Well begun is half done. This is a famous quote that has motivated innumerable men and women to start any task cautiously. Well, this must stimulate you too, and post that you are expected to prepare an exceptional resume, that not only impresses your interviewer but also the robots. This task may seem daunting for some, but after reading this article you will be having complete knowledge about the resume and formatting that is ideal and impressive.
List Of Best Resume Friendly Fonts
The best way to choose a font is simple and lucid. The font you suppose to choose must be easy in the eyes of both the ATS as well as the human interviewer, which is possible only if it could be understood and interpreted in an easy manner. It is undoubtedly true, that content mentioned in the resume matters more than the font style and shape, but, considering the level of competition and the rising level of applications, even the most trivial and minute things matter a lot. Hence, always try to present your resume in the following fonts:
1) Calibri
This is one of the most famous fonts, which is used widely all across the world. The popularity of this font increased rapidly since its launch in 2007 and it is most commonly referred to as the successor of another famous font, Times New Roman. Presenting your resume in Calibri, might not give you an edge over creativity, but it would surely present the content in an adorable, presentable, and neat manner.
2) Cambria
Launched earlier than Calibri in 2004, Cambria is a designated and specialized font, which enables easy reading on the screen. This is a perfect font when applying at larger institutions, which normally use ATS software so as to screen out the candidates on the basis of their resumes.
3) Georgia
It is another famous font that was designed especially to enable an easy read interface. This font presents the content in a neat and clean format at almost all the resolutions and screen sizes. This is the very reason that several famous publications, including, The New York Times, uses this font. Presenting the content of your resume in this font is a nice choice.
4) Helvetica
This font can be used by the candidates applying for a job in the corporate sectors, as this font is largely used there. It is also known as corporate-dominated font, and presenting your resume’s content in this font, would enable an easy screen out from the keen eyes of the ATS system.
5) Tahoma
This is one of the oldest fonts launched by Microsoft around 25 years earlier. This might sound a bit old-school, but still, it is used widely in the educational industry as well as in several academic fields. In case you are applying for a job at any ed-tech organization or at any educational institution, like school, college, or any private coaching center, then it is recommended that you present your resume in this font.
Expert Formatting Tips To Be Followed While Designing Your Resume
A resume represents you or resembles you in your absence. It is no wonder that the worth and importance of a physical interview session is at par with this piece of paper. A carefully drafted and adorably presented resume, not only enhances your chances of getting screened out but also impresses your interviewer. Hence, it is necessary that you design and craft your resume using the following formatting tips:
1) Font Dominated Resume
The first thing that a candidate must keep in his or her mind while formatting a resume is that he or he must not use more than two resumes in the entire document. This not only looks neat but also promotes readability. Using several fonts in a resume would look messy and untidy. Further, by using several fonts in a single document, you are simply writing repeated words, in several ways, that greatly affects the legibility and understanding of the content.
2) Keep It Elaborative And Presentable
A resume must completely define you. It must contain everything in relation to you, ranging from your educational background to the extra-curricular activities. However, a few candidates try to concise the information into a single page by reducing the line space between the several lines of a paragraph as well as different paragraphs. This technique is not at all recommended, as by doing so, there are high chances that you will be rejected by the ATS system, which is not designed to read content with thin margins.
3) Use Black Color
Your resume is not a poster or a placard advertising your educational qualifications. Neither it will be pasted on the walls of the organization you are applying to. Hence, maintain the uniformity and integrity of the document by writing your entire resume in a single color, preferably black. Further, it is a common habit of the candidates to use red color while mentioning any important fact. It is recommended, that you do not use any color other than black. However, to show contrast other formatting features could be used, such as Bold, Italics, or Underline.
4) Do Not Overuse Bold, Italics and Underline Features
It has been observed that candidates, overuse the Italics, Bold, and Underline features of formatting. This way, their entire resume is either bold or underlined or written in cursive writing. This technique will not come in handy and beats the primary purpose of these features. By over formatting the entire document and by overusing these features, you will not be able to create contrast or lay focus on your special achievements. Hence, it is recommended that you use only one of these features to show contrast and that too at relatively fewer times.
5) Do Not Use Fancy Fonts
With the advent of technology and its evolution with time, there are more than 200 fonts in MS Word alone. However, not all are suitable for writing and resenting a resume. Strictly avoid the fancy fonts, such as Centeria Script, Adorn, Gelato Script, Mishka, etc. as you are applying for a job at a reputed institution and not selling anything to a customer. Hence, maintain decency and professionalism, while drafting the resume.
References
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563220303216
- https://run.unl.pt/handle/10362/114827
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
I am a full-time professional blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I love anything related to the Web, and I try to learn new technologies every day.
All the team management, content creation, and monetization tasks are handled by me. Together with the team at PrepMyCareer, the aim is to provide useful and engaging content to our readers.