Apart from your content material, utilizing among the best fonts in your resume could enable you get a recruiter’s consideration. Research have proven recruiters usually scan a resume for six to thirty seconds earlier than deciding if an applicant is match for a task.
With only some seconds to exhibit your {qualifications} for a place, each element counts – together with the font you employ. The query is, what are one of the best resume fonts to go the six to thirty-seconds scan?
We requested HubSpot recruiters to disclose the seven finest fonts in your resume and what they think about by way of design so your resume can stand out in a pile.
Skilled Recommendation on Selecting the Proper Font
Does Utilizing The Finest Resume Fonts Even Matter?
Featured Useful resource: 12 Free Resume Templates
Skilled Recommendation on Selecting the Proper Font
To evoke a way of favor, professionalism, and uniqueness, you could put effort and consideration into your font selection. When talking with recruiters, it shortly turned obvious that basic fonts are nonetheless one of the best choices.
“I’m an enormous fan of the ‘classics’ for resumes – Occasions New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, and Cambria. I’m a little bit old skool, however I believe they’re the cleanest and exude professionalism,” mentioned Johanna Fleming, a former senior recruiter at HubSpot.
Riley Kundtz, the previous senior MBA campus recruiter at HubSpot, agreed.
“I discover the basic formatting and Occasions font useful when studying a dense resume from an skilled MBA candidate.”
Occasions New Roman has turn into a bit controversial these days. It was the go-to font for a few years as a result of it’s conventional and recognizable, however these days, some are opting towards it.
“For me, it’s all about legibility and cleanliness – I choose sans-serif fonts like Helvetica, which is trendy and chic, over serif fonts like Occasions New Roman,” says Glory Montes, a technical recruiter at HubSpot.
“Total, I might simply steer clear of a font like Occasions New Roman; it’s overused and jogs my memory of lengthy nights writing course papers in school,” provides Glory.
Georgia is one font The New York Occasions makes use of and is much like Occasions New Roman. It’s a bit wider, making it simpler to learn.
Paulina Valdez Franco, govt recruiter at HubSpot, agrees with this take.
“My two favourite fonts are Helvetica when you’re searching for a clear and basic look, and Georgia, if you would like a extra trendy and enjoyable look,” she mentioned. “The latter can be designed to learn nicely on screens.”
Helvetica is broadly utilized in promoting and works equally nicely for text-heavy pages and paperwork.
A lesser-known font that’s an important choice in your resume is Garamond, really useful by our present staff lead of engineering recruiting at HubSpot, Wealthy Lapham.
“Recruiters have an concept of the abilities they’re searching for on a resume, so when you attempt a brand new type or format, it may be harder for recruiters to search out the knowledge they’re searching for,” he mentioned. “Hold it clear and easy.”
Franco added that Arial and Calibri are nice decisions to play it secure.
Bridget LeMon, HubSpot’s international rising expertise and college recruiting supervisor, echoes this.
“It’s very acceptable – and changing into extra frequent – for candidates to stray away from the resume norms of Occasions New Roman and Calibri,” she mentioned. “Avenir Subsequent and Muna are two wonderful font choices if you’re trying to break the established order.”
Finally, you‘ll need to think about the place you’re making use of for when selecting a font. To Glory Montes’ level, sure extra inventive roles may profit from a singular font than Occasions New Roman.
1. Occasions New Roman
Occasions New Roman font has been fashionable for resumes for many years. This serif choice is easy-to-read and communicates formality. On-line, the font is uniform and accessible throughout varied platforms and working programs.
Benefits
Occasions New Roman has a basic {and professional} look, making it a wonderful selection for candidates concentrating on company positions. Moreover, it’s a commonplace font utilized in most phrase processors, making it an accessible choice for any gadget.
Furthermore, Occasions New Roman is well readable in print and on-screen.
Finest for: Phrase paperwork. PDFs can host distinctive fonts. Nevertheless, a typical font can be useful in case your resume is uploaded as a Phrase doc.
