When it comes to resumes, every detail matters - including your font choice. A clean, professional font not only makes your resume easier to read but also shows that you pay attention to detail.
Key Takeaways
- The most recommended fonts are Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Roboto, Helvetica, Verdana, Cambria, Garamond, Avenir Next, and Georgia. These fonts tend to reflect professionalism beautifully.
- The font choice also matters. The font you choose for your resume enhances the readability and interest of the employer.
- The font you choose can also affect how well your resume passes through Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).
- Limit the choices for unprofessional fonts. Some of these include Comic Sans, Courier, and Papyrus.
- If the job is traditional like the educational sector or finance sector, use serif fonts.
- If the job depends on creativity or modern areas like marketing, then use sans-serif fonts.
- A font size of 14-16 for headers and 10-12 for body text is considered perfect.
In this guide, we’ll share the top 10 resume fonts, explain why your resume font choice matters, and share tips to make your resume as impressive as your skills.
Importance of Correct Fonts on Resume
A correct font may influence the recruiter in many ways. When someone writes an important letter using a Comic Sans typeface it will create inconvenience for the reader. This decides whether your resume is a keeper or not.
Resume Fonts Effect of Readability and Professionalism
To acknowledge the significance of fonts, it's essential to understand their purpose. Fonts are utilized to improve readability and the importance of the text.
Selecting the appropriate font also guarantees that the resume appears more professional, legible, organized, and visually appealing to the readers.
Right Fonts Impact on Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
In today's job market, recruiters rely on AI tools like ATS (Applicant Tracking System), which is software that filters all resumes and offers letters, enabling employers to select workers efficiently without any issues.
While crafting a compelling resume that surpasses the ATS compatibility and human readability, it is important to select the right font that is easily accessible by the ATS. Fonts that are clear and recognized by ATS would do the job. Popular fonts like Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Georgia, and Times of Roman are excellent choices for their simple and legible designs.
10 Best Resume Fonts in 2025
The choice of fonts is crucial for an astounding resume. The selected font should significantly influence the Hiring Manager. These are some of the best fonts that are compatible with ATS and visually appealing for humans.
1Times New Roman
Times New Roman is a classic serif typeface known for its legibility, and those little tails at the end give it a touch of elegance, making it an excellent choice for resumes and all other professional works. Anything written using this font sure to create a place in the recruiter's mind.
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2Arial
Arial is a sans-serif typeface. It's best to use in a resume, most of us use it in body text and headers. Known for its clean and clear text also makes it a professional font which is also ATS-friendly one.
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3Calibri
It is a modern typeface used in various industries, is known for its easy-to-read context, and is clean and professional. Better to prefer this if you find it more difficult to select.
Its lighter text makes it fit more words on a page. One thing is that it lacks uniqueness, everyone is using; as its default font Microsoft Word.
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4Roboto
Roboto is a sans-serif typeface. Best when you want to catch the recruiter's eye, and can be used for names and titles. It has a geometrical charm that makes it the perfect font for resumes as it can blend in many ways whether it is a digital resume or in-print form always the best.
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5Helvetica
Helvetica is a sans-serif typeface. An excellent choice for resumes, its clean design makes it more legible for recruiters who will not be confused in recruiting you. Its spacing and the letters give a touch of professionalism and make your resume look clean and organized.
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6Verdana
Verdana is a sans-serif typeface. With no little tails, it makes the resume look clean and legible as well as professional. An ATS-friendly font that will do the job perfectly.
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7Cambria
Cambria is a transitional serif typeface. The spacing, light weights, and good proportions of letters make it a resume-appealing one. It was a specially designed font for computer users.
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8Garamond
Garamond is a family of serif fonts. It is also one of the best fonts used in resuming but comparatively low. It has the best letters and good spacing but most of these look great on paper rather than on a computer. But it is a versatile font which is widely accepted in many industries.
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9Avenir Next
Avenir is a geometric sans-serif typeface. Which also better for crafting a resume because of its clean and crisp textures it delivers a straightforward message to the Hiring Manager about your job and your qualifications.
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10Georgia
Georgia is a serif typeface. Known for its versatility and readability is also one the best fonts used for writing a resume, document, and professional letters.
