Writing your resume in LaTeX: a beginner's guide
How a LaTeX resume is put together, the handful of commands you actually need, and how to edit one with a live preview and export a PDF.
LaTeX is a typesetting system that turns a plain-text file into a precisely laid-out document. Many engineers, scientists and academics write their resumes in it because the result is consistent, easy to version, and looks the same every time.
You do not need to learn all of LaTeX to write a resume. This guide covers the parts that matter.
The shape of a LaTeX resume
Every LaTeX document has two parts:
- The preamble, before
\begin{document}, sets up the page: paper size, font size, margins and any custom commands. - The body, between
\begin{document}and\end{document}, holds your content.
\documentclass[letterpaper,11pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=0.6in]{geometry}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref}
\begin{document}
{\LARGE \textbf{Alex Morgan}} \\
alex@example.com | +1 (555) 014-2200 | San Francisco, CA
\section{Experience}
\textbf{Northwind Analytics} \hfill San Francisco, CA \\
\textit{Senior Data Analyst} \hfill \textit{Mar 2023 -- Present}
\begin{itemize}
\item Built a metrics layer covering 120+ KPIs.
\end{itemize}
\end{document}
The commands you will use most
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
\section{Experience} |
A section heading |
\textbf{...}, \textit{...} |
Bold and italic text |
\begin{itemize} \item ... \end{itemize} |
A bulleted list |
\hfill |
Pushes what follows to the right edge (dates, locations) |
\\ |
Ends a line |
\href{https://...}{label} |
A clickable link |
-- |
An en dash, as in 2021 -- 2023 |
Special characters
A few characters have special meaning in LaTeX and need a backslash to appear as text: \%, \$, \&, \# and \_. For example, "grew revenue 20%" is written grew revenue 20\%.
Custom commands keep entries consistent
Most resume templates define their own commands in the preamble, so every job entry looks the same:
\newcommand{\entry}[4]{\textbf{#1} \hfill #2 \\ \textit{#3} \hfill \textit{#4}}
You then write \entry{Northwind Analytics}{San Francisco, CA}{Senior Data Analyst}{Mar 2023 -- Present} for each role. Changing the definition restyles every entry at once.
Editing with a live preview
Traditionally you compile LaTeX with a TeX installation or an online editor and wait for the PDF. Resume Studio renders the resume-oriented subset of LaTeX directly in your browser as you type, so the preview updates instantly, and nothing is uploaded.
- Start from one of the templates and replace the content with your own.
- Double-click any text in the preview to jump to its line in the source.
- Use Insert to add an experience entry, project, bullet list or link that matches the commands your document already defines.
- Prefer forms? Switch the editor to Form to fill in fields; Resume Studio writes the LaTeX for you, and you can switch back at any time.
Exporting
Download PDF saves a PDF with real, selectable text that applicant tracking systems can read. Download .tex source gives you the LaTeX file itself, which also builds with any standard TeX distribution, so you are never locked in. When an application site asks for Word or for pasted text, use Download Word (.docx) or Copy as plain text from the export menu.
Next: make sure your resume parses cleanly with How to write an ATS-friendly resume.