Research have proven recruiters sometimes scan a resume for less than about six seconds earlier than making a call on whether or not an applicant is match for a task.

With solely six seconds to reveal your {qualifications} for a place, each element counts – together with the font you utilize. The query is, what are one of the best resume fonts to move the six-second scan?

We requested HubSpot recruiters to disclose the seven greatest fonts on your resume in addition to what they think about when it comes to design usually, so your resume can stand out within the pile.

Featured Useful resource: 12 Free Resume Templates

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With solely six seconds to reveal your {qualifications} for a place, each element counts. To evoke a way of fashion, professionalism, and uniqueness, it’s important you place effort and consideration into your font alternative.

When talking with recruiters, it rapidly grew to become clear that traditional fonts are nonetheless one of the best choices.

“I’m a giant fan of the ‘classics’ for resumes – Occasions New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, and Cambria. I’m slightly old fashioned, however I feel they’re the cleanest and exude professionalism,” mentioned Johanna Fleming, a former senior recruiter at HubSpot.

Riley Kundtz, former senior MBA campus recruiter at HubSpot, agreed.

“I discover the traditional formatting and Occasions font to be useful when studying a dense resume from an skilled MBA candidate.”

Occasions New Roman has grow to be a bit controversial recently. It was the go-to font for a few years, however recently, some are opting towards it.

“For me, it’s all about legibility and cleanliness – I desire sans-serif fonts like Helvetica over serif fonts like Occasions New Roman,” mentioned technical recruiter at HubSpot, Glory Montes. “General, I might simply avoid a font like Occasions New Roman, it’s overused and jogs my memory of lengthy nights writing course papers in school.”

One font that’s just like Occasions is Georgia, it’s a bit wider making it simpler to learn. In truth, it’s the font utilized by The New York Occasions.

Paulina Valdez Franco, government recruiter at HubSpot, agrees with this take.

“My two favourite fonts are Helvetica, if you happen to’re in search of a clear and traditional look, and Georgia, if you happen to’re going after a extra fashionable and enjoyable look,” she mentioned. “The latter can also be designed to learn nicely on screens.”

Helvetica is extensively used within the promoting trade and works equally nicely for text-heavy pages and paperwork.

A lesser-known font that’s an amazing choice on your resume is Garamond, beneficial by our present crew lead of engineering recruiting at HubSpot, Wealthy Lapham.

“Recruiters have an thought of the talents they’re in search of on a resume, so if you happen to attempt a brand new type or format, it may be harder for recruiters to seek out the data they’re in search of,” he mentioned. “Hold it clear and easy.”

Franco added that Arial and Calibri are nice decisions if you wish to play it secure.

Bridget LeMon, world rising expertise and college recruiting supervisor at HubSpot, echoes this.

“It’s very acceptable – and changing into extra frequent – for candidates to stray away from the resume norms of Occasions New Roman and Calibri,” she mentioned. “Avenir Subsequent and Muna are two nice choices if you’re seeking to break the established order.”

Finally, you may wish to think about the place for which you are making use of if you’re selecting a font. To Montes’ level, sure extra artistic roles would possibly profit from a extra distinctive font than Occasions New Roman.

Does your resume font even matter?

Most recruiters I spoke with have been hesitant to even provide a font in any respect. As an alternative, they give attention to the content material.

“I sometimes do not pay an excessive amount of consideration to font,” mentioned Heta Patel former HubSpot recruiter. “I am extra involved about whether or not the resume is formatted in a clear method – submitting a PDF is useful with this, so your formatting would not shift.”

Gross sales Recruiting Supervisor Kelsey Freedman agreed.

“Actually, I do not care a lot concerning the font of a resume, so long as it is clear and in PDF format. I sometimes solely evaluation a resume for 20 to 30 seconds, so a conventional font is sweet. I might advise avoiding script font or bubble font, or one thing distracting like that.”

Finally, and as anticipated, your content material nonetheless issues most. Nevertheless, a clear, clear font will assist keep away from any irritability you would possibly trigger a recruiter with a distracting, messy design.

“What I get most enthusiastic about is the content material. Relying on the function, I look to see that candidates are sharing direct and compelling snapshots of their work,” mentioned Ashley Hodder, a worldwide recruiting supervisor at HubSpot. “I search for indicators that present information orientation, autonomy, and thoughtfulness about enterprise affect.”

Worst Resume Fonts

Whereas some recruiters could not have solutions for one of the best fonts to make use of, many can agree on a number of the worst ones.

“Something that’s cursive, or too bubbly, is simply too laborious to learn. For example, I would keep away from Comedian Sans,” says Holly Peterson, crew lead for UX recruiting HubSpot.

One other font sort to keep away from is Script.

With text-heavy paperwork, Script and any of its derivatives make issues laborious to learn as a result of they’re meant to appear like they’re written by hand.

They’re usually utilized in hand lettering and calligraphy for creative initiatives and shouldn’t be current anyplace close to your resume.

Ultimate Resume Font Dimension

When requested about which font measurement is greatest, Fleming mentioned 12 is right. Most recruiters would agree.

Your textual content ought to be massive sufficient to learn comfortably with out straining however sufficiently small that there’s area to incorporate all the important thing components, similar to an goal, contact info, expertise, and expertise.

The place you possibly can go bigger are for headings on your identify and part titles.

If the font you selected is especially broad, you possibly can scale all the way down to 10.5 – by no means going under it.

The important thing takeaway is that make your resume as clear and easy-to-read as attainable, which implies conserving the font measurement round 12, sticking to traditional fonts with fashionable twists, and forsaking your favourite script font.

Editor’s notice: This publish was initially revealed in November 2018 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.