Many job candidates spend hours writing and re-writing the content of their resume. Some even make a mistake using fonts for a resume. They do everything possible to make themselves seem hirable. But, the truth of the matter is that an employer may never even read that stuff. In fact, one eye-tracking study found that recruiters spend an average of 7.4 seconds looking at a professional resume. That’s right! All the fancy jargon often isn’t even acknowledged, or even looked at.
The reason for this is because, when one person is responsible for sifting for hundreds and thousands of resumes, a streamlined approach has been created. Hiring managers look for key identifiers to decide whether or not they will call a candidate in for the next steps of the process. And it has nothing to do with experience; formatting, and the way your resume looks, is where it’s at. In this article, we’re discussing the best fonts for a professional resume to help your catch the eyes of a hiring manager. These are fonts that you can employ to make you much more likely to get a call for an interview.
Your Professional Resume’s Look is as Important as the Content
Before a manager ever even reads about your experience, they’ve decided whether they will be calling you for an interview or not. This is because simple, organized resumes that include clear titles and bullet points are most effective at capturing the attention of recruiters. One of the easiest ways to make sure your resume can be skimmed easily and will catch the eyes of a recruiter is to research the best fonts for a professional resume. While there are plenty to choose from, the top seven that you should consider include:
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Times New Roman
The old classic, and a font you’re probably very familiar with. You can’t go wrong with Times New Roman. This font is widely available, looks professional, and employs a nice use of spacing. And, it’s the world’s go-to for a reason. Research shows that Times New Roman is the most preferred and most trustworthy font.2 Sometimes it pays off to leave things the way they are and this makes one of the best fonts for a professional resume.
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Calibri
Calibri is quickly growing in popularity, especially for official documents like resumes, mostly due to its flexible nature. The font works well with a wide variety of different text sizes and reads well. Calibri was actually designed to be read on computer screens. And because many job applications are submitted digitally, this makes it a wonderful font candidate for your resume.
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Cambria
This is a great middle-of-the-road font optimized for reading on paper and a screen. Cambria has spacing that is easy to read and relatively easy proportions. It looks professional and nice, regardless of the size. This font is widely distributed with the Microsoft programs due to its appearance.
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Garamond
Garamond is an excellent font for helping you fit more information into one page without sacrificing readability. Because your resume should only be one to two pages in length, Garamond can be helpful. This font is nice, clean, and adds a little flair to a resume.
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Arial/Arial Narrow
Arial is a very simple font, and quite preferred by many different people. Like many of the best fonts for a professional resume listed, this one comes preinstalled on most computers and offers easy readability. Arial is considered a more contemporary font, and its narrow version helps fit more text into one document.
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Lato
Another contemporary font, Lato is quite popular because of its more humanist feel. While these types of fonts are not typically used on resumes, Lato is different – its readability is still incredibly high. Serving the “serious but friendly” feel, Lato is great for the more laid-back feel of today’s job environment.
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Didot
Considered a more sophisticated font, Didot is perfect for contemporary students and modern entrepreneurs. This font is still easy to read – adding a bit of upscale flair to the look. For those people looking to highlight creativity in their resume, Didot is a perfect choice.
Considerations Before Choosing a Font
While your resume is all about you and your professional achievements, there is so much more to analyze when deciding on the right font. Before settling on the one you plan to use, it’s important to weigh some considerations.
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Readability
If a recruiter can’t read your resume easily, there is almost no chance of you being called in for an interview. Easy reading is the most important factor to think about when researching fonts.
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Mobile Friendly
At one point, all resumes were printed and held in the hands of the recruiter. Not anymore. With tools like LinkedIn and job-listing websites available, many resumes are now viewed from a screen. And, just like everyone else, recruiters do a lot of work from their phones. Considering the way your text appears on mobile could make or break your application.