Classic · Single column · ATS 5/5
Simple Classic CV template
Bold headings, plain text and nothing else — the safe answer when in doubt.
A traditional document for a reader who expects one: measured type, plain hierarchy and no ornament that a formal committee would read as flippant. One column and no portrait: the plainest structure a CV can have, and the one that travels furthest across markets.
Live preview of the Simple Classic template, rendered at full page size with an example CV. The preview is the same code that generates your PDF.
The design
About the Simple Classic layout
Who it’s for
The readers and situations this layout was drawn for.
- Graduate and first-job applications
- High-volume online application portals
- Anyone unsure what the employer prefers
Key features
What is actually different about this template on the page.
- No rules, boxes or tinted panels
- Text-only skills grouped by category
- One-line education entries
- Plain paragraphs under each role
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.
- 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 Simple Classic is the right answer to
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: Graduate and first-job applications.
A document, not a pitch
One column with generous leading suits a document that may legitimately run to three pages — an academic or legal CV is not trying to be a one-page pitch, and compressing it signals the wrong thing.
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. Simple Classic has no photo slot to remove, so the same file works in every market you send it to.
Make it yours
Customising Simple Classic
Accent colour
Simple Classic ships with #111827 as its accent. Near-black or a very dark neutral is the honest choice. These layouts are designed to survive being photocopied and scanned by a committee secretary, and a mid-tone accent is the first thing to disappear when they are.
Fonts and heading style
A serif body is the point of this family. If you switch to a sans, drop the font size a notch — the spacing is set for serif text and looks loose without it. 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
Education often outranks experience here, and publications, awards and references all have a legitimate place. Reordering takes one drag, which matters because the convention differs by field and by country. 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.
Simple Classic: common questions
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Keep exploring
- All classic templatesEvery design in the Classic family, side by side.
- One-column templatesThe full single-column range, across all six categories.
- CV templatesFormats, page counts and conventions by country and career stage.
- ATS CV templatesWhat a parser does with your file, and the layouts built to survive it.
- CV examplesWorked examples by role, with the wording and structure explained.
- Free CV templatesEvery template you can use and download without paying.
Start your CV with Simple Classic
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.
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