6 Free Financial Modeling Lessons...and More.

Enter your e-mail below to get our new Free Modeling Tutorials ($200+ Value).

< previous | next >

Best font for a resume
 

milken's picture
ST
(Monkey, 48
 
Points)
 on 9/20/12 at 3:15am
what font is best for a resume.png

What would you say is the best font for a resume? I normally use Times New Roman but I have seen real good resumes in Calibri, and I was thinking about changing mine also. Which theme do you suggest I go with?

Content Editor Note: Below are five helpful posts on resume fonts, overall resume improvement, and also make sure to check out our Professional Resume Review Service

Get a Pro to Review Your Resume

  1. Great tips on overall improvement of your resume
  2. Good forum discussion on resume fonts
  3. forum discussion on resume font size
  4. Discussion on whether your resume and cover letter should have the same font
  5. "Take Your Resumé to the Next Level"

    6. Advice from one of our Professional Resume Reviewers:

    Font selection certainly won't make or break your resume (unless you use something silly like Comic Sans), but a nice font can certainly help your resume look clean and professional.

    First and foremost, you've got to make sure that your resume has a clean overall format with enough spacing between sections so the reviewer doesn't have to strain to read each line. Your resume should look like a professional document, not simply a piece of paper that has been stuffed with as much content as humanly possible. Form, in some sense, serves a true function here. Especially in the world of banking, where you'll be relentlessly pumping out highly word-smithed, highly formatted documents and PowerPoints.

    Now, in terms of choosing your font, there is some level of leeway here. As I said earlier, unless you choose a silly font (i.e. Comic Sans), you'll never be dinged for font selection. However, if you choose a handsome font, you might get lucky and have a design-nerd reviewing your resume. Assuming everything else checks out in terms of your background, education, and experience, a nice font certainly can't hurt.

    Personally, I use Book Antiqua. Its a clean font with understated serifs that's easy on the eyes. And, frankly, I haven't come across a ton of resumes that use it, so I feel it does add a bit of a personal touch.

    Other fonts that work nicely include Helvetica (a personal fave, and a much more important font than most realize), Arial (Microsoft's Helvetica knockoff), Calibri, and Cambria. There's also nothing wrong with Times New Roman, in my opinion, though it's not a personal favorite of mine.

    Lastly, regardless of which font you use, make sure you size it appropriately. The smallest font I use in the body of my resume is 9-point. I'd be hard-pressed to go smaller than that, and I only feel confident doing so because I've spaced each section appropriately without making the resume feel over-stuffed.

    For any aspiring bankers who think they need some help with their resume, WSO's resume review service is pretty solid. It'll help you get your format down pat and work with you to ensure that your experience is presented in the strongest way possible (i.e. rewording of bullets, reworking of sections, etc.)

    As an aside, for anyone that's interested in fonts and design in general, I recommend the movie "Helvetica" (http://www.helveticafilm.com/.) It's pretty interesting and definitely eye-opening.

    Get a Pro to Review Your Resume

    From our writer Thomas Ausart, who is also one of our Professional Resume Reviewers:

    I have three points (most of them are included above, but I'll be shorter):

    • If you have any doubts, use Times New Roman everywhere
    • If you feel going to the next level, use sans serif font for the headlines/titles (Arial, century gothic, verdana) and serif font for the text (times new roman, garamond...)
    • You are probably worried about the wrong thing...I'll bet anything that anyone on the WSO Resume Review Team can take your resume and find 10 things that are more important to adjust than the font you are using

    our writer Vontropnats who wrote a two part series on resume improvement: (see part 1, and part 2.):

    I've personally always been conservative and use 12pt Times New Roman or Arial, but I think also Sans Serif and Helvetica are pretty attractive fonts. Some suggest Garamond -- I've been told this is the "banker" font by some people -- but I think it's distractingly "too" professional looking for a resume. Hope that helps!

    Get a Pro to Review Your Resume

gomi's picture

BankonBanking, Which

CF
 
Points)
 on 7/29/09 at 7:00pm

BankonBanking,

Which examples of fonts do you recommend? I.e. arial, garamond? In addition, what size font is preferred as well?

timergooff's picture

I would use ariel 11.

