Does font actually matter?
Yes, in two ways. First, for parsing. Some ATS platforms fail on fonts that are not system-embedded, especially older ones (Taleo, iCIMS). Second, for human readability, recruiters spend 7 seconds on the first pass. A resume in 9-point Garamond with tight line-height loses that race. Font choice affects both signals and it is one of the cheapest wins on a resume rewrite.
The safest picks in 2026 are boring and they are that for a reason. Calibri, Arial, Georgia, and Cambria parse perfectly on every mainstream ATS, read cleanly at 10.5 to 11 pt, and do not force recruiters to squint. Modern open-source fonts like Inter and Roboto are beautiful but carry a small parsing risk with older ATS platforms that do not have them installed.
10 fonts tested across 4 ATS platforms
Test setup: the same 2-page resume template, exported to PDF, then run through each ATS platform using their public parsing tools and verified against recruiter-side views. Scores reflect percentage of fields parsed correctly (name, contact, experience, skills, education).
| Font | Size | Workday | Greenhouse | Lever | Taleo | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calibri | 11pt | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | Excellent |
| Arial | 10.5pt | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | Excellent |
| Helvetica | 10.5pt | 100% | 100% | 100% | 98% | Excellent |
| Times New Roman | 11pt | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | Good |
| Georgia | 10.5pt | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | Excellent |
| Garamond | 11pt | 100% | 100% | 100% | 95% | Good |
| Cambria | 11pt | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | Excellent |
| Inter | 10.5pt | 95% | 100% | 100% | 78% | Excellent |
| Roboto | 10.5pt | 98% | 100% | 100% | 85% | Excellent |
| Source Sans Pro | 10.5pt | 95% | 98% | 100% | 75% | Excellent |
Calibri
The Microsoft Office default for 15 years. Maximum cross-platform compatibility. Safe top pick.
Arial
Ubiquitous sans-serif. Slightly wider letterforms than Calibri; takes more space.
Helvetica
The design default. License caveat on Windows; falls back to Arial if unavailable.
Times New Roman
The old serif default. Reads dated in 2026; fine for traditional industries (law, academia).
Georgia
Modern serif, designed for screens. A step up from Times without breaking convention.
Garamond
Classic serif. Smaller visual size saves space but can read too small at 10pt.
Cambria
Modern serif with clean parsing. Great for 2-page senior resumes.
Inter
Open-source modern sans-serif. Growing adoption. Older ATS (Taleo, iCIMS) may fall back.
Roboto
Google default. Parses well in modern ATS, older ones may not have it embedded.
Source Sans Pro
Adobe open-source. Beautiful but license/embed rules can trip older parsers.
6 fonts to never use
Comic Sans MS
Not professional. Tanks any credibility regardless of content.
Papyrus
Same issue as Comic Sans. Avoid.
Impact
Display font, not a body text font. Unreadable in paragraphs.
Brush Script
Decorative. Fails most ATS parsers entirely.
Courier / Courier New
Monospace. Looks like a receipt; wastes horizontal space.
Custom web fonts (non-embedded)
If the PDF does not embed the font, it substitutes on the recruiter side. The fallback can be anything, including Comic Sans on some systems.
Font size: 10, 10.5, 11, or 12 pt?
Target body text between 10.5 and 11 pt for most resumes. 12 pt reads as space-filling (recruiter pattern: if a 1-page resume at 12 pt does not fill the page, the candidate has too little to say). Under 10 pt reads as cramped and makes recruiters squint.
- Name / header: 16 to 20 pt (bold)
- Section headings: 12 to 13 pt (bold)
- Job title / company: 11 to 11.5 pt (bold)
- Body bullets: 10.5 to 11 pt (regular)
- Dates and locations: 10 to 10.5 pt (italic or lighter weight)
Font embedding in your PDF
Every PDF export tool offers Embed fonts (sometimes called Embed subset of fonts). Turn this on. Without embedding, the PDF stores only a reference to the font name; the recruiter system then substitutes its own version, which can be anything from Helvetica to whatever default system font it has. Embedded PDFs lock in the font you designed with.
In Word: File, Options, Save, Embed fonts in the file. In Google Docs: download as PDF (Google Docs embeds by default for PDF export). In LaTeX: most templates embed by default; verify via the usepackage T1 fontenc directive in your preamble.
Setting up heading vs body hierarchy
Use weight (bold), size (2 to 4 pt jump), and sometimes color (single dark accent, not multi-hue) to create hierarchy. Do not mix 3 or more fonts; pair 1 sans-serif + 1 serif maximum, or 1 font at different weights. Most clean resumes use a single font family with bold for headings, regular for body, and italic for dates.
External references
- Google Fonts directory for previewing Roboto, Inter, Source Sans Pro, and their weights.
- Butterick Practical Typography for deeper reading on font pairing and hierarchy rules.
- Fonts.com Fontology on type anatomy and readability fundamentals.
Frequently asked questions
Is Calibri or Arial better for a resume?+
Can I use 2 different fonts on my resume?+
Does the font affect ATS parsing if I export as PDF?+
What is the minimum readable font size?+
Are custom fonts from Figma safe to use?+
Should I use a different font for my name?+
Why does my resume look different on my friend phone?+
Build with fonts that pass every ATS
ResumeBuildz defaults to system-safe fonts (Calibri / Arial / Georgia) and auto-embeds them on export. No custom font surprises on the recruiter side.