The best fonts for a resume
| Font | Type | Feels | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arial | Sans serif | Plain, modern, neutral | Any job; the safest choice |
| Helvetica | Sans serif | Clean, slightly more polished than Arial | Design, tech, marketing (common on Mac) |
| Calibri | Sans serif | Soft, compact; long Microsoft Office's default | Business, admin; fits more words per line |
| Aptos | Sans serif | Microsoft Office's newer default | Any job, if you write in recent Word versions |
| Lato or Roboto | Sans serif | Friendly, modern | Tech, startups, creative roles |
| Georgia | Serif | Classic, very readable on screen | Law, finance, education, consulting |
| Garamond | Serif | Elegant, traditional | Academic, publishing, senior roles |
| Cambria | Serif | Sturdy, designed for screens | Traditional industries |
| Times New Roman | Serif | Formal, very familiar | Government, legal; can feel dated elsewhere |
Serif or sans serif? Both are fine. Sans serif fonts (no small strokes at the ends of letters) look modern and clean on screens; serif fonts look classic and formal. Pick the one that fits your field, then stick with it.
You can use one font for everything, or one for your name and headings and another for body text, as long as they pair well (for example Georgia headings with Arial body text). Two fonts is the maximum.
What size to use
| Part of the resume | Size |
|---|---|
| Your name | 18–24 pt |
| Section headings (Experience, Education…) | 12–14 pt, bold or small caps |
| Job titles and employer names | 11–12 pt, bold |
| Body text and bullet points | 10–12 pt (10.5–11 pt is the sweet spot) |
| Contact details, dates | 9–11 pt |
Don't go below 10 pt for body text to squeeze onto one page. Smaller text is harder to read, especially when a recruiter opens your PDF on a phone. If your resume is too long, cut words instead; our guide on how long a resume should be helps you decide what goes.
Fonts at the same point size aren't the same size on the page. Calibri at 11 pt looks smaller than Arial at 11 pt, and Garamond runs smaller still. Check the printed or PDF version, not just the number.
Choosing a font for your field
| Field | Good choices | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Law, finance, government | Georgia, Garamond, Cambria, Times New Roman | Serif fonts look traditional and formal, which matches the field. |
| Tech and engineering | Arial, Helvetica, Calibri, Roboto | Clean sans serif reads well on screens, where these resumes are read. |
| Healthcare and education | Calibri, Arial, Georgia | Plain and easy to scan; content matters more than style. |
| Marketing, design, media | Helvetica, Lato, a well-paired serif heading | A little personality is fine, but your portfolio carries the design. |
| Academic CVs | Garamond, Georgia, Times New Roman | Long documents read more comfortably in a serif font. |
When in doubt, choose Arial or Calibri. Nobody has ever been turned down for using a plain, readable font.
Spacing and margins go with the font
A good font still looks crowded with no space around it. These settings keep a resume easy to scan:
- Margins: 0.5 to 1 inch (1.25–2.5 cm). Go below 0.5 inch and the page looks crammed.
- Line spacing: single to 1.15 within a section, with a little extra space before each heading.
- Bullets: one or two lines each. If a bullet runs to three lines, it's usually two points.
- Alignment: left-aligned text. Justified text creates uneven gaps between words.
For the overall layout (which sections go where, and in what order), see our guide to resume format.
Check your font before you send
- Export a PDF and open it on another device, ideally a phone. Does every line still read clearly?
- Select the text in the PDF and copy it into a plain document. If letters turn into symbols, an ATS will have the same problem.
- Print one page, or zoom to 100%. Body text that looks fine at 150% on a big monitor can be too small on paper.
- Match your cover letter. Use the same font and header on both; our cover letter templates pair with the resume templates.
Do you need to buy or download a font?
No. Every font you need for a strong resume is already on your computer: Arial, Calibri, Georgia, Cambria and Times New Roman come with Windows and Microsoft Office, and Helvetica and Georgia come with Mac.
Free fonts like Lato and Roboto (from Google Fonts) are fine too, with one condition: send a PDF. In a Word file, a font the recruiter doesn't have gets replaced with a default one, which can push lines onto a second page or break your layout. A PDF carries the font inside it.
Avoid paid "resume fonts" sold as a secret to getting hired. No recruiter decides on a font they've never heard of; they decide on what the words say.
What matters for applicant tracking systems
ATS software reads the text in your file, not the font's style. Any standard font is fine for an ATS. What causes problems is how the text is stored:
- Text turned into images. A resume exported as a picture, or a name drawn as a graphic, has no text for the ATS to read.
- Icon fonts and symbols for phone, email or skill ratings. They can come through as boxes or random letters.
- Unusual fonts the receiving computer doesn't have. In a Word file, they may be swapped for a different font and shift your layout. In a PDF, fonts are normally embedded, so the layout holds.
- Text in headers, footers or text boxes. Some systems skip it. Keep your contact details in the main body.
Send a PDF unless the posting asks for Word, and check it the way a recruiter's software will with our free ATS checker: it shows whether your file's text can be read and which sections it finds.
Fonts and styles to avoid
- Comic Sans, Papyrus, Brush Script and other novelty or handwriting fonts: they look unprofessional in almost every field.
- Very thin or light fonts: they fade on screens and in print.
- Condensed fonts used to cram more words in: they're tiring to read.
- Several fonts on one page, or many colors and sizes for emphasis. Use bold sparingly, for job titles and section headings.
- All caps for whole sentences. Fine for short headings, hard to read in paragraphs.
Designers and other creative roles have more freedom, but the same readability test applies: if a hiring manager has to work to read it, it's the wrong choice.
Fonts in our templates
Every Last Minute Resume template uses one of three font families chosen for readability and ATS safety:
- Modern Sans: Arial and Helvetica. Clean and works everywhere.
- Classic Serif: Georgia and Times New Roman. Traditional and formal.
- Tech Mono: Consolas and Courier New. For developers who want a technical look.
You can switch fonts and choose compact, standard or spacious text sizes (about 10, 10.5 and 11 point) in any template, and the PDF keeps the font exactly as shown. Browse the resume templates to see each style, or start with the ATS-friendly templates.