Markdown resume template (and CV)
Open in the editor Opens as resume.md, ready to edit. Nothing is uploaded.
The shape of it — edit here, or open the full template
Result
Runs entirely in this tab. Open the full editor to work on a real document.
A resume is a document you edit under pressure, usually at night, usually against a deadline. Plain text removes the part where the layout breaks while you are doing it.
What this template assumes
A single column, reverse-chronological, with the most recent role first. It is the format every recruiter and every parser expects, and deviating from it costs more attention than it wins.
Bullets that say something
The difference between a resume that gets a reply and one that does not is usually specificity, not writing quality. Compare:
- Improved site performance
with:
- Cut the checkout bundle from 480 KB to 190 KB, taking mobile LCP
from 4.1 s to 1.6 s.
The second is the same length and says something falsifiable. Numbers, systems, and the size of the thing you touched — that is the content. If you cannot measure the outcome, name the scope instead: “used by six teams and 40+ services”.
Dates and formatting
Italics for the date-and-location line keeps it visually distinct from the bullets without needing a heading level of its own:
*Jan 2023 – present · Remote*
Use an en dash for the range and spell months as words. 01/2023-03/2026 reads
differently on either side of the Atlantic; Jan 2023 – Mar 2026 does not.
Exporting
Export → PDF prints through the browser, so the type and spacing you see in the
preview is what lands in the file. Set the document name before exporting — the
title becomes the filename, and yourname-resume.pdf is easier to find in a
recruiter’s downloads folder than untitled-1.pdf.
For agencies that demand an editable file, Export → Word produces a document that opens in Word, Pages and LibreOffice.
Keeping variants
Because it is one text file, a tailored version is a copy with lines removed. Keep the full-length master with everything you have ever done, and cut from it per application — much easier than remembering what you took out last time.
Common questions
- Why write a resume in Markdown rather than a word processor?
- Because the content and the appearance stop fighting. You edit one plain text file, and the layout is applied when you export. Tailoring it for a specific role becomes copying a file and deleting lines, rather than fixing every heading that shifted.
- How do I turn it into a PDF?
- Open it in the editor and choose Export → PDF, which uses your browser's print engine. The document title becomes the suggested filename, so name it something a recruiter can file — yourname-resume.pdf rather than document.pdf.
- Will an applicant tracking system read a Markdown resume?
- It never sees the Markdown. Export to PDF or Word first, and the result is ordinary text an ATS parses normally. Plain structure actually helps here: single-column layouts with real headings survive parsing far better than the multi-column designs that look good on screen.
- How long should it be?
- One page for under ten years of experience, two beyond that. The constraint is useful — cutting a Markdown file to length is a matter of deleting bullets, with none of the layout repair that makes people give up and shrink the font instead.
- Should I include a photo?
- It depends entirely on the country. Expected in much of continental Europe, actively discouraged in the US, UK and Ireland, where it invites discrimination complaints. Markdown can embed one, but check the local convention before you do.
- Can I keep it in version control?
- That is the strongest reason to use plain text. A resume in Git gives you a real history of what you claimed and when, clean diffs between the version you sent to two employers, and a branch per tailored variant.