TPW Resume & Copywriting Services

As a job applicant, you want to stand out from the crowd. But it is best to let your qualifications, experience, credentials and background do the impressing. When it comes to Fancy Fonts, etc, on your resume or cover letter, a little goes a long way. Like cheesecake – we all love a piece. But douse it with loads of caramel sauce, chocolate chips, mounds of whipped cream, and a cupful of sweetened berries, and we may find ourselves scrambling for some water to wash it down.
Impress With Organization & Simplicity Ten to fifteen years ago, the fancier fonts were considered a clever tool to attract the attention of the Personnel Managers, perhaps even including a large ornate logo in the top margin. Not so in today's world. Nowadays, Hiring Agents oftentimes must muddle through dozens of resumes at a time, or even hundreds. All they want to do is find the most qualified applicant. And while they want to be impressed, they don't want to have to wade through ankle-deep chocolate to discover who the applicant is or how they could potentially benefit their company. In this case, less is more. Remember the adage, you only have one chance to make a first impression. The extra caramel sauce might be all it takes to land the resume in the can.
Discreetly Use Fonts, Bold and Italics Start laying out your resume by setting your Margins at 1" on all 4 sides – top, bottom, right and left. Then work on your Header (your name and contact information) at the very top of your page. Use a size 14 to 18 font. The name should be at least one size larger than the contact information. All or some can beBolded if you like, or Italicized. For pleasing eye appeal, use a font with serifs*, like Times New Roman, Garamond, or Palatino.
Example 1: The applicant's name is size 16 Times New Roman. The contact information is size 12, with a line in-between to set them apart.
Example 2: Here the Header is Centered – with the Name in Size 18 Garamond, Bold & Italic. The contact information is Garamond Italic in Size 12.
Headline/Objective: Since you want your Headline or Objective to catch the hirer's immediate attention, get noticed by using Bolding and/or Italicizing. Start this 2 spaces below the Heading.
Sub-Headings: Drop down another 2 lines for your first Sub-Heading or Category. Here use a 12/14 size font, a little smaller than your Heading, but larger than your Body Text. These can be either centered or left justified, underlined or not.Just make sure that all Sub-Headings are formatted the same throughout. Body Text: Left Justify your body text and stick to 10/12 size font.Employer/company names can be bolded or italicized if you prefer it, but do not bold/italicize descriptions of job duties, etc.Make sure that each of the job listings is formatted uniformly.
Example 3:

* There is some discussion about whether to use fonts with serifsin your resume or not. Fonts with serifs make text much more aesthetically pleasing, and if you will be hand-carrying your resume in, faxing or mailing it, a visually attractive resume is great. But if you intend to send your resume through email, it might be wise to stick with a font without serifs. Otherwise, the words may get distorted by the software of the receiving computer. What's the difference between a Serif Typeface Font and a Sans-Serif Font (without serif)?* Serif fonts have curves or details in the ends of certain letters, for instance a "t" or an "a", and/or the thickness of the letter strokes .They are more pleasing to the eye. Fonts without serifs show no variation in its design. Here are some examples.

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