I guess that for many of the candidates to finance or consulting a word ‘typography’ probably means nothing. Or a little bit more. Still not worth to pay attention to.
Well, here you are making a mistake, my friend.
The world of content is already transformed to a world of design. You all are aware of the fact that in many cases recruiter is not going to spend too much time scanning through your resume. A minute. Maybe even less. That is why you try to make your resume “sound”, putting all big words in bold and making your cover letters to stand out, practicing in creative writing.
This is content.
In the world of design though one is paying his or her attention first to things that are more visible while looking through your resume: lettering, composition, paragraphs. Typography. It may sound unprofessional and even dumb but this is how the world operates right now: we first evaluate the design, and only after - content. There is no reason to consider that your potential employer is somehow different. He or she is the same (in most cases, probably) even not realising it.
Here are two resumes (the example is from Butterick’s Book on Practical Typography). Have a glance on both of them. Remember: you don’t have enough time to read both of them. Just choose one which you will later give some more time.
Which one did you like the most? Yes, they are identical. I mean, the content is identical. But the design - no no.
Let me be honest: if your resume is 100% fit for the role I am working on as a recruiter, I’d give it a chance no matter which version I have. Believe me, 100% fit for the experienced candidate is almost as rare as a green unicorn.
The point is: to have your resume “stand out” you’ve got to make it not only written with the right composition, key words and so on, but also care enough about typography. Thus your resume will be easier to read and your “Harvard”, “Oxford” and “McKinsey” (“Morgan Stanley” for you my investment banking friends) keywords will have more chances to be noticed.
MY ADVICE
It would be really useful if you invest a tiny amount of your time and dollars to buy a good book on typography. A list of my personal choices is in the end of the post. To make this article even more useful here are five typography rules that will help you to make your resume much better in no time:
- The typographic quality of your resume (and any other document) is determined largely by how the body text looks. Body text is what takes the most amount of space. This is your work experience, project description, skills, responsibilities. So first make sure the body text look good, then worry about the rest. Next four rules are here to help you prepare the body text of your resume first.
- Point size is the size of the letters. In print, the most comfortable range for body text is 10–12 point. So in case your resume is made to be suitable for print - 12 is good. If you share it via web, the range is 15–25 pixels. Also remember that different fonts are not equal in size, so be ready to make adjustments.
- Line spacing: this is the vertical distance between lines. For the body text it should be 120–145% of the point size. Default options in word processors are usually different, so you've got to correct like spacing yourself.
- Line length: this is the horizontal width of the text block. The best option is to keep line length between 45–90 characters per line (you can use your word-count function) Thus way your text will be easier to read and your key words easier to spot.
- Finally, font choice. A very good advice: picking the right font is the fastest and easiest way to significantly inprove the typography of your resume. If you send your resume as a text file, you have to pick system font, but please forget about Arial and Times New Roman. Usually you can't be wrong with Helvetica Neue, Calibri or Century Schoolbook. If you send your resume in PDF (which is a better option), then go for a professional font, either buy it or find a good one distributed for free. When googling, something like "best fonts for body text" should works just fine.
And here is the list of the greatest books on typography. One of them is enough for you to be better at writing design than 99% of the Earth population.
- Butterick’s Practical Typography. Online book. Most of the examples I used in this article is based on what is written in it.
- On Web Typography
- Type Matters! The favourite of mine. Short, precise and includes all the basic information you need.
- Thinking with Type
- The Elements of Typographic Style. Considered to be a “Bible for Typography”. This is for those who would like to dig deeper into the subject.
Take care and make your resume stand out.
BR,
Mark
PS: I first published it in my WSO blog but soon realised that the topic may be worth discussing. Have a question - comment!
