The Best Font Size and Type for Resumes

The Best Font Size and Type for Resumes The Best Font Size and Type for Resumes When you’re writing your resume, your font choice does matter. Its important to opt for a basic font â€" choose 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. Why Does Resume Font Choice Matter? There are a few reasons why its important to keep the font on your resume simple. First of all, many of them are read by the applicant tracking systems and not by people. Those systems work best reading text rather than fancy formatting. Its not just the machines that benefit from easily readable text â€" human eyes also find it easier. Dont Make the Size Too Small Make it easy for hiring managers and potential interviewers to read through your entire resume. Choose a font size thats between 10 and 12. This will ensure that no one has to squint to read through all the information on this important document. Hiring managers and recruiters typically spend seconds glancing at each resume before moving it to the “yes” or “no” pile. Make your resume difficult to read, and you might wind up losing out on an opportunity that would have been perfect for you. The Best Resume Font Type to Use Basic bookprint fonts like Arial, Verdana, Calibri, and Times New Roman work well. However, if you are applying to a position in graphic design or advertising (where resume layout and design might be part of your assessment), employers might be open to alternative fonts. You can make section headers a little larger or bold. And dont forget about white space, too. Keep side margins a standard width. Make your name stand out. Your name (which should be placed at the top of your resume) can be slightly larger. Be Consistent Dont overuse capitalization, bold, italics, underlines, or other emphasizing features. Again, basic works best. Do be consistent in your formatting. For example, if you bold one section heading, bold them all. Make sure all your bullet points are indented the same amount, and that alignment and spacing throughout is consistent. How to Select a Font Select a font from the list at the top of your document before you start writing your resume. OR: Type your resume.Highlight the resume.Either select the font from the pop-up window or select the font from the list at the top of the document.Select the font size you want to use the same way. Confirming Your Font Choice Hiring managers may read your resume on screen, but its also quite likely that theyll print out a copy of your resume. So after you have selected a font and font size, it is always wise to print out a copy of your resume. Take a look at your printed resume to see if its easy to scan through. If you have to squint to read, or find the font appears cramped, choose a different one or select a larger size. Bottom line: You want anyone who sees your resume to be able to easily read it. If you can read the document yourself, and youre not using a novelty font (e.g., comic sans, a handwriting font, etc.), youve probably made a good choice. More Resume Style Tips Be consistent. Your resume, cover letter, and other application materials should look like they’re part of the same package. Choose the same font throughout, and make consistent choices about font size, margin width, and formatting.Don’t get fancy. With a few exceptions (such as graphic design or advertising jobs, as mentioned above) it’s best to keep your resume simple. Creative resumes may put off the hiring manager … or get stuck in the applicant tracking system and never make it a human HR person. Remember: the goal is to impress the reader with your skills and experience, not your resume style choices. Aiming for one page? Don’t tweak your font size to meet your goal. Writing a resume isn’t like writing an essay in school. You can’t squeak in under the wire by making your font larger or smaller. Plus, resume length is less important than resume content. You can always develop a one-page version to hand out at networking events and job fairs, and keep the longer version for other job searching purposes.