Best font for a CV? Also: Fonts in general

[Coppernerves]

Personally I think Arial AKA Helvetica is nice and clear, and it's common use makes it reassuring, familiar.
But on the other hand it also looks unambitious, dull, and lacking initiative.

What about Gill Sans? It seems to really exude confidence, but perhaps it's a bit too dynamic for two pages size 12, a bit too "in your face" memorable certainly, but a bit uncomfortable.

I feel like mentioning Constantia, just because it looks really cool to me, looking very distinguished, and reminding me of the formal, received pronunciation I like slipping into when dealing with clerks, secretaries and receptionists, waiters/waitresses, and strangers I'm asking for directions from.
While it looks suitably distinguished and formal, suggesting reliability, good manners, and tidiness, perhaps Constantia looks a bit unfriendly, a bit unprepared for teamwork.

Since there aren't any font threads on this forum, I'd also like to mention that I've taken a liking to Consolas and Sakal Majalla, does anyone know of good uses for them?

 

[Frezzato]

Dear God, Consolas, what an ugly font. No offense. It is extremely helpful though. I've only found two fonts native to Windows that properly display the number zero (0) with a slash through it, and Consolas is one of them. I've found it to be handy when dealing with spreadsheets containing both letters and numbers.

I wouldn't know about the proper font for a resume as I still have yet to land a job, so...

Otherwise, I do like Calibri in general, but mostly because it prints well at small sizes.

This is way more typing about fonts than I had ever anticipated.

 

[Melon Hunter]

Inb4 Comic Sans.

But seriously, I think Calibri looks very nice in a professional document. That said, serif fonts can look even better, so perhaps Cambria or Georgia? Hmmm...

Yeah, this is pretty difficult! Personally, I would recommend something a little beyond Ariel/Helvetica, as it does look very generic, but not something too out there. My own CV is written in Bookman Old Style, which is a very lovely-looking serif font, but the characters are pretty wide, so you end up taking up more space than usual for a given passage. My advice? Type it out, then try out a few different fonts, both serif and sans serif. Out of all of them, I would go for Cambria if I were typing out a new CV.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I think all of you are over-thinking it. I'm pretty sure that any font is completely fine so long as it's readable and doesn't make your resume look worse (like comic sans). So basically anything that isn't noticeably bad will work because seriously, no one is going to hire you based on what font you used.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I think it depends on what type of job you are going for. I was always advised to use Arial size 12 because I was applying for very formal public service jobs, and that was the font they used in their official documents, so it's good to show that conformity with their system, although in all honesty it probably wasn't even picked up on by the people that looked at my CV.

My friend was an art and design graduate, he used Helvetica in his, because it's Helvetica, and the graphic designers looking at his CV would have critiqued his layout and font choices with a fine toothed comb, because his job was going to be making stuff like that look as good as possible. Honestly he spend 2 or 3 times as long on his layout and font style than the actual content, but for a graphic designers position it was the layout of his CV that was most important.

Personally unless you are going for an artistic job I think you should focus more on the content, make sure there are no spelling or grammar errors, get a local teacher or even someone at the job centre to look over and advise you about it; universities usually have people dedicated to advising people on their CVs, so if you're at uni ask the people at the Students Union desk where you can go to get it reviewed, but make sure at least someone with an academic background gives it a read over.

 

[Total LOLige]

Jokerman, the best font in the land. Now I haven't written a CV because there's nothing to put on it. When I do I'll use the default font on LibreOffice,Arial or Calibri.

 

[Shadowstar38]

You've just managed to make the most pedantic thread I've ever read on the internet. I can't even imagine in my head what any of these fonts look like from the names given.

Pick the one that doesn't look like shit. Alternatively, pick the standard font they make you use in school.

The fuck is a CV by the way?

 

[Nickolai77]

The fuck is a CV by the way?

British for Resume. You could have just google searched "CV" btw.

OT: I just use Ariel- Simple and concise and not as posh as Times New Roman.

 

[JadeWah]

CV = Curriculum vitae, basically a resume of a persons experience, education etc, which you use to apply for jobs. This will give a good overview for the employer to see if you got the qualifications they need.

OT: I just use the standard Ariel, never really given any thoughts to changing it either.

 

[Jinxzy]

What you would want to use is any font with serif's. It makes it easier to read the fonts. Also stay away from any decorative fonts it will make it look cheesy.

For my course, I used Times New Roman, mainly because that was the font my course demanded we use...

Is one of the more popular fonts used in typing, also is an example of serif type fonts.

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Just use Times New Roman. It's practical and easy to read on paper. People don't really complain about using Times New Roman. Boring? Maybe, but it is practical.

 

[Zantos]

I use whatever font LaTeX uses if you don't tell it what font to use. What's that, Times New Roman? Looks like it. It's such an inoffensive and widely used font that it won't raise any eyebrows. It also won't stand out.

