Element

Element is the template to choose when parsing reliability matters more than visual differentiation. Single-column layouts read top-to-bottom in a single flow, which is exactly how applicant tracking systems extract text. Two-column designs can interleave sidebar and main-column content when a parser reads by line rather than by block — usually harmless with modern systems, occasionally destructive with older ones. If you cannot find out what the employer uses, Element removes the variable entirely.

The four-page ceiling is unusual and deliberate. Most resume advice caps you at one or two pages, and for most commercial roles that advice is right. Academic CVs are the exception: publication lists, conference presentations, grant history, and teaching experience legitimately run long, and truncating them to fit an arbitrary limit costs you credit for real work. Element gives that content room without forcing you into a cramped two-column compromise.

The serif typography does quiet signalling work. In law, academia, government, and traditional finance, serif type reads as established and credible in a way that a geometric sans-serif does not. This is convention rather than logic, but hiring is full of convention, and matching your document to the sector you are applying into removes one small reason to hesitate over your application.

Because contact details sit in a fixed header rather than a movable sidebar, there is one less thing to get wrong. Recruiters scanning a stack of resumes look for your name and role in the top-left of the page first — Element puts them exactly where that scan expects them, every time.