Landing a job interview is all about standing out from the crowd. Every job vacancy gets hundreds of resumes and applications. It’s the design of your resume and the way you present yourself that will ultimately help you land an interview.

Everything from choosing the right font for your resume, to arranging the content and paragraphs, play a key role in making a professional resume. But, with these pre-made templates, you won’t have to worry about spending hours designing the perfect resume.

For this collection, we handpicked some of the best free resume templates you can easily download and edit with Microsoft Word to create a professional and creative resume all by yourself.

We’ve also featured a set of tips on how to make your resume stand out. Best of luck!

Just looking for a stylish free resume template? No problem. Let’s dive into our collection of the best free resume templates.

Modern Designer Resume Template

This free resume template comes with an exceptional design featuring 12 different sections for showcasing your education, experience, contact details, and much more in a creatively formatted layout. While the template is most suitable for designers, other professionals can use it as well. It comes with a matching cover letter template and the files are available in Photoshop, Sketch, and Word formats.

Free Creative Word Resume Template

Using an uncommon resume design is one of the best ways creative professionals can stand out from the crowd. This modern resume template is the perfect template for achieving that goal. It comes with a simple design that includes a unique section for showcasing your specialties as well as other sections. The template is available on Word, Photoshop, and Sketch file formats.

Free Resume Template For Developers

This resume template also comes with a clean and minimal design with a large header section for highlighting your personal and contact information. It also includes all the other sections for including your skills, experience, and more. The template can be easily customized using Word, Photoshop, Sketch, or Adobe XD apps.

Free Student CV Resume Template

This elegant and stylish free resume template is designed for students and academics. However, you can easily customize it for other professionals as well. The template is available in Word, Photoshop, and Illustrator formats.

Free Modern & Creative Word Resume Template

This free Word resume comes with a stylish and modern design that’s ideal for freelancers and creative professionals. The template has sections for your profile with a photo as well as all the other details. It has a matching cover letter too.

Free Word Resume Template for Students

You can use this free resume template to design a clean and creative resume for a student. It features a minimalist design without too many decorative elements. You can customize this template in Google Docs and then download it in Word format.

Free Colorful Word CV Template for Students

If you’re looking for a resume with a colorful and attractive design, this one is for you. It’s a free resume template that you can use and edit in Google Docs. Of course, you can also download it in Word format as well.

Free Word Resume & Cover Letter Templates

This free resume template comes in multiple formats, including MS Word, Photoshop, and Illustrator. The template features a bold design that’s perfect for corporate and high-end job applications.

Free Data Architect Resume Word Template

Another free Word resume template with a simple and clean design. This template is especially ideal for data analysts, data architects, and various other professionals. It’s great for showcasing lots of professional details in one place too.

Free Manager CV Resume Template

Another free resume template featuring lots of creative elements and shapes. This template is perfect for experienced professionals. It’s also available in Photoshop, Word, Illustrator, and InDesign file formats.

Free Clean CV Resume Word Template

A beautifully modern resume template with a clean design. This one is perfect for making a CV for a creative professional. It’s easily customizable and comes in MS Word, PSD, and AI file formats as well.

Teacher Resume Free Template for MS Word

This CV template is designed for teachers and educational professionals. It has a very minimal design that gives it a professional look and feel. The template includes 2 pages and 1 cover page template as well.

Clean & Creative Free Resume Template Word

A modern resume for a modern professional. This template also comes in multiple file formats, including MS Word, and allows you to customize it however you like. The colors can be changed and fonts can be switched.

Free Creative Resume Template for Word

This free Word template comes with a very uncommon resume design. It uses lots of visual elements for showcasing your skills, experience, and other details. This makes it a great choice for professionals working in the design industry.

Modern and Creative Free Word Resume Template

Featuring a gorgeous design filled with colors and shapes, this template will allow you to create an amazing CV. At first glance, it may look feminine. But you can customize the colors of the template to your preference.

Free Minimal Resume Word Template

A clean and basic resume template for professionals who prefers a simpler approach. This template doesn’t have any design elements or colors. Just proper formatting.

Free Simple Resume Template for Word

Another free resume template for making CVs for various professionals. The template features a very attractive design. And it comes in Word, Photoshop, and Illustrator file formats.

Free Modern CV Resume MS Word

You can create a minimal and clean resume using this free template. It comes with a simple yet effective design featuring 2 page layouts and a free font. You can easily customize it to change colors as well.

Free CV Resume Template for Creatives

If you’re a creative professional looking for a resume template to help stand out from the crowd, this one is perfect for you. It comes with a very unique design that you can edit to personalize. It includes 2 pages and a cover letter template.

Free Colorful Resume Template for Word

Filled with lots of colors and gradients, this stylish resume template will make your resumes look more modern and creative. The template comes in multiple file formats to let you customize the design however you like.

Free Minimal Resume Template

If you’re looking for a clean and minimalist resume design without any colorful shapes and styles, this template is perfect for you. It comes with a 2-page resume design and a cover letter template as well.

Free Professional Resume Template

This free Word resume template is easily customizable. You can change its font, colors, and layout however you like. It’s ideal for making resumes for creative professionals.