ST
 
Points)
 on 7/29/09 at 8:34pm

I would use ariel 11.

she_monkey's picture

times new roman, if spaced

 
Points)
 on 7/29/09 at 10:46pm

times new roman, if spaced correctly, should not be too hard to read.

if most of the resumes are still in times, and you're using arial.. might not necessarily stick out for a good reason.

Learn Financial Modeling
Interview Guides
WSO Resume Review

Banker88's picture

I think any standard fonts

IB
(King Kong, 1,654
 
Points)
 on 7/29/09 at 11:06pm

I think any standard fonts (times, arial, calibri) are fine as long as they look clean and legible. I personally believe sans-serif fonts look better and are easier on the eyes.

4u2bnvs's picture

Reality check...

HF
 
Points)
 on 7/29/09 at 11:24pm

I spend a bit of time looking at resumes, and you're not making or breaking your chance at an interview because of your font. Seriously. I get that it's one of the small moving parts that remains in your control, but your efforts could be better spent elsewhere. Do whatever works (fits all your credentials) and looks dece. Word.

milken's picture

thanks for all of your posts

ST
(Monkey, 48
 
Points)
 on 7/31/09 at 10:16am

thanks for all of your posts guys

ibdhopeful's picture

What about Garamond? Just

IB
(Baboon, 124
 
Points)
 on 7/31/09 at 11:54am

What about Garamond? Just wondering. I find a lot of people seem to like it but it's definitely pretty small. What do you guys think? Personally, I hate Arial.

Ruby Rhod's picture

What about Eggshell with

O
(Baboon, 110
 
Points)
 on 7/31/09 at 12:23pm

What about Eggshell with Romalian type and raised letters and a watermark?

______________________________
Freeze those knees, my chickadees!

In reply to porto121
MurdersNExecutions's picture

good choice

IB
(Baboon, 160
 
Points)
 on 7/31/09 at 4:00pm
porto121:

What about Eggshell with Romalian type and raised letters and a watermark?

as long as you use rainbow colors.

In reply to God
Ray Allen's picture

Arial = No Good

IB
(Monkey, 44
 
Points)
 on 7/31/09 at 7:22pm
God:

What about Garamond? Just wondering. I find a lot of people seem to like it but it's definitely pretty small. What do you guys think? Personally, I hate Arial.

I guess Arial is out of the question since God apparently hates it.

maximus307's picture

I personally like Cambria. It

ST
 
Points)
 on 3/30/10 at 4:29pm

I personally like Cambria. It almost looks like a cross between Times New Roman and Calibri. Looks professional and neat. Anyone else use this font?

MoneyKingdom's picture

Bankonbanking is giving bad

IB
(Gorilla, 626
 
Points)
 on 3/30/10 at 4:31pm

Bankonbanking is giving bad advice. You should use Times New Roman. Google Serif v. Sans-Serif Fonts....

nexa023's picture

what about Georgia?

AM
(Chimp, 10
 
Points)
 on 4/11/10 at 9:40pm

what about Georgia?

rveremyov's picture

I recomend Gabriola font

(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
 on 6/14/12 at 5:43am

I recomend Gabriola font http://font-knox.com/gabriola-font

In reply to maximus307
Kassad's picture

maximus307: I personally like

IB
(King Kong, 1,241
 
Points)
 on 6/19/12 at 8:42pm
maximus307:

I personally like Cambria. It almost looks like a cross between Times New Roman and Calibri. Looks professional and neat. Anyone else use this font?

I do - when I interviewed at a BB, my resume was in that format. I interviewed at a boutique as well, and the copy they saw had that font too.

Now that I think of it, every good interview I've had was using that font. Times never got me shit.

TonyPerkis's picture

wingdings at size 34 or

AM
(King Kong, 1,619
 
Points)
 on 6/20/12 at 6:31am

I eat success for breakfast...with skim milk

Gratisfaction's picture

Comic Sans

VC
(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
 on 6/20/12 at 3:57pm

"I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man."

whitecollarandsuspenders's picture

I tinkered around with a ton

IB
(Baboon, 145
 
Points)
 on 6/20/12 at 7:33pm

"The problem with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money"

- Margaret Thatcher

SlikRick's picture

I would recommend Times New

CO
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 5:29am
dacasale's picture

Comic Sans all the way.

