Ah, the most fun resume was when I wrote it entirely in CAPTCHAS. Not only was it fun, but HR helped decode some books.
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Resume advice is always such nonsense.
I’ve actually gone to workshops and read books on how to write a resume. They spend a lot of time talking about variant formats, depending upon your career history and what you want to highlight.
And what I get from recruiters and HR people is that if you use anything even slightly different from the most bog-standard reverse chronological resume, it confuses them. They’ve got seconds to look at your resume, and they’re looking for your contact information, your last couple of jobs, and maybe where you went to college. Anything that’s different from what they expect is ignored, at best.
So, use Times New Roman, because it’s most common.
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I don’t think I understand your point, but to clarify when I say robotic I mean objective, very black and white etc.
Since when do robots have a subconscious? 
On a serious note, I once learned that trying to help people with their resumes is almost pointless, and perhaps dangerous.
I lived next to an older gent who was unemployed. He was smart, clean, and generally pleasant. He asked for a few pointers on his resume, so I gave him two.
- reduce the number of fonts from 12 to two.
- fix your run on sentences.
He almost punched me. (And I didn’t say it aggressively, he just loved his fonts and stream of conscious style of writing)
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What software do you use that has TNR as the default? Far more likely to be arial, which is also a friendlier typeface.
Although I think you’re actually mixing arguments, the bit about usability is great advice - I’ve always liked the single-sheet CV approach myself - they’re unlikely to even read that much.
Although these days it’s just a carrier for your linkedin profile anyways!
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You joke, but do you really think doing that wouldn’t alter your chances of getting the job? 
I know I’d hire you.
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It depends on the type of job you’re applying for. If you’re looking for an administrative assistant position at megacorp, then you need to be as quickly legible (read: bog-standard) as possible. If you’re applying for a design position at a 50 person firm, you need to show some personality through, while also not clouding your info, which happens to be the perfect job for a font.
Speaking of applying for a design position - is anyone hiring a production artist or jr designer with lots of packaging experience in Seattle? (spoiler alert - I used Gotham because one day, I’ll be president.)
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Microsoft Word, or at least it used to use Times New Roman as the default. (Actually I’m using LibreOffice Writer, and the font is Liberation Serif – which amounts to the same thing, in practice. And yes, I check.)
Arial’s probably fine. My main point is that, despite an industry around resume-writing, over-thinking it generally makes everything worse.
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I’d definitely agree with you there.
I don’t think MS Word has used TNR as the default typeface since… well, let’s just say we’re both showing our age.
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I wouldn’t argue either way, as I have no data to analyze as the basis for such an argument. Neither do the “typography wonks” cited, but that doesn’t stop them.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn there were differences, and would be interested to learn what they are. But reading some wonks prognosticating with zero data to back them is not learning anything.
That’s fair enough - I think I took you to mean you doubted there was an effect - as I say I’d definitely like to see some data myself (who doesn’t love data?) - I have a feeling it’d be pretty fuzzy either way though, and very industry/culture dependent.
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Yeah, like many of us I am a typography wonk, but with resumes I have only two rules.
Comic sans? Unless done very, very cleverly and lots of meta humor, roundfiled.
Everything else that is legible I read.
Third rule. Points deducted for all caps 36px Impact.
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Résumé is such a rubbish word. Especially without the accents.
I much prefer curriculum vitae.
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Don’t get me started!
Thaz kewl. I meant it mainly in the sense of “preprogrammed activity”.
The mechanical ones can hardly be described as conscious, so they could safely be called “unconscious”. The term robot simply means “laborer”, and I wouldn’t want this to imply disparagement of working people. But my erxperience has been that people’s emotions are often more or less automatic and preprogrammed.
The worst font for a résumé is whatever the fuck I use on mine. That’s got to be it.
Oh well. I hear you can use handwriting on a McDonalds application.
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I think WordPerfect uses TNR as default; I mean I use WP and it’s my default. [I actually write in WP and then I save it twice, second time as .rtf]
And yes, I’m showing my age.
This is a huge issue I have to address each year teaching high school freshmen. I have to impress upon them that TNR will be their friend throughout high school and college. (“You mean I can’t use Comic Sans?”) Now I’ll have to break the news that’s it forever. 
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If I needed a CV I would create a form, poorly, then answer all the questions presented in crayon with my best handwriting.
Mostly to amuse myself but also because I’ve always kind of felt bad for HR people/people doing HR tasks. Not certain why, but there it is.
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