Resume and Cover letters: Typeface/Font

From the Employment and Learning Computer Lab:

Choosing a typeface, also known as the font, for your resume and cover letter is important.  It will be the first thing that a potential employer will notice, even before the content.

The two most commonly used fonts are Ariel and Times New Roman. There is a big difference between the two, though both are equally accepted.

Let’s start with Times New Roman. Each character of this typeface has little flourishes on the edges of the letters, known as “legs” or “serifs.” For example, if you look at the lower case letter “I” it will have a horizontal line at the bottom, and a little wing on the top pointing to the left.  Or the capital version will have a horizontal line at the base and top.

With Ariel, the text is very plain, or “sans serif,” with no extras, so in both cases the letter “I” will be a straight vertical line, the lower case with only a dot on the top.

When choosing the font for your letter and resume, it is wise to choose the one that suits your needs best. It may depend on the volume of content. Each character in Ariel, while being plain, is also wide. Times New Roman is fancier and sometimes hard to read if too small, but takes up less space.

It is good to think about this when preparing the letter and resume. If you have a lot of content that, say, will not fit on one page, you may want to use Times New Roman because you can put more onto a page with less space. However, if you do not have much experience and there is less to put on the page, you can use Ariel, which will take up more room.

Whatever typeface you decide to use, be sure it is the same one throughout both documents. Do not mix them in the same page. In other words, do not have the titles in Ariel and the bullet points beneath it in Times New Roman. Keep it all the same font throughout. This is also true across documents. Keep both the cover letter and the resume the same typeface to show consistency.

Resume and Cover Letter Consistency

From the Employment and Learning Computer Lab:

Last time we discussed how when it comes to cover letters and resumes, two important and overlooked techniques in looking for a job are simplicity and consistency.  Since we covered simplicity, let’s talk about consistency.

Much like colors that can either blend or contrast, the same is true for the look of your resume and cover letter.  It is important to keep the letter and resume in the same typeface, or, font. Mixing up various fonts is both hard on the eyes and shows a possible lack of focus on the potential employee. 

Have everything in a row. If you are using bullet points, make sure all the points line up on the page.  Similarly, keep the previous job’s dates written consistently. For example, do not have some of them say just the years (2010-2011) and others more detailed dates (July 2010-May 2011). This is especially true if you mix them up (2010-May 2011). This could give the impression that you are not detail-oriented. If you know all the months you started a job, than use the July 2010-May 2011 format. If there is even one you are not sure of, use the simpler 2010-2011 on all of them.

It is important to keep the page looking as realistically symmetrical as possible, so it looks like a complete document, rather than a hodgepodge of information.

Cover Letters and Resumes: Simplicity

From the Employment and Learning Computer Lab:

When it comes to cover letters and resumes, two important and overlooked techniques in looking for a job are simplicity and consistency.

For now, let’s focus on simplicity:

Try not to cram too much information into either the resume or cover letter, but rather overlap your job history data in both the letter and the resume.

For example, if you worked at Company A, you may list your main job functions in bulleted form on the resume, and then on the cover letter explain a little about some of your other duties that are not necessarily in the job description.

Let’s say you were an assistant whose job was to make appointments, arrange travel and maintain the stockroom. In the cover letter, you can elaborate and add that you know modern copiers, faxing, dealing with vendors, and other extra functions that help make the office run smoother and present yourself more desirable as an employee.

Another case could be if you were looking for a job in construction. In the relevant bullet points in the resume, you may say you drove a particular kind of vehicle, or know a specific kind of equipment mentioned in the want ad, and then in the cover letter, you could add that you also know how to drive other kinds of trucks, or are familiar with, say, plumbing or electrical. Even if these are not relevant to the specific job, it shows that you are a motivated learner, and can add value to the position.

Padding your Resume/Word Count

There is a fine line between highlighting your skills and padding/lying on a resume.

Employers are busy people, who may be ploughing through a pile of 50 (or more) resumes for every job.  On the first run through the pile they may only give each resume a very brief review.  Employers will only look at the first 150 words.

Your job to figure out what the employer needs/wants and how to ensure your resume reflects this without lying.  Tailor your resume for each job/type/industry you apply to.  If you don’t have the skills for the job you want, figure out how to get them; and how to get them in your resume.

If you don’t believe that employers will only look at the first 150 words, please note how many words this blog entry is.  Do you want to read any further?   I wouldn’t.

Word Count: 150 words.

Typos beware!

Typing mistakes (a.k.a. typos) can be found anywhere from online articles to newspaper stories to instruction booklets.  Quite often we will laugh at them.  But typos are not so funny when your resume describes you as a “rabid typist of 70 words a minutes” instead of a “rapid typist of 70 words a minute”.  A resume and cover letter are the employer’s first impression of you.  When someone applies to a YWCA position with a cover letter that starts out addressed to the YMCA, it causes me to wonder about the accuracy of what’s on the resume. 

How do you avoid typos?  Accountemps, a staffing company suggests:

1)      Get Help. Enlist detail-oriented family members, friends or mentors to proof read your resume and provide honest feedback.

2)      Take a time out. Before submitting your resume take a break and come back to it with a set of fresh eyes. You might catch something you missed the first time.

3)      Print a copy. It is easy to overlook typos or formatting errors when reading on a monitor. Read it through slowly and pay close attention to font styles and sizes, in addition to spelling and grammar.

4)      Read it aloud. Your ears might catch errors that your eyes have overlooked.