Choosing a resume font should not
be more laborious than it needs to be. The two
most important criteria when choosing a font is to
choose one that is easy to read and that is
professional. Following are some additional
factors to consider when choosing what font to use for
your resume:
- What industry are you
applying to? Some industries may see
originality in a more favourable light.
- Will you submit your
application by email or by mail? If you submit
your application by email, make sure to use a font
that will be recognized by most word processors.
If you want to be safe, PDF your resume.
Two safe choices are Times New
Roman and Arial. Times New Roman is most often
used by people working in non-technical professions,
such as law, journalism, education, etc. The Arial
font is most often used by people working in technical
professions, such as engineering or accounting.
Do not worry too much about what
font to use. There are other aspects of resume
writing that are more important. Further, what
matters is not necessarily what font you choose, but how
you highlight the various elements of your resume using
italics, underline,
bold and CAPITAL LETTERS.
In terms of what font size to use,
we suggest 12pt or 11pt. 10pt is acceptable too,
although it could be small for some people, especially
if your resume is dense. Keep in mind that you
don't have to use the same font size throughout your
resume, but that you can play with different sizes for
different parts of your resume such as your name,
section titles and company information.
On a concluding note, do not let
aesthetic decisions such as what font to use or font
size get in the way of clarity. Your resume is
there to present your qualifications in the most
convincing way possible. It should be an easy
read.
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Resume Center