Best Font for Resume What Font Should a Resume Be

Best Font for Resume â€" What Font Should a Resume Be Best Font for Resume: What Font Should a Resume Be? Picking a resume font may seem unimportant, but its sometimes the difference between landing an interview and missing out. Build My Resume Now There’s no such thing as a single best resume font. Picking an appropriate font for your resume depends on two main factors: your professional industry, and the degree of formality a company expects. To help you choose a professional resume font for your particular application, here’s a concise infographic outlining the 10 best professional fonts for resumes: 9 out of 10 employers dont discriminate against resume fonts â€" loving fonts of all serifs. We’ve also written more about each resume font, to help you learn which font is best suited for jobs in particular industries. In no particular order, here are the 10 best fonts for resume writing (with a text example under each section): Times New Roman Cambria Georgia Garamond Helvetica Calibri Didot Arial Narrow Trebuchet MS Lato 1. Times New Roman Times New Roman is one of the most commonly used resume fonts, and for good reason: it’s highly professional, and a safe choice for any industry. However, hiring managers see it all the time, so if you’re looking for a font that will help you stand apart from other candidates, you’re better off using something else. That said, if you need a timeless font for your resume that couldn’t possibly offend anyone, Times New Roman is a good choice. Text Example 2. Cambria Basic and highly legible, Cambria is a professional font for resumes of all types. While it’s designed to look good on a monitor, it’s also specially designed to be readable at small sizes, making it easy to read when printed out. Despite being a recently created font, Cambria still feels traditional, so it works well for job seekers applying to more formal industries. Use this font if: you’re applying for a job in traditional fields such as law, academia, banking, or accounting. Text Example 3. Georgia Classic and refined, Georgia is a great serif font for your resume. It has a timeless, professional appearance â€" similar to Times New Roman â€" but distinguishes itself by being a little more fun. And since it’s used by companies like the New York Times and Amazon, its familiar to most readers. One downside, however, is that Georgia is a little thick compared with other good resume fonts. If you lack space, consider choosing something else. Tip Don’t forget to use the same font on your resume on your matching cover letter template to keep your application consistent. Use this font if: you’re applying for a job in a creative field like graphic design, publishing, or photography. Text Example 4. Garamond Dating from the 15th or 16th century, Garamond is a classic serif font with over half a millenium of history. It’s among the best fonts to use for a resume since it’s recognizable and easy to read. Like a fine wine, Garamond has aged well, and holds its own against modern alternatives. Better yet, recruiters rarely see Garamond used as a resume font, making it a great option if you want to stand out. As a classic and readable style, this resume font is usable for applications in the majority of industries. There’s a good reason it’s been around for 500 years (and counting), after all. Text Example 5. Helvetica Stylish and easy to read, Helvetica is a contemporary sans serif typeface for your resume â€" and it’s a favorite of recruiters and hiring managers everywhere. Known for its use on signs throughout the New York Subway, its polished, clear, and professional aesthetic is sure to impress anyone lucky enough to receive your application. Helvetica is preinstalled on Apple computers, but you’ll need to acquire it separately if you’re using Microsoft Windows. Use this font if: you’re applying for a job in a relatively modern field, such as sales, office work, or customer service. Text Example 6. Calibri Tasteful and modern, Calibri is a standard resume font. It’s used as the default font in Microsoft Word and Gmail, so hiring managers will already be quite familiar with it by the time your resume lands in their hands. Tip If you do send your application by email, your resume format will remain the same. However, you’ll need a slightly different cover letter format, so it’s important to learn how to structure an email cover letter before sending out your application. Calibri was also designed to have a warm and soft character, according to its designer, Lucas de Groot. Use this font if: you’re applying to positions where you’ll be taking care of others, such as teaching, hospitality, and nursing. Text Example 7. Didot Didot is a good resume font, but it’s best used for your header â€" normally either your name or resume headline. You should use a different font for the body to make the text more readable. This modern resume font makes your name or resume headline pop off the page. However, its thin strokes make it difficult to read at smaller font sizes. For this reason, you shouldnt use Didot in your body text. It looks best as a resume header font paired with Garamond or Book Antiqua in the body. Text Example 8. Arial Narrow Next to Times New Roman, Arial is one of the most popular fonts for resumes. Classic and simple, it’s used by professionals in just about every industry. But we decided to include Arial Narrow specifically. This specialized font can help you tighten things when your resume is just spilling onto a second or third page and you want to make it fit. The text will remain readable too. Use this font if: you’re struggling to fit your resume onto a single page. Text Example 9. Trebuchet MS Trebuchet MS is another friendly, rounded san serif typeface for resumes. It’s thicker than other good resume fonts, which means it’s great for entry-level job seekers trying to fill up a single page with their experience, resume skills, and accomplishments. Its thickness also means it has high readability â€" making it a favorite of recruiters across most industries. Use this font if: you’re an entry-level job applicant or have little experience. Trebuchet MS’s modern, friendly appearance also makes it a good choice for marketing, sales, and social media roles. Text Example 10. Lato Released in 2015, Lato is a newcomer to the world of fonts and has a serious but friendly style. It was specifically created for corporate use, so its now a standard font for resumes in 2020. Additionally, its modern sans serif design makes it easy to read and is sure to draw the eyes of an employer going through a stack of resumes. As a recent addition, it’s not preinstalled on many computers. It might not show up properly if you send your application as a Word file, or include it in your email body text. Tip To preserve your font choices, use Microsoft Word to save (or “print”) your resume as a PDF. Embed your font choices into the PDF file by following these steps. The hiring manager will see the font as it’s supposed to appear. Use this font if: you’re applying for a corporate job or a tech role, such as in IT or web development. Text Example Choosing the Right Resume Font Size Wondering what the best font size for your resume is? Generally, the best font size is between 10 and 12, depending on the font you’re using and your space requirements. However, readability is the most important consideration when choosing the font size for your resume. So while an 11-point font looks aesthetically pleasing for most font styles, the truth is that each font varies. In short, there’s no real standard resume font size. To achieve a perfect balance, first choose a font style, then adjust its size. Tip Don’t make the mistake of letting page length dictate font size. Avoid making your font bigger than size 12 just to fill empty space! Similarly, don’t make the text so small the reader has to squint. If your resume exceeds a page by just a few words or a sentence, try using synonyms or rewriting sentences to make them shorter. If you can’t shorten your resume by rewriting it, try adjusting the margin and font size to fit a single page. Takeaways â€" Best Font and Size for Your Resume Your best choice for resume font is to use one of the fonts we’ve listed, and to stick to a font size between 10.5 and 12 points. Now you know what a good font for your resume is (and what size font to use), you’re ready to start writing your own. Tip For more information on how to present your resume on a page, our resume margins page will give you the full lowdown on margins and colors. And for inspiration on the actual content, take a look at some of our resume samples, which cater to all industries. Or just use our resume builder to create your own resume in minutes, the choice is yours. Happy job hunting!