"Modern resume" is one of the most common searches from people about to apply for a job, and one of the worst answered. Much of what circulates under that name consists of documents with icons, skill bars, circular photos and three colors, which are not modern but noisy. A recruiter recognizes them in a second, and an applicant tracking system frequently cannot read them.
What makes a resume modern is more discreet: a clear visual hierarchy, room for the text to breathe, a well-chosen sans-serif typeface and a section order that answers what the role asks for. This guide separates one from the other, describes the Modern template at chooseme (with its dark sidebar) and explains the risk that sidebar poses to an ATS and how to neutralize it.
In this guide
What makes a resume modern
The modernity of a resume is not in its ornaments but in how it organizes attention. Four decisions define it:
- Hierarchy. The name is largest; then the section headings; then the job titles in bold; and finally the body text. With those four levels the eye always knows where it is. If everything has the same weight, or if there are six levels, there is no hierarchy.
- Air. Margins of at least 0.75 inch, line spacing of 1.5 or more, and more space between sections than between bullets. White space is what makes a resume look organized before anyone reads it.
- Typography. A contemporary sans serif (DM Sans, Inter, Raleway, Work Sans) in one or two weights. A single family for the whole document; at most, a second one for the name and headings.
- Order. Sections appear in the order the role needs them: experience first for profiles with a track record, education first for recent graduates, a projects block when the role values it. The modern format does not impose an order; it adapts one.
On top of those four decisions can sit a color accent on the name and headings, or a sidebar that groups contact details, skills and languages. Those are options, not requirements. The classic resume, with its serif and centered header, shares the same discipline in a different tone.
A well-made modern resume can be switched to black and white, stripped of its sidebar and still be a good resume. If nothing is left once the design is removed, the design was not the problem.
What does not make it modern
Some devices appear in almost every free "modern" template and, in practice, subtract. None adds information, all consume space and several break automated parsing.
- Icons next to phone, email, location or each heading. The text already says what each item is. Passed through an ATS, they often become meaningless characters glued to the data.
- Bars, circles or stars for skill and language levels. "Excel 80%" means nothing verifiable, and the screening system cannot read it. A level in words (advanced, professional working proficiency, native) is understood.
- Large photos or circular crops with a colored frame. In the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada a photo does not belong on a resume at all; where it is customary, it is small and plain.
- Three or more colors, gradient backgrounds, illustrated timelines, "interests" graphics with pictograms. They turn the resume into an infographic and push the content aside.
- Decorative typefaces or mixes of three families. They trade legibility for a personality that does not belong on a hiring document.
The confusion comes from mixing two different things: the modern resume and the creative resume. The creative one makes sense in design, advertising or art direction, where the document also demonstrates visual judgment and comes with a portfolio. For every other role, "modern" means clean and current, not illustrated.
| Avoid | Better |
|---|---|
| Envelope, phone and pin icons before each contact detail | City, State · Phone · Email · LinkedIn on one line, separated by middle dots |
| Bars for "Excel 85%," "Spanish 70%" | "Excel (pivot tables, Power Query)" and "Spanish (professional working proficiency)" |
| A 1.5-inch circular photo with a teal border | No photo |
| Headings in blue, subheadings in green, name in orange | A single accent color on the name and headings; everything else in black and gray |
| Three typefaces: a script for the name, a serif and a sans | One sans serif in two weights for the whole document |
| A timeline with dots and arrows for experience | Title, company and dates in text, with three to five bullets per position |
The Modern template
Among the resume templates at chooseme, Modern is the one that applies this style with a dark sidebar. It uses DM Sans at 13 points with 1.6 line spacing, the name at 32 points and section headings separated by a heavy rule. The sidebar, on the left in a very dark gray, groups contact details, skills (shown as tags or chips) and languages. The wider main column carries the summary, experience and education.
The result has presence and a very clear hierarchy: the eye tells at a glance what is context (the sidebar) and what is track record (the column). The sidebar color can be changed with preset palettes (graphite, navy, burgundy, forest), which lets the tone match the field without touching the structure. It is a good choice for technology, product, marketing, startups and sales roles, where a resume with more visual character fits the company culture.
Because the content is independent of the template, the same resume can be viewed in Modern and, with one click, in a single-column template, so both versions are ready for whatever each process asks.
The ATS risk of the sidebar and how to mitigate it
Screening systems extract the text from the PDF and read it top to bottom. When the document has two columns, the order in which the system receives the text depends on how the file was built: in a PDF generated from a table or from loose text boxes, the sidebar and the main column can interleave line by line, and the skills end up mixed into the experience. The system then assigns data to the wrong field or discards what it cannot interpret.
Three measures bring that risk down to an acceptable level:
- Put in the sidebar only what does not depend on order. Contact details, skills and languages make sense even when read out of place. Experience, education and the summary, which need sequence, always go in the main column.
- Export a PDF with real text. The chooseme editor renders the sidebar as selectable text, not as an image or a table. Even so, it is worth checking the order by copying the text from the PDF and pasting it into a blank document: if it appears in a coherent sequence, the ATS will read it the same way.
- Keep a single-column version ready. For applications through online forms at large companies, where an ATS is a certainty, send the version without the sidebar; the Modern version is for direct email, LinkedIn and processes where a person opens the file.
The two-column resume guide goes deeper into how each system reads and which checks to run; the ATS-friendly resume guide covers the remaining technical rules.
When to choose a modern resume
The modern format fits fields where the company sees itself as current: technology, product, UX design, marketing, communications, startups, agencies, sales at consumer brands. It also works well for junior profiles, because the sidebar and the marked hierarchy give structure to a resume with little content.
It is best avoided, or used only in its single-column version, in traditional banking, law, government, healthcare and any process where the first reader is a screening system. In every case the rule is the same: it must be possible to remove the design without the resume losing anything.
Frequently asked questions
Does a modern resume include a photo?
Not in the United States, and not in the United Kingdom or Canada either, regardless of format. Many employers set aside resumes with photos to avoid bias claims. In some markets in Latin America and continental Europe a small, plain photo is customary; the template decides where it sits, not whether it belongs.
Are skill-level bars a problem?
Yes. They communicate nothing verifiable ("Excel 80%" has no reference point), they take up space and an ATS cannot read them. The alternative is the exact name of the skill and, for languages, a level in words such as professional working proficiency or native.
Does the Modern template pass ATS screening?
It lowers the risk when the sidebar holds only contact details, skills and languages and the PDF is exported with real text, as the chooseme editor does. For online-form applications at large companies, the safest option remains a single-column version with the same content.
Which typeface does a modern resume use?
A contemporary sans serif: DM Sans, Inter, Raleway, Work Sans or Helvetica, at 11 to 13 points. A single family in two weights is usually enough; a second family only for the name and headings. Never decorative typefaces or more than two families.
Are modern and creative resumes the same thing?
No. A modern resume is clean and current, with clear hierarchy and at most a color accent or a sidebar. A creative resume uses illustration, color and free composition, and only makes sense in design, advertising or art direction, alongside a portfolio and with a plain version kept in parallel.