What Font Should Your Resume Be Written In

Before You Submit Another Resume Make Sure Youre Using One Of These Recruiter

A professional font will improve your odds of getting seen.

Would you ever sign a lease that was handwritten in crayon? How about a contract that was put together ransom-note style? Unless you enjoy playing with fire, were going to guess your answers are no and no. In fact, well bet you wouldnt even bother to read them. That’s why it’s important to determine the best font for resume readability. This goes for resume font size too.

Think about it. When it comes to official paperwork, appearancespecifically, the fontcan go a long way in projecting significance. Had crayons been invented in 1776, do you think Thomas Jefferson wouldve considered using them to write the Declaration of Independence? Probably not. Among the many likely reasons he used a quill and ink, Jefferson knew that when people evaluate a documents authority, they look at the design as well as the content itself.

Your resume, which communicates your skills, assets, and hire-ability, also needs to project professionalism. Recruiters take six seconds to decide whether or not to toss your resume, so the right resume font and resume font size make;a big difference. If a recruiter cant read your words, or is put off by a funky font, you wont even get a second look.

So whats a surefire way you can hold a recruiters attention for those six precious and precarious seconds?

Sending Email Cover Letters

The information above applies primarily to instances where you are sending a traditional cover letter by snail mail or when you are sending a formal cover letter as a Word or PDF attachment to an email message.

Copying and pasting a cover letter into the body of an email message may change the formatting, making it difficult to read for an employer who may have a different computer system.

The safest thing to do when you are copying and pasting your cover letter into an email is to remove the formatting and reformat it as plain text. Send a copy to yourself before you send it to an employer to double-check that it reads correctly.

Select The Right Resume Font Size

The optimal font size for your resume is anything between 10 and 12 points. The size you choose will be largely determined by how the font size impacts your resume layout. Because it is best practice to keep your resume to one or two pages, begin with size 10 font and experiment with sizing up if you think you have space.

While it may be tempting to keep your entire resume on one page, avoid dropping your font size below 10 points. This will make your document hard on the readers eyes. If your resume is two pages or longer at a 10 point font, edit your resume content to create more concise ideas by removing any unnecessary words or phrases. Only the most relevant content that best displays your skills and experiences consistent to the job should remain.

For example, heres a resume sentence that can be shortened:

• Performed inventory audits on a monthly basis and discovered issues with over-orderingexecuted an organization solution across all teams which resulted in a 10% increase in revenue over the next two quarters.

Make your ideas concise and remove filler words to include only the core value of your statement:

• Performed regular inventory audits, identifying and solving over-ordering problem to achieve 10% revenue increase.

Here are a few other ways you can consolidate your resume:

Read more: How to Decide the Length of Your Resume;

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Try To Have Some White Space Left Over

Lastly, having some breathing room on your resume also helps with skimming. Different amounts of white space can signal to the reader that this is a different section or help emphasize the importance of something, such as your name or skills. And overall, it just makes the whole document less overwhelming.

Having your resume skimmed is a fact of life as you apply for jobs. So, make sure you maximize the experience and make it as easy as possible for the recruiter to find the right informationand send you along to the next step of the process.

Lily Zhang is a career counselor at the MIT Media Lab, where she works with a range of students from AI experts to interaction designers on crafting their own unique career paths. When shes not indulging in a new book or video game, shes thinking about, talking about, or writing about careers. You can find her on , , and her website.

Resume Fonts & Sizes:

• The most common font to use is Times New Roman, in black and size 12;points.
• Other serif fonts to consider that are easy to read include: Georgie, Bell MT, Goudy Old Style, Garamond.
• Popular sans serif fonts include Arial, Tahoma, Century Gothic, and Lucida Sans.
• Any of the above;fonts would be reasonable for a resume as long as you consistently use one font only.
• Make your headings and name stand out, think of your resume like a blog post or newspaper article.
• Make headlines bold, Italicise, CAPITALISE, or underline. And feel free to increase the font size to 14-16 points.
• Try and keep your resume to one page,;leave the reader wanting to know more.