ER
(Orangutan, 251
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 5:36am
eriginal's picture

Why has no one quoted Patrick

AM
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 5:36am

"One man with courage makes a majority." — Andrew Jackson

crusoe's picture

I use Myriad Pro, size 12. It

(Chimp, 10
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 6:53am
lloydmof's picture

Any Sans Serif font is fine -

HF
(Baboon, 132
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 8:38am

"It's not until the tide goes out that you see who's swimming naked" - Howard Marks

In reply to eriginal
turtles's picture

eriginal: Why has no one

IB
(Neanderthal, 2,961
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 8:38am

Just saying...

In reply to turtles
TonyPerkis's picture

turtles: eriginal: Why has

AM
(King Kong, 1,619
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 9:19am

I eat success for breakfast...with skim milk

BTbanker's picture

Who are we kidding? All the

IB
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 9:35am

"A man generally has two reasons for doing anything. One that sounds good, and the real one." - J.P. Morgan

In reply to turtles
eriginal's picture

turtles: eriginal: Why has

AM
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 9:49am

"One man with courage makes a majority." — Andrew Jackson

In reply to eriginal
turtles's picture

eriginal: turtles: erigin

IB
(Neanderthal, 2,961
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 10:01am

Just saying...

In reply to turtles
eriginal's picture

turtles: eriginal: turtle

AM
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 10:46am

"One man with courage makes a majority." — Andrew Jackson

In reply to eriginal
turtles's picture

eriginal: turtles: erigin

IB
(Neanderthal, 2,961
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 10:51am

Just saying...

In reply to nexa023
West Coast rainmaker's picture

nexa023: what about

ER
(Neanderthal, 2,128
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 11:58am
Onetwobit's picture

Calibri

CF
(Orangutan, 256
 
Points)
 on 6/27/12 at 2:11pm
orangebull's picture

I don't like garamond for the

 
Points)
 on 6/28/12 at 12:38am
jams1212's picture

I'd vote for TNR. It's

CO
(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 2:19am
WalMartShopper's picture

staccato 555 get all bushido

 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 3:00am

If the glove don't fit, you must acquit!

couchy's picture

You have to pay for the

(King Kong, 1,389
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 3:10am
quintessential's picture

tahoma is pretty nice.

O
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 8:34am
LiquidMarket's picture

TNR for body, Cambria for

(Chimp, 15
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 2:45pm
Going Concern's picture

Silian Rail

(King Kong, 1,884
 
Points)
 on 6/30/12 at 5:16pm

You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game.

Firefox's picture

Gisha and Khmer UI are nice

HF
(Orangutan, 275
 
Points)
 on 7/1/12 at 2:12am
DrPeterVenkman's picture

Just dont' use courier new.

O
(Gorilla, 727
 
Points)
 on 7/4/12 at 6:21pm

See my WSO blog

kidflash's picture

georgia <3

IB
(Gorilla, 736
 
Points)
 on 7/5/12 at 12:22pm
In reply to kidflash
morespinach's picture

kidflash: georgia <3 Lots of

(Monkey, 33
 
Points)
 on 7/7/12 at 3:58am
In reply to morespinach
NuclearPenguins's picture

morespinach: kidflash: geor

 
Points)
 on 7/30/12 at 1:31pm
BlackHat's picture

Book Antiqua.

HF
 
Points)
 on 7/30/12 at 1:33pm

I hate victims who respect their executioners

Follow BH & Co. on Twitter: @DumbLuckCapital
twitter.com/DumbLuckCapital

Neighbor's picture

Dingwings. It's the hottest

IB
(King Kong, 1,236
 
Points)
 on 8/1/12 at 1:32pm

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

MegaShigger's picture

@nuclearpenguins thanks for

 
Points)
 on 8/8/12 at 2:47pm
In reply to FSC
roofstreet's picture

i second

PE
 
Points)
 on 8/13/12 at 3:13pm

"...the art of good business, is being a good middle man, putting people togeather. It's all about honor and respect."

WalMartShopper's picture

scented paper can make up for

 
Points)
 on 8/29/12 at 12:28am

If the glove don't fit, you must acquit!

tdotmonkey's picture

personally times new roman

 
Points)
 on 8/29/12 at 2:48am

"Try and fail, but don't fail to try"

6 Free Financial Modeling Lessons...Straight to Your Inbox.

Confirm your name and e-mail below to get our best tips

Monkey Stats
Account information
We respect your Name and E-mail privacy. By joining you accept our terms of service.