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Classic · Single column · ATS 5/5

Timeless CV template

Name left, contact ranged right, and a date gutter running down the whole page.

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

The design

About the Timeless layout

Timeless divides the header rather than centring it — name and role on the left, contact details ranged right — and then gives every role and every degree its own left-hand date gutter, so a reader can follow your chronology down one edge without re-reading the job titles. Section headings are set in letterspaced capitals over a 2px rule that runs the full measure, the only heavy line on the page. Margins are wider than usual to hold the line length in the comfortable range even at the smallest font size.

Who it’s for

The readers and situations this layout was drawn for.

  • Managers with a long, linear career
  • Applications a person reads before a system does
  • Anyone with roles at several employers

Key features

What is actually different about this template on the page.

  • Split header with ranged-right contact details
  • Left date gutter for roles and degrees
  • Letterspaced capitals over a 2px rule
  • Wide margins for a comfortable line length

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 Timeless 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: Managers with a long, linear career.

Case 2

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.

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. Timeless has no photo slot to remove, so the same file works in every market you send it to.

Make it yours

Customising Timeless

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

Timeless ships with #334155 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.

Timeless: 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 Classic first, then designs with a similar ATS score from other families.

Academic CV

classic · one column

Pro

Classic Professional

classic · one column

Free

Elegant Serif

classic · one column

Pro

Executive Classic

classic · one column

Pro

Formal CV

classic · two columns

Pro

Government CV

classic · one column

Pro

Start your CV with Timeless

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 to start. A Pro or Lifetime plan unlocks this design and every other one.