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Characteristics Of The Best Fonts For Resume

Fonts come with specific features that can determine and affect the perspective of the reader. A specific font comes in different:

• Sizes
• Visual design
• Whether a font is serif or sans serif

The first three characteristics can be adjusted by the writer for any font. For example, with the font Times New Roman, the writer can elect to use a size 8, bolded, and in blue color. The last two characteristics, however, are inherent to each font and a user cannot change how the font looks in respect to those features.

The only way to change a basic font design is to select a different font. Depending on the type of resume, as well as the job industry and job typeInvestment Banking Job DescriptionThis Investment Banking Job description outlines the main skills, education, and work experience required to become an IB analyst or associate, there are a wide array of fonts to select from.

What Are The Most Popular Resume Formats

The three most common resume formats are chronological, functional and combination. When deciding which resume format you should use, consider your professional history and the role youre applying for. For example, if you have limited work experience, you might instead focus on academic work, volunteer positions or apprenticeships with a functional resume instead of a chronological resume, which prioritizes job history.In the next sections, well explore each resume format type in detail, including which is best based on common job search situations.

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How To Choose The Best Resume Fonts

Why Is Font Important

Your resume is used to present your skills and qualifications for a job opening that you want to get, so it needs to project an air of professionalism. You do not want a recruiter to be put off from reading your resume because they would need to spend an hour deciphering it.

There are five types of fonts that each have their characteristics, but the best and most legible types for resume use are:

• Serif .
• Sans serif .

Serif fonts may be easier to read, as the little lines help the brain to compute what it is reading a little faster, but sans serif fonts are more modern which suits today’s more minimalist, limited-character-driven style.

While you do want your font to be easily read, you should still have your resume stand out in some way. The most common font style for resumes is Times New Roman, 12 points. However, it can get quite boring for recruiters to see the same style all the time. So, instead of just using the default font on your laptop or PC, here are some alternative fonts that look great on resumes.

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Does Your Resume Font Really Matter

Imagine an ad for a sleek, ultra-thin cell phone. What kind of design and font do you picture in the marketing materials?

You probably dreamed up something as slender and condensed as the phone itself. You wouldnt expect a marketing team to use anything flowery, ornate, or thick and bold if theyre trying to get customers to think thin:

Image courtesy of Apple.com

Now imagine an ad for a fantasy novel. How would the words pop on the page?

You probably didnt imagine something traditional and straightforward, right? If youre going to dive into a fairy tale universe packed with dragon-slayers and towering castles, youll probably expect to see a font with a few flourishes and curlicues.

When you craft your resume, think of yourself as a marketing team of one. Youre designing for the recruiters or employers first impression of you with your cover letter and resume. Youre selling yourself in every aspect of your self-branding, from content to timeliness and format.

When your name lands on an employers desk or in their inbox, you want them to come away with a great impression of you! They arent seeing you in person, and there are no other context clues to give them any other ideas than what you present them witheven something as seemingly small as format or font. Because everything they see about you will be written in your chosen font, it will make a much bigger difference than you might imagine!

Other Resume Typography And Design Tips

Try to avoid long wordy chunks of text as they are off-putting for employers. They simply dont want to wade through wordy paragraphs. Use visual aids such as headings, bullet points, columns, and bold, to break down the text into more digestible pieces. Read this guide on how to write a good resume for more tips.

Whichever font and font size you use for your resume and however you format it, make sure the style is consistent throughout. If the font size, line spacing, margin size, or anything else isnt uniform it looks sloppy and suggests you lack attention to detail.

What are the best colors for your resume? You can use color sparingly one your resume to strategically highlight important parts of your resume and to make it look more attractive. Use a simple color scheme and avoid using inappropriate colors.

Using resume templates;is the most time-effective way of ensuring that your resume is easy-on-the eye. They have been professionally designed and there are industry-specific templates which are quick and easy to edit.

Designing a resume which stands out can be difficult for those without design skills and it can be time-consuming. Professional resume templates allow you to spend less working on your resume, and more time applying for jobs.

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What Is The Most Professional Font For A Resume

Common Resume Fonts

• The most common font used is black Times New Roman at 12 points in size.
• Other serif fonts, those that have tails, that work well include Cambria, Georgia, Garamond, Book Antiqua, and Didot.

Secondly, What is a professional summary for resume?

