{"id":122708,"date":"2026-02-13T01:09:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/?p=122708"},"modified":"2026-03-18T06:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:08:06","slug":"best-resume-layout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/","title":{"rendered":"This Is The Best Resume Layout (If You Want Interviews In 2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Go online, and you’ll find hundreds of resume layouts. Some are funky. Others are minimalist. But not many have the power to impress recruiters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless you’re working in a creative industry and are fairly junior (e.g., a photographer, graphic designer), resist the temptation to make your resume look “fun”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your resume is not supposed to look exciting. Simplicity is key.<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The best resume layouts follow classic design principles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They create a clear visual hierarchy, guiding the reader\u2019s eye from the most important information to the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reader’s gaze will land on your name first. From there, the layout will pull their gaze downward – through your profile, employment summary and professional history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Related: What Is The 7-Second Rule For Resumes?<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What Does A Bad Resume Layout Look Like?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Until roughly 2015, many resumes looked something like the one below. Does this abomination ring a bell?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The layout was popularised by professional resume writers<\/a> who bought into this myth –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information = a more convincing resume.<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Notice how the resume overwhelms you with information. Regardless of how long you stare at it, you never quite know what you need to pay attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your eye darts from one detail to another – but your brain doesn’t register any insights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Everything<\/strong> on the page looks important – so nothing actually is.<\/li>
  • Excessive<\/strong> borders and banners make the resume look dated.<\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
    <\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/div>

    Important!<\/h3><\/div>

    That’s what a poor resume layout does. It scatters a reader’s attention, overwhelms their cognitive capacity and urges them to send the resume into the bin.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    What Does A Great Resume Layout Look Like?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I recommend you avoid two- and three-column layouts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Yes, they’re all the rage on Canva right now, but they do a poor job of creating a visual hierarchy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Here’s what makes this layout great:<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"how-to-write-a-resume\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Header. <\/strong>Separated from the rest of the page with colour code, it draws your attention to its most important element – the person’s name. It also contains contact details and a headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n
    \n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Profile. <\/strong>Notice the abundance of white space around this section. This is intentional. Rather than cramming “as much as will fit”, the design allows the resume to “breathe”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n
    \n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Employment Snapshot: <\/strong>The reader now gets a bird’s-eye view of the person’s career history. This helps understand career progression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n
    \n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Key Assets.<\/strong> Here you offer the reader proof of claims you’ve made in the sections above. The goal is to help them form a concrete view of you – before they turn the page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n
    \n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Professional Experience<\/strong>. There’s a lot of text here. Yet, your eye isn’t confused by the detail. Each role contains a mandate, responsibilities and achievements – in that order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Final Word About The Best Resume Layouts.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Recruiters and employers expect you to submit an attractive, easy-to-read resume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    An overwhelming layout was unlikely to raise red flags 5-10 years ago, as finding an attractive resume layout was not easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fast forward to today, and you’ll find dozens of downloadable templates with attractive resume layouts on Canva and Shutterstock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Make sure you don’t overlook this vital part of your job application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Irene<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>Go online, and you’ll find hundreds of resume layouts. Some are funky. Others are minimalist. But not many have the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-resume"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Is The Best Resume Layout (If You Want Interviews In 2026)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The best resume layout can dramatically increase your response rate. Learn how to structure your resume for more interviews.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Is The Best Resume Layout (If You Want Interviews In 2026)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The best resume layout can dramatically increase your response rate. Learn how to structure your resume for more interviews.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arielle Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArielleExecutive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-13T01:09:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-18T06:08:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1863\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Irene McConnell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@arielleexec\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@arielleexec\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Irene McConnell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Is The Best Resume Layout (If You Want Interviews In 2026)","description":"The best resume layout can dramatically increase your response rate. Learn how to structure your resume for more interviews.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Is The Best Resume Layout (If You Want Interviews In 2026)","og_description":"The best resume layout can dramatically increase your response rate. Learn how to structure your resume for more interviews.","og_url":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/","og_site_name":"Arielle Executive","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArielleExecutive\/","article_published_time":"2026-02-13T01:09:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-18T06:08:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1863,"height":1048,"url":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Irene McConnell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@arielleexec","twitter_site":"@arielleexec","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Irene McConnell","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/"},"author":{"name":"Irene McConnell","@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/360aa658ee23006e71fb65370e9c6a9e"},"headline":"This Is The Best Resume Layout (If You Want Interviews In 2026)","datePublished":"2026-02-13T01:09:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-18T06:08:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/"},"wordCount":537,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts.jpg","articleSection":["Career","Resume & LinkedIn Advice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/","url":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/","name":"This Is The Best Resume Layout (If You Want Interviews In 2026)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-13T01:09:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-18T06:08:06+00:00","description":"The best resume layout can dramatically increase your response rate. Learn how to structure your resume for more interviews.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/best-resume-layout\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts.jpg","width":1863,"height":1048,"caption":"best resume layouts"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/","name":"Arielle Executive","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/#organization","name":"Arielle Executive","url":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/arielle-executive-aex-icon.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/arielle-executive-aex-icon.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"caption":"Arielle Executive"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArielleExecutive\/","https:\/\/x.com\/arielleexec","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/arielle-executive\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/360aa658ee23006e71fb65370e9c6a9e","name":"Irene McConnell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cropped-irene-mcconnell-arielle-executive-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cropped-irene-mcconnell-arielle-executive-96x96.jpg","caption":"Irene McConnell"},"description":"I founded three separate companies over the past decade to help leaders and organisations do their best work. Arielle Executive helps leaders get noticed while Arielle Partners & Talent Avenue connect organisations to Australia's best leadership talent.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/irenekotov\/"],"url":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/author\/irene-mcconnell\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Steven McConnell","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts.jpg",1863,1048,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts-1024x576.jpg",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts-1536x864.jpg",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts.jpg",1863,1048,false],"alm-thumbnail":["https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/best-resume-layouts-150x150.jpg",150,150,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Irene McConnell","author_link":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/author\/irene-mcconnell\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Reading Time: 3 minutesGo online, and you’ll find hundreds of resume layouts. Some are funky. Others are minimalist. But not many have the","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122708"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123265,"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122708\/revisions\/123265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielle.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}