Fonts and their role in Resumes

Little attention is usually paid to what type of font is used in a resume, but there are literally thousands of fonts out there and each will give your resume a different tone and feeling. Most people don’t use any dedicated software to create their resume, usually they just fire up Microsoft Word and go at it. But, take the time to check out all the different fonts that are included in Word. Apply a few to your resume and see what kind of an affect it has on your resume. Does the new font make your resume look more professional, modern, cute or classical? Experiment with different fonts, you can always go back and change the font if you do not like the new results.

Take a look at the word resume and see what type of feeling a different font gives you:

Resume

Resume

Resume

Resume

Resume

When using fonts, try not to use more than two different styles, remember the principle of consistency. Adding more than two fonts will make your resume look like a visually mess. Choose a primary font that you will use for most text, and then maybe decide picking a complementary font that will highlight a certain aspect of your resume. But, always keep in mind the principle of consistency.

If you do decided to go with two different fonts, make sure that you choose two different fonts that complement each other well. You do not want to mix and match a traditional looking font with a bubbly cartoon font. If you are visually challenged and can’t tell what font goes well with what, either find a friend that isn’t visually challenged, or just stick with one font style. For people who are extremely visually challenged and can’t even figure out which one font to use, stick with the classics like Times New Roman, Arial or Verdana. These fonts are familiar with most people, and using them won’t give your resume any extra points, but at least they won’t detract from your resume.

Use boldface sparingly and when you do you boldface, make sure whatever you are boldfacing is truly worth emphasizing. A person who liberally uses boldface not alone creates a resume that is hard to read, but it will cause readers to care less about what is boldfaced. You lose creditability with your readers. Instead, boldface things that you think are truly important and that you want to stick in your readers heads. Things that you want to linger in your readers head. An exception to this is headings; you may want to boldface your headings to create visual divisions in your resume.