We all love to use resume fonts that complement our personalities or suit our profession. However, your gorgeous swirly font or carefully selected Serif may produce an unexpected result. In terms of font selection, a number of different factors need to be considered to make the best possible impression. For example, some fonts were immensely popular at the turn of the century but have since gone grossly out of style.
That’s why I decided to take an in-depth look at the best font for a resume and how to make sure that you stand out!
How People Commit Text To Memory?
A flashy font may allow your application to be memorable for its appearance, but most of the time, you would rather have them remember the content than what it looked like. Yes, some will meticulously read through your resume and made notes of the important parts.
However, some will skim through many resumes and then return to the ones they view as important – or in some cases, those that contained information they remember to be important. If at any point, the text is somewhat illegible, they will likely gloss over it to anything else that is clearer and easier to read. If text is understood, beyond just reading, it will have a better chance of being committed to memory.
Consider Your Audience
Whoever is going to read your resume will do so either in print or digitally via computer, tablet, or cellphone. You can not anticipate which it will be, but you can account for the two most likely scenarios; printed or on a computer screen.
Furthermore, those who receive your resume could likely have some vision impairment, and so they may need reading glasses or may have a disorder such as dyslexia. Of course, everyone doesn’t have an eye condition, but regardless, improving the readability of your text will be helpful.
Small details
The recommendation for possible readers with dyslexia is to make your fonts Sans Serif. Serif fonts refer to fonts such as this Times New Roman font. They all present an added “tail” near the edges of each letter. This article is written in Sans Serif, creating a “cleaner” or minimalistic look.
Dyslexic readers have less trouble with Sans Serif fonts as letters are not grouped together as tightly. If you feel up to it, you may even decide to increase the letter spacing. You can choose to increase it by three to five points if you wish. You can play with the line spacing.
Size matters
The final aspect of this is to consider the best size of font for your resume. Professionally, font sizes between 10 and 12 are acceptable, with larger headings and sub-headings.
However, dyslexic readers are more comfortable with fonts between 12 and 14. It is up to you how you would like to approach this. Some fonts are clean and clear, but others are simply too light or too thin when used in smaller font sizes.
And so does the background…
You have to consider this when you choose the background colors of your resume. A bright yellow will pop nicely on black and grey, but nothing will be as crystal clear as a black font on a white background. In any event, your resume may very well be printed in black and white even when it contains color – this will affect readability too.
Outdated Fonts
In many corporate settings and in academia, Comic Sans will induce laughter, anxiety, or even perhaps, rage! Ok, that might be an exaggeration, but in any case, that font will not do you any favors.
There was a point in time when homeowners across the globe would use this very font to leave anonymous, passive-aggressive notes in their neighbor’s mailbox, the church fundraiser pamphlet, and Little Timmy’s birthday invitation was covered in “Word Art” with it as the body of text. It is all very early 2000s, and there is no reason not to use it (if you really have to!), but preferably not on your resume.
In essence, it just cannot be taken seriously. This also seems to ring true for most fonts that appear to be “handwritten” or “swirly.”
Headings and subheadings
You can choose a slightly different font and use Bold and Italics for these on top of increasing the font size, just to create some division between sections. This will help the reader navigate to areas of interest, and the parts of your resume that will be of most use to the role they may possibly wish you to fill.
How To Choose?
We know that there are commonly used fonts for resumes, but to recap, you will need the following:
- Sans Serif.
- Clear/not swirly.
- Not too thin or faded.
- Definitely not Comic Sans.
Some that meet these criteria
- Arial
- Calibri
- Garamond
- Helvetica
- Verdana
- Tahoma
- Century Gothic
- Trebuchet
More On Creating Your Resume!
We’ll first touch on a few articles found on our website such as my How To List Education On A Resume, and How To List References On A Resume, along with my Most Important Skills To Put On A Resume, my Achievements To List On Your Resume, and how to list Job Titles On Resume.
Next, why not try a few online guides on the matter. We found the Resume Writing: 10 Ridiculously Simple Tips, the English for Academic CVs, Resumes, and Online Profiles, or perhaps the Resume Format Guide, as well as the Resume Formats book, and Land Your Dream Job: Join the 2% Who Make it Past Resumé Screening.
To help optimize your online profile, including your CV, we recommend reading the CVs, Resumes, and LinkedIn: A Guide to Professional English, and How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile… And 18 Mistakes to Avoid, or how to Ignite Your LinkedIn Profile, and finally the LinkedIn Profile Optimization For Dummies, all available online in 2023.
Final Thoughts
Now that’s sorted, on to the next! Now that you know how to select the best font for your resume, you can move on to worrying about what to include in it, how to name it, and how to list your references!
Yes, it’s a lot, but don’t worry, just follow our advice, and you will soon have a flawless resume.
Good luck in your future job hunting!
