Guide to Optimal Resume Font Size and Margins: Impress at First Glance!

Make that first impression count with a professionally presented resume

When you’re writing your resume, every detail counts. Even the smallest considerations come together to make that overall first impression. And we know that first impressions matter. If you want to make the recruiter sit up and take notice from the moment your resume hits their screen, read on. We’ll delve into best practices when it comes to resume font size and style, margins, and line spacing. 

Why is your resume font and spacing important?

Of course, content is king on your resume. If you can’t show that you have the right combination of skills, experiences, and qualifications, your application is unlikely to progress any further. Making sure your content hits the mark, however, is just part of the equation. To become a preferred candidate, you’ll need to do more than just throw some words onto your screen. 

We’ve already said that first impressions matter, and the resume font size, margins, and overall layout contribute to that first impression. If you want your reader to spend time reading your resume, you need to make it easy for them. That means considering all aspects of the layout. From spacing to legibility to bullet points, every aspect needs to be carefully curated to make sure your resume is as professional and easy-to-read as possible. Let’s dive into how you can achieve that. 

What are the best resume fonts?

We’d recommend choosing a standard font that’s available on most systems. While it may be tempting to use something original, if it can’t be read on the recruiter’s screen or if it’s hard for an ATS to interpret accurately, you’re doing yourself more harm than good. 

You can’t go wrong with popular fonts such as Arial or Calibri, although Helvetica and Tahoma are also popular choices. 

Expert tip: Check out our post on The Best Fonts to Use on a Resume for more detail and suggestions!

Resume font style considerations

When you’re thinking about your resume font style and size, you may want to take these considerations into account:

Font size

It’s impossible to give a general rule for the perfect resume font size, as one size does not fit all. The best size will depend on your chosen font and how much space you have available when the content is finalized. 

An ATS doesn’t mind what size font you use, but a human reader will. Therefore, we advise a resume font size of anywhere between 10- and 12 points. Headings can obviously be slightly larger, so that they stand out on the page. 

We recommend a resume minimum font size of 10 points. Any smaller and hiring managers will need to squint to read it – remember that your job is to make their job easy. A resume font size of 9-point or below is definitely not going to do you any favors. 

The maximum font size we recommend is 12-point. Any larger and you’re wasting precious space that could be used to sell you into the role. You’ll also risk looking like you have nothing to say and are trying to make up for a lack of experience by filling the space with ridiculously large text. 

Section headings could be as large as 20-point, depending on the font, with your name at the very top being larger still. Your choices with regards to font size for your headings will be dictated to some extent by the space you have available.

Serif or sans serif

Serifs are the little flourishes on the ends of each letter. A serif font, such as Times New Roman, will have these flourishes, while a sans serif font, such as Calibri, won’t. 

Serif fonts are more traditional, although they can be seen as outdated. Sans serif fonts are generally considered easier to read on screen (although not necessarily when printed out). 

Traditional industries, such as law, medicine, and accounting, may prefer traditional serif fonts, whereas sectors like design, technology, and beauty often prefer modern, sans serif fonts. Of course, that’s not a universal rule – every individual has different preferences, whatever industry they work in – but it’s worth considering industry norms when choosing your resume font.

There’s no right or wrong here – just choose what works best for you and the type of industry you’re applying to.

Bold, italic, and underline

Sometimes, you may want to highlight certain information on your resume. You have several font options to do this: 

• Bold: This can work well for headings, but overuse in paragraphs or bullet points can be distracting and make the content harder to read

• Italic: This is a good option for setting key information apart, but again, beware of overuse

• Underline: This is to be avoided, as underlined text is most often associated with hyperlinks these days

Centered or justified

You’ll also need to consider where your text sits on the page. Do you want it centered, left justified, or fully justified? 

• Left justified: This is the standard choice – you can’t go far wrong with a left-justified resume. That means the words are aligned down the left-hand side of the page and are jagged on the right – like this blog. 

• Fully justified: Fully justified means that the words are aligned down both sides of the page. On one hand, this looks smarter, but on the other hand it can make it harder for people with dyslexia to read. 

• Centered: Sometimes considered an old-fashioned choice, it’s unusual to center the whole resume. Centering can be used to make short sections, such as Key Skills, stand out, but isn’t advised for large blocks of text. 

Font colors 

Of course, color is another way of making your resume stand out. Most resumes are presented with black text on a white background – and there’s nothing wrong with that! It looks professional and smart. 

That said, there’s no harm in introducing a bit of color. Beware of overdoing it, though! Subtle and stylish is the rule here – garish and over-the-top isn’t the aim. That will make your resume stand out for the wrong reasons!

If you decide to inject a flash of color, we recommend sticking to black plus just one other color, and confining the color to headings and subheadings.

Fonts to avoid

By now, you probably have a good idea of how your resume will look. But before we finish investigating resume font sizes and styles, let’s take a look at some red flags to avoid. 

• Poor font choices: It should go without saying that Comic Sans isn’t a top choice unless you’re applying to work with kids. You may also want to avoid very stylized fonts, such as cursive styles, and gimmicky fonts, such as Algerian. 

• Tiny fonts: You may think it’s a clever way to fit more valuable information on your resume, but a larger font (even if you need more pages) is preferable to a resume crammed margin-to-margin with tiny text. Every time. 

• Bold keywords: It’s not unusual to see resumes where the candidate has tried to make keywords stand out by putting them in bold – for example: “A Project Manager with skills in stakeholder management and sound financial acumen.” This is not only tricky to read, it sounds like a partially-shouted sentence.  

Resume margins

With your font choices sorted, how else can you make it easy for a recruiter to read your resume? White space can help – no one wants to wade through a block of densely packed words. And white space starts with margins. 

Much like choosing your resume font size, you don’t want your margins to be too big or too small. The standard paper size for a resume in the US is 8.5 x 11 inches. For that size page, we recommend a margin size of 1 inch. You can reduce them to 0.5 inches if you really need that little bit of extra space. 

We advise producing your resume in Microsoft Word. To adjust the margin size, simply click “layout” on the top menu and select “margins.” You can then choose a pre-set margin size or use a “custom” measurement. 

Resume line spacing

As we said above, white space around the words on your resume aids readability. While line spacing for your resume will automatically be set to 1, increasing it to 1.15 will add enough white space to improve the readability without it looking too spaced out. You can do this in the “paragraph” menu. 

You can also increase the space before and after headings and paragraphs by navigating to the “layout” menu and adjusting the “before” and “after” spacing. 

If you’re tight for space on your resume there’s no need to do either of these things as the standard settings are perfectly acceptable – but if you have some blank space at the end of your resume these are discreet options to maximize both the layout and the readability. 

Optimize your resume layout to impress

As you can see, there are plenty of little tips, tricks, and tweaks that can take your resume layout from “acceptable” to “outstanding.” Why not carry the same layout across to your cover letter to show consistency, attention to detail, and a strong personal brand? Using the same resume font size and style, matching margins and the same line spacing is a subtle way of presenting yourself professionally. 

It’s all about that first impression! If you want to make sure your resume is hitting the mark in terms of layout and content, why not send it for a free resume review by the experts at ZipJob? 

Recommended reading: 

• US Resume Format: How to Write and Best Practice Examples

• 7 Resume Headers and Sections You Need (+ Examples)

• How to Select the Ideal Resume Paper Quality