Disadvantages
The font’s outdated look could not enchantment to all industries, and a few could think about it bland or generic. Moreover, this font could make your resume mix in with the remaining as a result of its ubiquity.
Occasions New Roman can be a heavy serif font, taking on extra space than different choices.
2. Arial
Arial is a sans-serif font that has turn into fashionable for its clear and trendy look. Arial’s easy and minimalist design has made it a well-liked selection for candidates concentrating on inventive positions.
Benefits
Arial provides simplicity, which permits your content material to face out. Arial’s legibility in small font sizes, even in print, makes it perfect for candidates attempting to suit all the required data of their resume on a single web page.
Finest for: Resumes submitted on-line, the place readability is important for Applicant Monitoring Programs (ATS) utilized in recruitment.
Disadvantages
The font’s overuse in branding and design has led to its affiliation with a non-innovative type. This will make your resume much less enticing to recruiters searching for distinctive personalities who can deliver new concepts to their staff.
Arial’s uniformity could not go well with industries akin to graphic design or inventive writing searching for to showcase creativity and aptitude.
Conversely, Arial could make the textual content seem much less formal and inappropriate for particular job functions.
3. Avenir Subsequent
Avenir Subsequent is a contemporary typeface gaining recognition amongst designers and recruiters. Avenir Subsequent’s look is characterised by its geometric shapes, open contours, and powerful traces.
Its clear, up to date look has turn into a well-liked font selection for resumes.
Benefits
Avenir Subsequent’s smooth and trendy design makes it a wonderful selection for candidates concentrating on inventive industries. Its clear, easy traces provide a way of class, whereas its legibility offers recruiters a way of professionalism.
What we love: Avenir Subsequent is a scalable font. It maintains its readability even at small sizes, and its geometric shapes make it an ideal selection for digital resumes.
Disadvantages
Avenir Subsequent might not be as well known, which may make it troublesome to learn on some pc programs with out the font put in. Additional, Avenir Subsequent is a premium font with a better price ticket.
This may not be reasonably priced for some candidates.
4. Helvetica
Helvetica is a well known and fashionable font used on resumes, notably within the design trade. It’s clear, basic, and timeless. This font is fashionable with professionals, design fans, typographers, and Wes Anderson.
Benefits
Helvetica is simple to learn and has knowledgeable, easy look. The font‘s recognition signifies that job recruiters and hiring managers are accustomed to it.
Helvetica’s clear traces give the resume a structured and well-organized look, making it perfect for these in finance, regulation, and enterprise administration.
What we love: The font is out there in a number of weights, making it simpler to distinguish headings and sections within the resume.
Disadvantages
The font’s ubiquity in resumes could make it really feel overdone and uninspired. With so many candidates utilizing the font, your resume could battle to face out.
Helvetica‘s minimalist design can even work towards you in case your resume has restricted content material. This may make the resume look empty and as if it lacks substance.
5. Calibri
Calibri is a recent design, making it a well-liked selection for making a visually interesting and easy-to-read resume.
Benefits
The font has been designed with legibility in thoughts, making it a wonderful choice for resumes.
Moreover, Calibri’s trendy look creates a smooth {and professional} look, making it perfect for job seekers trying to spotlight their up to date abilities and {qualifications}.
Calibri can be lighter than different font choices, making it a perfect selection for job seekers attempting to suit their resumes onto a single web page.
What we like: Calibri provides a way of uniformity throughout totally different platforms, making it an accessible and dependable choice for candidates.
Disadvantages
Calibri is likely one of the default fonts out there in most word-processing packages. Your resume may not seem as distinctive and tailor-made to your private branding as it will with a extra distinct font.
The font could be perceived as casual, making it lower than perfect for formal industries, like regulation or finance, the place a extra conventional look can be most popular.
6. Cambria
Cambria’s basic design options elegant serifs, making it an ideal selection for job seekers. You may simply create a conventional, professional-looking resume that stands out.
Benefits
Cambria has a basic but trendy look. The font‘s serifs give it a timeless look that’s excellent for job seekers in additional conventional industries akin to finance or regulation.