I'm looking at a font now called Andalus, it's similar to Times New Roman in that it's formal and actually looks similar. But I think it's subtley different enough to stand out if you wanted them to take a second to consider it.

 

[Seneschal]

Personally I think Arial AKA Helvetica is nice and clear, and it's common use makes it reassuring, familiar.
But on the other hand it also looks unambitious, dull, and lacking initiative.

What about Gill Sans? It seems to really exude confidence, but perhaps it's a bit too dynamic for two pages size 12, a bit too "in your face" memorable certainly, but a bit uncomfortable.

I feel like mentioning Constantia, just because it looks really cool to me, looking very distinguished, and reminding me of the formal, received pronunciation I like slipping into when dealing with clerks, secretaries and receptionists, waiters/waitresses, and strangers I'm asking for directions from.
While it looks suitably distinguished and formal, suggesting reliability, good manners, and tidiness, perhaps Constantia looks a bit unfriendly, a bit unprepared for teamwork.

Since there aren't any font threads on this forum, I'd also like to mention that I've taken a liking to Consolas and Sakal Majalla, does anyone know of good uses for them?

On something that's (somewhat) official or supposed to look official, you really don't want to overthink it or go overboard on the design. Times New Roman or Arial, I'd say. I know they look "boring", but documents that look nice are such a mystifying rarity that they will likely stand out, and not in a good way, but in an ostentatious, fancy-pants way. Sad, but true.

First, the no-nos: Consolas is a monospace; it makes it look like you made your CV in Notepad. Monospaces are good for programming, text that have to go through computer recognition or that have certain standards (e.g., book drafts sent to publishers often have to be in Courier New). Sakkal Majalla is a typeface for arabic characters, hence the calligraphic look (that'll be tacky in print). Avoid both.

Now, Arial is a UI font for the most part, and can be made to look good on certain web-designs, but I don't find it all that pleasant on paper. Helvetica has certain differences from it (important ones), but is a paid font unless you have a Mac; if you're buying typefaces for your CV, and you want a neo-grotesque, I'd suggest Chalet Book [http://www.houseind.com/fonts/chaletbook], I find it gorgeous.

Calibri, in my opinion, is abominable. If you want a warmer, humanist sans-serif, stay the hell away from Calibri and take something like Candara or Corbel. They're both bookish, they have a two-story "g" and "a", they look nice on paper and have a certain degree of stroke contrast to them. Or better yet, find something free [http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/impara]. This is the extent of "personality" I'd put in a CV, so use it if you desperately want to stand out.

I think Constantia is good for Word documents that need a true-type to be readable, but it really looks to me like a computer font - it's basically made of huge wedges and has a large x-height, so it's quite at home on a screen, but not so much on paper. If you're going for a serif, there are much better choices. The "boring" Times New Roman, for one, or something transitional like Georgia (I personally think it's pretty, but too large for size 12). You could go for a real "book" typeface, but I don't think they look all that good on two sheets of A4: for an old-style look, try Centaur and Cardo [http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/Cardo], but I'd suggest a more modern, garalde typeface - Berling Antiqua, Bembo, Goudy and Perpetua come with Windows, I think, an Caslon and Garamond come in detailed open-type format if you have any paid Adobe product. You can't go wrong with those.

 

[King of Asgaard]

Comic Sans is the best font, regardless of situation.

Spoiler: oh baby, you're looking fine and dandy

In all seriousness, as long as it's legible and fairly tidy, it should do fine.
I'd go with Ariel, Times New Roman or something along those lines.

Alternatively, go with the text from Ni No Kuni.
That way, they'll be forced to hire you so you can translate it.

 

[Weaver]

I always use a sans-serif font for my resumes.
Calibri is my font of choice, usually.

 

[Coppernerves]

You've just managed to make the most pedantic thread I've ever read on the internet.

I find pedantry strangely satisfying sometimes.

At least it's not something completely arbitrary, like whether to put the cream or the jam on a scone first.
(Of course it's jam first really, since the cream spreads more easily, you're less likely to blend the two as much that way.)

I was actually just interested in starting discussion about fonts, but felt that a particular application would be more likely to start a discussion that: fonts eh?

 

[teqrevisited]

Mine is in Verdana. 16 point bolded, center aligned name & incentive information at the top, followed by contact details and the rest is left aligned 11 point with bold section headers.

 

[Muspelheim]

I stick to Times New Roman for official things, it's readable and basic, looks neat and probably won't make anything actively worse. It's a safe card.

See, I use Courier New in other cases, which I'm sure makes me a filthy rat among men in the eyes of type font enthusiasts.

 

[Frezzato]

I find it very hard to believe there could be any, ANY typeface enthusiasts here! However, I don't know you guys and the simple fact that you responded to this thread makes me happy, which is not to say I love fonts but rather I feel a kinship to people who enjoy strange things. Since we're all probably gamers here, I give you a perfect fusion of gaming and typefaces:

Kern Type, a game about fonts [http://type.method.ac/].