Avenir: This is a sleek, modern font that combines professionalism with a touch of character, making your resume stand out without sacrificing readability.

Trebuchet: Trebuchet offers a more casual yet still professional aesthetic, ideal for those seeking a slightly unique yet still easily readable font for their resume.

Helvetica: A popular choice in the corporate world, Helvetica is clean, modern, and shows up well both in print and on screen, thus elevating the overall professional look of your resume.

Calibri: Calibri is the default font for Microsoft Word and is well-suited for resumes due to its soft, rounded yet modern appeal that enhances readability.

Arial: This sans-serif font is universally recognized and displays well across various platforms, making it a safe, professional choice for resumes.If you’re still not sure which font to use on your resume, any of these are good choices:

The tool also evaluates your resume on key criteria such as resume length, font size, spacing and margins. To avoid this, use a standard font on your resume and double-check to make sure that your letters haven’t been converted into special characters, or use the tool below to confirm that your resume is easily read by ATS. If, for example, you’re applying for a Financial Analyst position, ATS may be programmed to search for the keyword ‘financial reporting.’ If you’ve used a font that combines ‘fi’ and ‘ti’ into special characters, the ATS will read this as ‘#nancial repor#ng’ and assume you don’t have what it’s looking for. Most employers nowadays use ATS, which are programmed to scan your resume for specific keywords and filter out those without relevant experience. The text on the right has combined the two letters into a single special character with no space in between, which is not only harder to read, it also can’t be scanned properly by Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). The text on the left is perfectly legible, with a space between the letters. Look at the following example: Some fonts convert text to special characters which results in your resume not being read correctly The worst fonts to use are ones that convert letters into special characters. But these days, most recruiters are reading your resume on a computer screen, so sans-serif fonts are the most readable and preferred. In the past, serif fonts were suggested to give your resume a traditional, professional feel. If you strongly prefer a serif font, choose something simple and classic like Georgia or Times New Roman. Most default fonts, like Arial and Calibri, are sans serif. What are sans-serif fonts? They’re the ones featuring simple, straight lines without decorative embellishments (like the little ‘feet’ at the bottom of letters). Opt for commonly used fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, or Calibri, as they are widely supported across different platforms and devices. Using standard fonts that are widely recognized and readable ensures that your resume is easily accessible and understandable by hiring managers and recruiters. While it may be tempting to get creative and experiment with different styles, colors, and extravagant font choices, it's important to remember that simplicity and clarity are key. How to choose the right resume font: Key principles Prioritize readability and consistencyįor those currently frozen with indecision over the right font to use on your resume, just remember this - any font is appropriate, so long as it is: This guide shines a light on the best fonts for your resume and why your choice matters more than you might think. It isn’t about frivolous aesthetics or flashy designs - it's about ensuring readability, conveying professionalism, and yes, making a statement about who you are. But wait - have you thought about the font you're using?įonts are the unsung hero, the silent warrior in the field of job hunting. Crafting the perfect resume is much like preparing for a battle: you arm yourself with a lethal combination of skills, experience, and achievements, ready to catch the recruiter's eye.

Word font to use to write less