Moreover, the font is extremely readable, even in smaller font sizes, which makes it a wonderful selection for job seekers trying to match extra data on their resumes.
What we like: Cambria’s beneficiant spacing between characters and contours makes the resume a lot simpler to learn and stands out from different fonts.
Disadvantages
Some recruiters and hiring managers may view the font as old school or generic. Additional, Cambria’s heavy serifs could also be problematic for these attempting to maintain their resume to a single web page as it might take up extra space than different fonts.
7. Georgia
Georgia is a conventional serif font that has been a well-liked selection for resumes as a result of its elegant and basic look. Georgia’s distinctive design options distinguishable serifs that give it knowledgeable look.
Benefits
Georgia’s design is simple to learn even in smaller font sizes, making it an ideal selection for job seekers attempting to spotlight their accomplishments in a restricted area.
Moreover, Georgia could be personalized, which makes it a wonderful choice for candidates trying so as to add their private contact.
What we like: The font’s design combines conventional and trendy aesthetics, making it a flexible choice for job seekers making use of for a variety of positions.
Disadvantages
The font’s conventional look might not be appropriate for candidates concentrating on inventive or non-traditional fields, the place a extra up to date font could also be most popular.
Additionally, Georgia is a serif, making it troublesome to learn in small sizes on a digital display. This may not be the best choice for these primarily making use of on-line.
Does Utilizing The Finest Resume Fonts Even Matter?
Most recruiters I spoke with have been hesitant to supply a font. As a substitute, they concentrate on the content material.
“I hardly ever pay an excessive amount of consideration to fonts,” mentioned Heta Patel, a former HubSpot recruiter. “I am extra involved to see a resume that’s formatted neatly – submitting a PDF is useful with this, so your formatting would not shift.”
Gross sales Recruiting Supervisor Kelsey Freedman agreed.
“Actually, I care little concerning the font of a resume, so long as it is clear and in PDF format,” Freedman mentioned. “I usually assessment a resume for 20 to 30 seconds, so a conventional font is nice.”
Freedman continued, “I might advise avoiding script font or bubble font, or comparable fonts which can be distracting.”
Finally, and as anticipated, your content material nonetheless issues most. Nevertheless, a transparent font will assist keep away from any irritability you may trigger a recruiter with a distracting, messy design.
“What I get most enthusiastic about is the content material. Relying on the position, I look to see that candidates are sharing direct and compelling snapshots of their work,” mentioned Ashley Hodder, a worldwide recruiting supervisor at HubSpot.
“I search for indicators that present information orientation, autonomy, and thoughtfulness about enterprise impression,” she mentioned.
Worst Resume Fonts
Whereas some recruiters could not have solutions for one of the best fonts, many can agree on a few of the worst ones.
“Something that’s cursive or too bubbly is just too laborious to learn. For example, I would keep away from Comedian Sans,” says Holly Peterson, staff lead for UX recruiting HubSpot.
One other resume font kind to keep away from is Script.
With text-heavy paperwork, Scripts, and any of their derivatives make textual content laborious to learn as a result of they seem like they’re written by hand.
They’re typically utilized in hand lettering and calligraphy for inventive initiatives and shouldn’t be current anyplace close to your resume.
Excellent Resume Font Dimension
When requested which font dimension is finest, Fleming mentioned 12 is right. Most recruiters would agree.
Your textual content must be massive sufficient to learn comfortably with out straining however sufficiently small that there’s area to incorporate all key parts, akin to your goal, contact data, abilities, and expertise.
You need to use bigger font sizes for headings containing your title and part titles.
In case your font is intensive, you may scale to 10.5 – however by no means go beneath it.
The vital takeaway is to make your resume clear and simple to learn, which implies protecting the font dimension round 12, sticking to basic fonts with trendy twists, and forsaking your favourite script font.
Now that you already know one of the best fonts in your resume, use these tricks to write your resume and ignite your inventive spark with this final assortment of resume templates.
Editor’s observe: This publish was initially revealed in November 2018 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
