So you’re in the process of redoing your resume. Most likely, you’re plugging away in the same font you typically use. No criticism intended here. Type fonts are not something we typically think about. Creatures of habit that we are, we just start typing and before we know it, we’re done and on to the next thing.
Toni Bowers, who writes about HR topics for TechRepublic, takes a perhaps more extensive view of the font than you and I normally do. She says, “I hate to break your heart, but the average employer is not going to intuit that you’re God’s gift to the world and take the extra time to navigate through typos and bizarre fonts to weed out your career highlights.”
Unsurprisingly, she’s not a fan of cursive-style fonts or Courier, which apparently is popular among programmers. (Really??!!) She recommends Arial, which I find cramped-looking to the point of being unreadable, or Helvetica, which has never really rung my chimes. Her message is sound, though. Choose a font that will help your resume stand out initially—and be scannable.
I’ve become very fond of Calibri, which I said rude things about in a post a couple of years back. And I like Garamond, too. It’s a serif font that looks clean, open, and modern—unlike Times New Roman, which is a touch old fashioned for my tastes.
Got a favorite font? Tell me about it. And enjoy the College Humor approach to font choices.
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