A resume summary, also known as a professional summary or summary statement, is a short description at the top of your resume that describes your experience, qualities and skills. Including a resume summary allows you to showcase your strongest assets right away.

Also Does font matter on a resume? When youre writing your resume, your font choice does matter. Its important to opt for a basic fontchoose one that both hiring managers and applicant management systems can easily read. Your resume is no place to use difficult-to-read cursive, handwriting-style, or calligraphy fonts.

In fact What is the most professional font?

Many world-renowned companies use logos that are based on Helveticathis is probably the most professional font of all times.

• Helvetica font.
• Proxima Nova font.

Use Bullet Points Where Appropriate

Using bullet points in your experience, skills or education sections allows employers to easily read the most relevant information from your background. Bullet points should be used to list your achievements. Avoid using only one or two bullet points in a single section if you have less than three pieces of information, simply list them without bullets in sentence form or use other punctuation to separate different ideas.

For example, when describing a role youve held in the experience section of your resume, you would use bullets to communicate how you were successful in that role:

• Consistently operated overhead cranes, hoists, power tools and other project equipment safely
• Anticipated needs of 11 on-site workers and delivered parts to 23 field technicians

• Completed weekly service reports, time cards and other related project equipment paperwork

In the education section, you might not have three or more ideas to share, so it might look something like this without bullet points:

CORAL SPRINGS UNIVERSITY, May 2020Juris Doctor

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Putting It All Together

Ultimately, the best font for a resume is one thats readable and conveys the right tone. Each of the ones listed above has something a bit different to offer. Plus, they are widely available, so you may not have to download any new fonts to make sure your resume is on point.

Just make sure you aim for the right size range and follow other resume best practices. Leave enough white space, make sure your headers stand out, and, of course, dont forget to put your contact information front-and-center. That way, your resume can stand out for all of the right reasons.

Good luck!

What Is The Smallest Font You Can Use On A Resume

The smallest font to use on a resume is 10.5 points. Even 10.5 may be too small because some fonts are simply bigger than others. If your font size is too small, the hiring manager will have trouble reading your resume. Arial Narrow at 10.5 is the smallest font and font size combination that looks good on a resume.

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What Are The Best Resume Fonts 2021

Which are the best resume fonts 2021 in serif? Which is the best font for resume in sans serif?

Serif fonts are easier to read. The little brush strokes on each letter help our brain in faster reading.

But, sans-serifs are used as best resume fonts for their contemporary look. They integrate seamlessly with modern resume designs.

Professional Fonts In Word Or Other Software

There are certain commonly used professional fonts in Word, the popular Microsoft application, and others more often used in Google applications and Apple platforms.Free-form Word software allows for a lot of freedom in choosing your resume font, but the breadth of options can also breed confusion. Choosing good CV fonts is complicated by the fact that the formatting in Word documents can look different on your device than on someone elses. What looks fine on your PC with a 10-point Arial font may look really bad on someone elses iPhone. This is why the PDF file format is usually best for preserving the exact visualimpression you want to convey with fonts, since PDFs lock your design in place so that it will look the same on any device.

In some methods of creating resumes, like online resume builders, good resume fonts are usually matched up by professional designers with the resume templates where they will be most effective. Using a pre-designed template takes the guesswork out of the process, since an expert designer has already chosen a good font to use for your resume. All you need to do is choose an appropriate; template category;based on your occupation, follow the appropriate profession; example guide, and youre good to go.

If youd like any help, look to resume.io for professionally formatted resume templates that have pre-selected fonts and font sizes for your documents. All you have to do is the writing!

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Resume Format : Combination Resumes

A combination resume is a blend of the chronological and functional resume types. This resume format allows you to emphasize both your work experience and relevant skills. Because your skills and employment history will consume most of your resume space, you may need to eliminate optional sections such as a summary statement, volunteer work or special interests.

A combination resume format usually includes the following information in this order:

• Contact information
• Summary of most relevant skills
• Work experience

• Education

The combination resume is a more flexible format, so you should list either your skills or your work experience first depending on which you consider more important for the role. For example, if you have many unique skills that are especially valuable to the industry in which youre applying to work, you might consider listing them above your work experience. It can also be helpful to look for clues in the job posting to understand what is most important for the employer in an ideal candidate.