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Expert Tips to Choose the Best Resume Font and Size
Crafting a winning resume is crucial. Here are some expert tips; read on for advice and tricks that lead to a promising one. One can use our ResumeUp AI Resume Builder for a standout resume. Click here to land your next job: https://resumeup.ai/
1Use of the professional words
Choosing the right words in a resume can greatly influence the recruiter's decision to hire you. So one should be professionally precise; instead of putting all your work experience on a resume, you should think of highlighting the field they are looking for, which helps the reader estimate your match for the job easily.
2Choose a font that fits your role in the industry.
Deciding the font is very crucial for writing a resume. It reflects the profession you are looking for; several fonts provide a different outlook on different aspects; when it comes to professional writing, it may emphasize a whole different look on the reader. Ultimately, you should choose the font that best fits the content and gives the desired look to your resume, which will reach the recruiter in the right way.
3Select the Right Resume Font Size
Selecting the right font size is also important. As the reader shouldn't strain himself/herself in reading your resume, which will have a high chance of risking your resume, one should try to prefer a font size of about 10 to 12 points for body text and 14 to 16 for titles and headers, which will take your resume on a smooth road of success.
4Highlighting the Right Sections
To make the resume more easily accessible for the recruiter, one should highlight the keywords like degrees, job titles, skills, and qualifications. Bolding the font means you are dragging the reader's attention to a particular headline, so one should be careful while doing that. Instead, the usage of double quotes ("") will just do the job.
Keeping the information crisp and clear will guarantee you a job.
5Be Consistent with Font
Use of the same font, sizes, and spacing would be great. It will convey your information or message to the reader without any inconsistency or portrait of any lack of detail.
It helps to organize your resume cleanly and make it more legible for the recruiters.
6Right Contrasts and Colors
The selection of the right colors will make a difference in the resume. It is important to know that the usage of different colors would make the resume look worse. We know that there are no such preferences of colors by the ATS. So it is recommended to use a white background and black font, which will look great and be compatible with the reader. Because our main goal is to make a readable resume that will guarantee us a job.
Resume Fonts to Avoid
Some fonts are not compatible with writing a resume. Here are some common mistakes to avoid while creating a resume.
1Unprofessional and non-standard fonts
Just like the best fonts, there are likely bad fonts one must avoid while crafting a resume. They mostly are Times New Roman, Futura, Arial, Courier, Brush Script, Comic Sans, Papyrus, Lucida Console, and Impact. There is nothing wrong with these fonts; it's just that some have been widely used, which will not give us the standout resume we are looking for. Some look unprofessional, like Courier, Brush Script, and Comic Sans; they have little tails at the ends of the letters, which doesn't make them legible for resumes.
2Hard to Read Fonts
According to some experts, some fonts are undesirable; hard-to-read fonts like Bodoni, Comic Sans, and Haettenschweiler make it very hard to retain the information written by them. These are the most unpreferred fonts while writing a resume.
Posted by
RohithRohith, Co-Founder of ResumeUp.AI, with a decade of experience in the software industry and having conducted over 500+ interviews as a hiring manager, shares his personal experiences, success stories, and tips to help job seekers optimize their resumes and land their dream job.
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Frequently asked questions
Which is better for My Resume, Serif or Sans-Serif Font?
This is an undeciding factor, according to the typography experts, both are legible. It depends on what job you are applying for because Serif fonts are classic and professional, which will be good choices for traditional fields like business, law, finance, etc. They are used for multi-page and light-text resumes.
Sans-Serif are modern fonts that are cutting-edge and will be good choices for creative fields like designers and used for single-page and heavy-text resumes.
What is the right font size for My Resume?
It’s better to have an optimal font size of about 10 to 12 for body text and 14 to 16 for headers. This will provide ease for readers so that they don’t strain too much for reading.
Can I use decorative fonts?
No, the use of a decorative font may not be compatible with a resume. Nowadays ATS is the one that filters the resume, so it will be very difficult for it to recognize the font and may not surpass the test; better to avoid using decorative fonts.
Is it okay to use script fonts on a resume?
Well, it is not ok to use a script font on your resume because it will make it difficult to read and look unprofessional. Better to stick to conservative font choices, or else it will be harder for ATS (Applicant Tracking System).