Resume format in Word

You do not need to find a template, fight with tables, or pay to unlock a download. Fill in your details once and download the same resume as a Word file or a PDF:

1. Open the resume builder on your phone or laptop. There is no sign-up.
2. Choose “My first resume” or “I have work experience”, or start from one of the samples below.
3. Fill in one section at a time. The live preview shows the page as you type.
4. On the last step, Review, pick a layout: Modern, ATS Classic or Compact.
5. Tap Download Word (.docx). The file is saved as First-Last-Resume.docx, for example Sneha-Agarwal-Resume.docx.

The Word file is made in your browser from the same details as the PDF, in the same order, so the two always match. Nothing is uploaded: your draft stays on your device, and you can come back, change a line and download again.

This is the order the Word file follows. Freshers put education before experience; people with work experience lead with it. See the resume format for freshers and the resume format for experienced people for what to write in each part.

1. 1

   Name

   The first line, in Word’s Title style. No “Resume” or “CV” heading above it.

2. 2

   Headline and contact line

   The job you want, then phone, email, city and LinkedIn on one line, separated by “|”. Plain text in the page itself, not in Word’s header area.

3. 3

   Career Objective or Professional Summary

   Two or three lines on who you are and the job you want. Ready lines: career objective examples.

4. 4

   Experience

   Job title, company and city, then the dates on the next line, then 2–4 bullets with what you achieved.

5. 5

   Education

   Degree, college and years, with CGPA or percentage on the same line. Freshers add Class 12 and Class 10 with the board.

6. 6

   Projects, Skills, Certifications, Achievements

   Short sections with plain words. Group skills as Technical, Soft Skills and Languages. See skills for your resume.

Every section heading in the file uses Word’s built-in Heading 2 style. Applicant tracking systems (ATS), screen readers and Word’s own Navigation pane use these styles to find sections. If you add a section, pick Heading 2 from the Styles gallery instead of making text bold and big by hand.

Bullets are real Word lists, not typed “•” characters, so pressing Enter after a bullet starts a new one with the same indent. The page is A4, the font is Calibri, and there are no tables, text boxes, columns, icons or photos — the things that most often scramble a resume when software reads it. More on that in the ATS-friendly resume guide.

Both files come from the same resume, so this is only about how you send it. The honest answer: follow the job post first. If it asks for a .doc or .docx, send Word. If it says PDF, send PDF. If it says nothing, these rules work for most people in India:

• Send the PDF for online applications. It looks the same on every phone and laptop, the fonts are built into the file, and every job portal accepts it. A PDF with real, selectable text — like the one meracvresume.com makes — can be read by applicant tracking systems.
• Send Word when someone needs to edit it. Placement cells, recruitment consultancies and some HR teams ask for Word so they can add their logo or reformat it for a client.
• Keep the Word file for yourself. It is easy to change a line for each job, print at a cyber café, or ask a friend to correct your English.
• Never send a scanned photo of a printed resume. Software cannot read a picture of text, and it looks careless.

Google Docs opens Word files directly, so you do not need a separate “Google Docs template”. To edit your resume in Google Docs:

1. Download the Word (.docx) file from the builder.
2. Open Google Drive (drive.google.com or the Drive app) and tap New → File upload. Choose the .docx file.
3. Open it, then tap Open with → Google Docs. Headings, bullets and the A4 page size are kept.
4. Edit what you need. To send it, use File → Download → PDF document (.pdf) or Microsoft Word (.docx).

Send the downloaded file, not a Google Docs link. Recruiters often cannot open shared links from their office systems, and a link can be changed or deleted after you apply.

Applying for a government, PSU or offline job that asks for a photo, date of birth and a declaration? Use the biodata format for job instead: it adds those parts and also downloads in Word. For the closing line itself, see declaration for resume.

Open a sample in the builder, replace every detail with your own, then tap Download Word (.docx) on the Review step. You can switch between the three layouts before downloading; your details stay the same.

Choose हिंदी as the resume language on the Review step to print the section headings in Hindi; your own text is kept exactly as you typed it, in English or Devanagari. The Word file uses Calibri for English and Noto Sans Devanagari for Hindi text.

If Hindi words show as boxes on a computer, that computer is missing a Devanagari font. Install Noto Sans Devanagari (free from Google Fonts), or select the Hindi text and change the font to Nirmala UI or Mangal, which come with Windows. For online applications, an English resume is still the safer choice, because job software reads English more reliably — see English or Hindi resume.