Have you ever noticed a page at the end of a novel explaining the publisher’s choice of font? A lot of thought goes into selecting a font that will improve the experience for the reader.
Selecting fonts for your résumé may seem like a low priority when you have so many other decisions to make; however it is worth the effort. Fonts play an important role in making a résumé easy to read.
Serif fonts and san serif fonts (also referred to as “sans serif” or “sans-serif” fonts) are the two main typeface options.
Serif fonts have tails on the letters. They work best for any résumé that is going to be printed.
San serif fonts don’t have tails on the letters, giving them a blocky look. These fonts are the best choice for résumés that will be read on a computer screen. They also work well for résumé headings and subheadings.
There are over 100,000 fonts to choose from, but your best bet is to stick with the more traditional fonts.
In most cases you will want to limit the number of fonts you use on your résumé to a maximum of three; one for your name, one for your headings and one for your content.
To help you decide which font is easier to read and is more visually appealing, this Font Examples PDF contains twenty traditional font examples. Print a copy of this PDF for comparison.
(Note: Your computer may not have all of these fonts installed, in which case it will substitute “missing fonts” with another font.)