Are you in love with Times New Roman? I’m not and here’s why – everyone uses it! It gets my vote for worst dental hygiene resume font.
Aesthetically it’s a serviceable font and has been sort of the go-to type face for a long time. But I’m all about helping you stand out and to make your dental hygiene resume more memorable let’s go a different direction.
So here’s some quick tips on fonts to help make the words on your resume leap off the page:
Most Important
Rule number one with fonts is to be consistent. Don’t use lots of different fonts, in fact I would highly recommend you only stick with one throughout your entire resume packet (ie resume, cover letter, testimonial sheet, and CAR Sheet).
Consistency is a hallmark of looking professional and organized – both traits you want to show a potential employer.
Size
Every font is different in size. You can put two fonts next to each other of the same size setting and one will look way bigger. The best way to gauge if it’s too big or not is to print it out and have a look – don’t trust your computer monitor as it lies about a lot things (colors, sizing, etc.)
Depending on the font you use, a good size is between 10 and 12. I tend to write resumes in about 11 point with the fonts I use. Some people will use the size of the font to compensate for the lack of information on your resume, but I think that’s a mistake. I think it’s better to use a normal size font and simply increase the spacing between lines – looks more professional.
Styles
There are different styles of fonts out there. The two most common are serif and san serif fonts. Serif fonts have little flags at the tips or ends of lines called “serifs” whereas san serif fonts don’t have them. Times New Roman has serifs, while Arial does not, by way of comparison.
I like minimalism in resumes – keeping them simple, succinct and clean. For me, serifs clutter up the page (even if only subtly). I think they have their place in other types of documents and certainly with books, magazines and newspapers but not resumes
I would also advise against choosing script- or gothic-style fonts. I think gothic is self-explanatory, but scripts are the ones that look like your handwriting (Kirsten, Comic and Balloon are common examples). Those have no place (ever) on a resume – don’t even consider them.
Bold & Italic
In certain places you will want to place emphasis on specific words – usually headings and sub-headings. Bold and italic are great ways to do that, so long as you keep them consistent and use them sparingly.
If you bold or italic too much, these type treatments lose their impact on the reader. So save them for places where you want to make an impression. They also help guide a read through your document. Our eyes are naturally trained to look for little road signs to help us navigate a document efficiently – too many signs leads to overload and we get lost.
ALL CAPS
The only place I would suggest you use all caps is with your name. All caps in a section of text can really make you look either computer illiterate or obnoxious – not the image you want.
Recommended Fonts
All computers come with their own sets of typefaces, so play around with a few. Type up a line of text and then copy and paste it several times on a page with each line using a different font, then print that off and decide.
One of my favorites right now is the current default for Microsoft Word, called Calibri. It will no doubt go the way of Times New Roman at some point but right now it looks great on a resume and is easy to read.
