There are a lot of fonts out there you can use for a multitude of projects. When it comes to putting a professional-looking resume together, however, you may want to avoid the overused classics and go with Helvetica instead.
Picture: Luca Mascaro
There’s not really any hard data to scientifically prove whether one font is actually worse than another — except maybe Comic Sans — but Bloomberg Business spoke with some professional typographers about the best and worst fonts for resumes to see what they thought. Generally, they shared the same opinion: you should use Helvetica instead of classics like Times New Roman on your resume. Designer Brian Hoff explains:
“Helvetica is so no-fuss, it doesn’t really lean in one direction or another. It feels professional, lighthearted, honest… Helvetica is safe. Maybe that’s why it’s more business-y. [Times New Roman is] telegraphing that you didn’t put any thought into the typeface that you selected. It’s like putting on sweatpants.”
The fonts that should and shouldn’t be used is a heated point of contention for a lot of people, but keep in mind, there’s no true right or wrong here. What really matters when it comes to putting a resume together, is that you do your best to make sure it looks good and is easy to read. A good font might not get you the job, but looking professional won’t hurt you either. To read more about the fonts you might want to use or avoid using, check out the link below.
The Best and Worst Fonts to Use on Your Resume [Bloomber Business via Entrepreneur]
Comments
6 responses to “Why You May Want To Consider Using Helvetica Typeface For Your Resume”
I think I might have mentioned this before, but if you are someone who is job searching but is also trying to save money in the process, Helvetica might not be your ultimate choice of font.
It looks professional sure, and has many uses. However here is the price tag for just owning the value pack: http://www.fonts.com/font/linotype/helvetica/value-pack
So unless you know someone who is really generous in sharing their fonts or you do not mind to obtain it less legally and risk being caught and fined, I’d stick with Arial.
Best to wait until after you get the job and can afford it!
It comes free with Mac computers. Maybe Windows too?
My understanding is that Apple has licensed it for Macs as a top quality font which you get when buying a Mac. It probably also reflects in the price of said Macs. A lot of graphic designing is done on Macs but not as exclusively anymore. I think Microsoft should really in this case do a similar thing and make Helvetica available as it is so popular. But then again, Apple might not let them without lots of legal runarounds. It’s the same reason why we still don’t have proper
Apple ProRes codecs on windows.
if your job search pivots on font selection, I think you have bigger issues.
What’s wrong with using Helvetica in your word processor. Not sure why you’d have to buy that font pack?
Helvetia isn’t free. Arial is though and frankly no one but a graphics pro is going to tell the difference ( or even give a damm for that matter)
Absolutely right. Here is a pro-tip: It’s all in leading and kerning.
You can make Arial look really awesome by decreasing those gaps between the letters
and increasing the capitals slightly wherever used.