Which Font Should You Use on Your Resume?

Individuals who are writing their resumes are swamped with a variety of fonts to choose from, including italic fonts, fonts with fancy curlicues and plain block fonts. Added to that confusion, the font size has to be chosen and resume writers want to find that perfect font that will impress the recruiter but is easy to read. Since you expend enough effort writing your resume and searching job classifieds, you don't need to stress over what font to use. By using the following tips for the worst and best fonts to use, you can find an appropriate font to use for your resume and spend more time concentrating on that perfect content.

Calibri

Calibri may be a good choice for a resume for several reasons. It isn't as commonly used as Arial and using Calibri 12-point will give you an easily read resume that is nicely laid out. Since a good-looking resume is your aim, Calibri may be a good choice. RELATED: Revamp Your Resume: How to Choose Fonts

Helvetica

Helvetica is a Swiss font that is highly favored by typographers and designers. It's clean lines and clarity can be found in a number of corporate logos, including Microsoft. While it comes with Mac, you will have to purchase it as an extra font to use with your Windows program.

Georgia

This is a traditional looking font and a good change from Times New Roman, which has been overused. Georgia gets a high score for readability, and it was designed to be read on a computer screen and works with both Windows and Mac.

Garamond

Another good alternative to Times New Roman, Garamond looks like a classic style with a modern edge to it. It also lets you fit more onto a page without looking like the text is forced into too small a space. Garamond is definitely a good choice for a resume.

Cambria

If you have Word, you may have noticed that Cambria is one of the fonts included with the program. Cambria is another font that was designed to be easily read on a computer screen and because of the letter construction, it works well for both printed and online resumes.

Gill Sans

This English font has been around for many years but was rediscovered and became popular again around 2000. The classic yet modern styling looks good in a resume and is available for Mac OS X and offers several versions in Microsoft Word.

Times New Roman

This font is commonly used, but there are reasons to steer clear from it on a resume. One reason is that so many other people use it. Because they do, it won't stand out from the rest of the applications. That's reason enough to not use it. In addition, it can be difficult to read when you use a smaller type size.

Courier

Since Courier was designed to look like you typed it, that is reason enough to stay away from it. In addition, because of its monospacing, it can look a little strange when reading it since all the letters are spaced equally.

Comic Sans

Unless you are applying for a job with a comic book company, leave Comic Sans to use another time. Comic Sans falls into the flashy, over-the-top category you should stay away from.

Brush Script

Script is a no-no to start with, but Brush Script is the worst. This font, designed in 1942, is sadly out of date compared to many other fonts and may date you as well if you use it. Choosing the right font can be an important consideration when writing a resume since you want your resume to look neat and easily readable without being too flashy. Searching for a job itself also requires consideration and there are numerous ways to conduct a job search such as checking out daily job ads. TheJobNetwork does the work for you, freeing your time for other pursuits while you search. After you fill out a list of your job interests and qualifications, TheJobNetwork goes to work around the clock to find job listings that might interest you and sends them to you as email alerts. Sign up with TheJobNetwork to get started.