the headings is safe and makes the printed page easier for a human to scan; nothing about the accent affects parsing, because a parser reads text and ignores hue entirely.

Fonts and heading style

Stay with a common sans or serif. Unusual faces can export with non-standard character mappings, which produces a PDF that looks correct and extracts as gibberish — precisely the failure this family exists to prevent. Heading case — uppercase, capitalised or as typed — is a separate switch, and it changes the character of the page more than most people expect.

Spacing and density

Three sliders control density — type size, line height and the gap between sections — and on a one-column page each of them affects the whole document evenly, so fitting two pages into one is a matter of small adjustments rather than deletions.

Sections and order

Use the conventional section names. A screening system matches on headings it recognises, so “Experience” earns matches that “Where I’ve worked” does not, however much better the second one reads. Every section can be renamed, reordered or hidden, and Pro adds custom sections for anything the standard set does not cover.

Paper size and export

A4 or US Letter, switched in one control, with the layout re-flowing to the new page rather than being scaled to fit. The PDF is generated from the same code you see in the preview, so what you approve on screen is what downloads.

ATS Simple: common questions

Yes. It scores 5 out of 5 on our parsing checks: one column, standard headings, no tables, no text inside images and no icon fonts. An applicant tracking system reads the sections back in the order you arranged them.

Alternatives

Related templates

Other layouts worth comparing before you commit — the closest matches from ATS-friendly first, then designs with a similar ATS score from other families.

Accountant CV

ATS-friendly · one column

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ATS CV

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Entry-Level Resume

ATS-friendly · one column

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ATS Resume

ATS-friendly · one column

Free

Student CV

ATS-friendly · one column

Free

Modern ATS

modern · one column

Free

Start your CV with ATS Simple

Open it with the example content already in place, replace it with your own, and download a PDF when it reads the way you want. Switching to another template later keeps every word you have written.

Free plan, free download, no credit card.