Job Seeker:

Your mission to land a great job fast begins by creating an attractive resume using classy fonts and a letterhead that presents your contact information in a professional manner.

Cyberspace is a dangerous place. Protect your privacy. If you are posting to a public job board, omit your street address. Your letterhead should display your name; your city, state, and zip code; one telephone number, and one email address. 

• Avoid silly sounding emails like CoolCat@gmail.com or SecretAgentMan@yahoo.com. Keep your professional email address separate from your personal email address. Do not use your current employer’s email for your job search. 
• Consider giving a cell phone number rather than your home phone number for two reasons
  (1) your cell phone is always with you, and 
  (2) you are not advertising your home number online. 
• Applicant Tracking Systems typically interpret the first line of your document as your name; therefore, place any degrees or designations on a line below your name.
• Omit the French word résumé or the Latin words curriculum vitae from your letterhead. There is no need to state the obvious. 
• Use hyperlinks for your email address and social media profile URL. With one click, a prospective employer can email you or read more about your career accomplishments. The top right corner of your letterhead is the perfect place to position a hyperlink.

In summary, the letterhead design and font you choose should suit your profession and personality.
Use the same letterhead on all your career correspondence (cover letter, resume, reference sheet, follow-up letter, etc.). Be sure to provide hyperlinks to your email and social media profile. Before you finalize the first draft of your resume, analyze your letterhead. Is it visually appealing? Is your contact information presented in a manner that makes it easy for a prospective employer to reach you? Remember, the top right corner is prime space for your phone number and email address. 

Even in your letterhead, content is king if you want your phone to ring!


© 2014 Sharla Taylor – All rights reserved. 

Job Seeker:  

To carry out your mission to land a great job fast, you must provide a top-notch resume to your future employer.  

First impressions count. Design an attractive resume using classy fonts. There are two basic types of fonts: serif and sans- serif.  

Serif fonts have small lines trailing from the top-and-bottom edges of the letters. Serif fonts give an elegant, formal appearance. 

Some examples of serif fonts are:
Bodoni
Bookman Old Style
Cambria
Century Schoolbook
Garamond
Georgia
Goudy Old Style
Palatino Linotype

Sans-serif fonts don’t have top-and-bottom lines on each character. Sans-serif fonts give a modern, minimalistic look.

Some examples of sans-serif fonts are:  
Arial Narrow
Calibri
Century Gothic
Futura
Gill Sans
Lucida Sans
Tahoma
Trebuchet
Veranda

Notice the difference in character height and width in the above-mentioned 12 pt. fonts. If you are having trouble squeezing text onto the page, consider changing typestyles. Avoid itty-bitty squint font. Choose a reasonable size font (10, 11, or 12 point for the body text and 12, 14, or 16 point for major headings). You will also notice that two fonts were intentionally left off the list: Arial and Times New Roman. Both are overused. Avoid them if you want your resume to stand out from the crowd.  

You can creatively blend serif and sans-serif fonts in your resume. For section headers, use sans-serif fonts; for the body text, use serif fonts, or vice versa. Be judicious; do not mix more than two type styles in one resume.  

Avoid script-like fonts. They are hard to read.
Don't use creepy fonts (like Matisse ITC)  or outlandish fonts (like Neurochrome).
Your resume is not a playbill for a Broadway show.
Your resume is not a love note. No frilly or flowery fonts. Keep it simple and professional.
I share this advice with you because I like you and want you to succeed in your job search!

Don’t cram text into margins less than.75 width on all sides. Keep healthy margins. Leave enough white space throughout the document for optimum visual appeal.  And that’s the straight skinny on fonts.

Be creative and professional in the design and layout of your resume.

Job seeker, this concludes the mission briefing for today. Check back soon for more details of how to write a resume that will generate interviews and help you land a great job fast.

© 2014 Sharla Taylor – All rights reserved.