Free Creative Resume Template

Another minimalist free resume template featuring an uncommon design. This template uses a design that makes it look like a newspaper article. It’s available as a print-ready Word file.

Minimalist Word Resume Template

Another minimalist word resume template with a traditional CV design that includes all the necessary sections for you to highlight your skills and experience. This template is available in Word, Photoshop, InDesign, and EPS file formats. You’ll also be able to choose from 5 different color themes to personalize the CV design as well.

Free Modern Word Resume Template

This modern resume template is available in multiple formats and an editable design. You can customize the template design using Word, Illustrator, and Photoshop. It also comes with a cover letter template as well.

Free Resume & Cover Letter Templates

This free resume template is ideal for making a CV for professionals working in tech, especially for developers. It comes with both a resume and cover letter templates in Word, Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator file formats. You can easily customize them to change colors and fonts as well.

Professional Word Resume Template

Featuring a matching cover letter template, this free resume template comes with a stylish design filled with vector icons and 3 color variations. The template is available in Photoshop and Word file formats and you can also choose from dark and light color themes to create an attractive resume as well.

Simple Resume CV Word Template

This resume comes with a simple and minimalist design that features multiple sections for showcasing all your professional and personal details. The template is available in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Word formats for easily customizing it using your favorite software.

Modern Minimal Word Resume

This clean CV template also features a minimalist and a traditional resume layout. It comes in 2 different styles of resume designs featuring modern elements. You’ll also get a matching cover letter template with this bundle.

Clean Word Resume Template

Another modern and minimalist resume template that comes with a creative cover letter template for making a complete resume for all kinds of professionals. The template is available in Illustrator and Word formats and in A4 size.

Free Word Resume For Creatives

A creative free resume template designed for all types of professionals. This free Word template is also available in Photoshop and Illustrator file formats and it includes a cover letter template as well.

Laconique Free Resume Template

This is a highly minimalist and clean resume template that’s perfect for making a resume for a creative professional. The template comes in 3 color scehems and in Word, Photoshop, and Pages file formats.

High End Free Resume CV for Word

The high-end resume template features a modern design and it comes in InDesign and Word formats. This template is ideal for making CVs for business and marketing professionals.

10 Tips to Make Your Resume Stand Out

It only takes just one mistake in your resume to destroy your chances of landing your dream job. Follow these tips to make sure you make the best resume that wins you an interview.

1. Use a Creative and Minimal Design

There’s a trend in modern resume designs where they use lots of colorful shapes, images, icons, and uncommon designs that you’ve never seen before. This type of resume design only makes you look unprofessional.

Use a creative resume design, but ensure it also has a minimal and clean content layout that makes it easier for employers to scan quickly and read without getting lost.

2. Separate the Sections to Improve the Overall Design

Every resume must include sections for detailing different information about the applicant, including education information, work history, skills, etc. Most professionals make the mistake of mixing all of this information into a single page and creating a cluttered resume.

Don’t make that same mistake. Create clearly separated sections detailing all the different information about yourself. Use colors and shapes when you can to highlight the sections.

3. Use a Clean and Professional Font

Choosing the right font for your resume design is arguably the most important decision you have to make. Since a resume is a document filled with text, using a font that improves readability is very important.

Try to avoid using the default fonts on your computer. Use a modern sans-serif font with a clean design. Pick two fonts, one for your headings and another for paragraphs.

4. Find a Matching Cover Letter Design

Don’t forget to use the same colors, shapes, icons, and the design you used for the resume to design your cover letter. Thankfully, most resume templates usually come with a matching cover letter design, which you can use to craft a cover letter that’s consistent with your resume.

5. Avoid Cliches and Generic Terms

Overall, try to avoid using common cliches and generic terms that just make you look like an amateur. For example, avoid terms like aspiring, hardworking, guru, etc.

Try to be as honest as possible. Don’t try to bloat your resume with nonsense, employers can spot those pretenders from just a glimpse at the resume.

6. Make a Strong Opening Statement

Begin your resume with a compelling summary or objective statement that grabs the reader’s attention. Summarize your key qualifications and highlight what sets you apart from other candidates. And focus on showcasing your unique value proposition.

7. Highlight Relevant Skills and Certifications

Include a dedicated skills section that highlights your relevant technical, soft, and transferable skills. Additionally, showcase any relevant certifications or professional development courses you have completed to demonstrate your commitment to continuous learning and industry expertise.

8. Incorporate Relevant Keywords

Pay close attention to keywords and phrases used in the job description. Integrate them naturally throughout your resume, especially in the skills and experience sections. This increases the likelihood of your resume passing through ATS (Applicant Tracking System) and catching the attention of hiring managers.

9. Showcase Relevant Projects or Portfolio

If possible, include a section that showcases relevant projects or a link to your portfolio. This allows employers to see examples of your work and assess your skills directly.

10. Show Your Personality

Let your personality shine through in your resume by adding a personal touch. This can be done through a well-crafted summary statement or a brief section highlighting your interests and hobbies. However, ensure that these personal elements remain relevant to the job and industry.

Looking for more designs? Check out our best CV and resume templates collection for premium templates with professional designs.