Structured two-column resume templates that organize skills, contact details, and experience for scannable professional profiles.
Two-column layouts place contact details, skills, or certifications in a sidebar while keeping main experience readable in the primary column.
Use a two-column resume template when you want dense information organized without cluttering the page. MakeResume sidebar layouts separate supporting details from your career narrative so recruiters can scan skills and credentials quickly. For ATS-heavy applications, validate your export—some systems prefer single-column bodies—using our ATS checker before submitting.
These job-title examples use layouts from this category. Start from an example, switch to any template here, and tailor the wording before you export.
Information Technology (IT) — sample sections and bullet ideas you can reuse.
Engineering — sample sections and bullet ideas you can reuse.
Information Technology (IT) — sample sections and bullet ideas you can reuse.
Browse all resume examples by industry, or run your export through the ATS checker before you apply.
Start in the AI resume builder, pick a template, and validate formatting with the ATS checker. Need inspiration? Browse resume examples by job title, or compare resume formats to pick the right structure.
Sidebar layouts can work when the main experience column remains linear and parseable. Always test your export with an ATS checker before applying.
Candidates with strong skill sets, certifications, or multilingual abilities benefit from sidebar space without lengthening the main narrative.
Yes. MakeResume lets you change templates anytime while preserving your content.
Three situations are worth avoiding it outright. Federal and most government applications, where the expected format is long, linear, and detailed. Older or stricter applicant tracking systems, which can read a sidebar out of order and interleave it with your experience. And any application where you cannot test the parsed output first. If the posting is high-stakes and you are unsure how it will be processed, a single-column layout removes the risk entirely.
Keep the career narrative — roles, dates, and achievement bullets — in the main column so it parses in order. Use the sidebar for self-contained items that still make sense if read separately: contact details, skills, certifications, languages, and tools. Never split a single role's dates and bullets across the two columns.
Export the PDF, then copy all the text out of it and paste it into a plain text editor. That is roughly what a parser sees. If the sidebar content lands in a sensible place and your roles stay intact and in order, the layout is holding. If your skills appear scattered through your job history, switch to a single-column template.
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