This guide is about applying for jobs in the UK.

People spend an evening choosing a font for their CV and ten minutes on the achievements that actually decide the outcome. That is the wrong way round. A recruiter remembers what you have done, not the typeface it was set in.

The best font for a CV is simply one that stays readable on any screen and parses cleanly through the software that reads it before a human does. That narrows the field to a small, dull, reliable shortlist, which is good news: it means the decision is quick.

This guide covers which typefaces clear that bar, the sizes and spacing that keep a page legible, and the few choices that quietly work against you. If you are still assembling the document itself, our guide on how to write a CV covers the structure first.

Why the Font Matters Less Than You Think

A CV is read in two passes, and your font has to survive both. First, software parses the file into plain text fields. Then a recruiter scans what is left in a few seconds. A typeface that is clear on screen and standard enough to parse cleanly passes both tests without you thinking about it again.

This is why the question is rarely about taste. The best font for a CV is the one that disappears, letting the reader move straight to your experience rather than noticing the styling. A typeface that draws attention to itself is working against the document.

So treat the font as a hygiene decision, not a branding one. Get it onto the safe shortlist below, set it at a readable size, and give it room to breathe. Everything after that is about what the words say, which is where the real competition happens.

Which Fonts to Use, and Which to Avoid

There is a shortlist that always works and a small set of choices that quietly cost you. The split is about readability and clean parsing, not fashion.

The Safe Shortlist

Two families cover almost every CV. Sans-serif faces, the ones without the small feet on each letter, read as modern and clean. Serif faces carry a more traditional, formal tone. Both parse reliably and read well at CV sizes, so the choice is about the impression you want to leave.

Calibri, Arial, Helvetica. Clean sans-serif faces that suit most sectors. Calibri is the quiet default for a reason: it is everywhere and effortless to read.
Georgia, Cambria. Readable serif faces with a formal edge that fits law, finance, academia and other traditional fields.
Garamond, Book Antiqua. Older serif options that buy a little extra space without looking cramped, useful when a two-page CV is running long.

Any of these works. The mistake is mixing them: pick one typeface and use it for the whole document, varying weight and size rather than swapping families. One font, used consistently, always looks more deliberate than two used decoratively.

Fonts That Cost You

A handful of choices undermine a CV before anyone reads a word of it. Decorative, script and heavily stylised fonts are the obvious culprits: they look distinctive on screen and confuse the parser, and characters that fail to parse become gaps in your record. Comic Sans and similar novelty faces carry the opposite problem, reading as unserious whatever the role.

Times New Roman sits in a different category. It parses without trouble and nobody will reject you for it, but it reads as the default nobody actively chose. If you want a serif, Georgia or Cambria deliver the same formality while looking like a decision. The point is not that any of these fonts are forbidden; it is that a creative typeface buys you nothing a recruiter values and risks the silent parsing failure that sinks an application without warning. That failure mode is the reason formatting choices matter at all, and our guide to how an applicant tracking system reads your CV explains it in depth.

Setting Sizes and Spacing

A safe font set too small or crammed edge to edge still reads badly. Size and white space do as much work as the typeface itself, and they are where most legibility problems actually live.

Font Sizes by Element

Sizing is a hierarchy, not a single number. Each element of the CV gets a band, and within the band you adjust to fit two pages comfortably.

Body text: 10 to 12 points. This is your default. Start at 11, then move within the band to make the document breathe across two pages rather than fixing a number first.
Your name: 18 to 24 points. The largest thing on the page, set once at the top.
Section headings: 13 to 14 points. Big enough to break the page into scannable blocks, small enough not to shout.

The one rule that overrides the rest: never drop below 10 points to win space. A CV the reader has to squint at gets less attention, not more, and cutting weak content is always a better way to find room than shrinking the type.

Layout and White Space

White space is not wasted space. Margins of around two centimetres, clear gaps between sections, and consistent line spacing let the eye find the next thing quickly, which is the whole job of a scannable CV.

The Cramped Page

9-point body text, single-line margins, no gap between roles. It fits everything, and the reader gives up on the second line because nothing stands out.

The Breathing Page

11-point body text, two-centimetre margins, a clear line before each new section. It holds slightly less, and every line of it actually gets read.

Keep the layout to a single column. Multi-column designs, text boxes and sidebars look polished to you and frequently scramble when the parser flattens them into one stream of text. A simple, single-column page that aligns to the left is the layout that survives both the software and the scan.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best font for a CV?

There is no single winner, only a safe shortlist. Calibri, Arial and Helvetica are clean sans-serif choices; Georgia and Cambria are readable serifs for a more traditional feel. Any of them works because they are widely installed, easy to read on screen, and parse cleanly. The font matters far less than using one consistent typeface, a sensible size, and enough white space. Pick one from the shortlist and spend your attention on the words instead.

What font size should a CV be?

Set body text between 10 and 12 points, your name around 18 to 24 points, and section headings around 13 to 14 points. Choose the body size that lets the document breathe within two pages rather than forcing a fixed number. Never drop below 10 points to win space, because a CV the reader has to squint at gets less attention, not more.

Is Times New Roman still acceptable on a CV?

Yes, it is acceptable and it parses without trouble, but it reads as dated and is the default nobody chose on purpose. If you want a serif, Georgia or Cambria look more current while keeping the same formal tone. The font will not cost you an interview on its own, so this is a presentation preference rather than a rule.

Should a CV use a serif or a sans-serif font?

Either works, so let the field decide. Sans-serif faces such as Calibri and Arial read as modern and clean and suit most sectors. Serif faces such as Georgia and Cambria carry a traditional, formal tone that fits law, finance and academia. Both parse reliably, so choose by the impression you want and keep one typeface throughout.

Do fancy fonts get a CV rejected by ATS software?

Decorative, script and heavily stylised fonts can confuse the software that parses a CV before a human reads it, and characters that fail to parse turn into gaps in the record. The safer the font, the cleaner the parse. Stick to a standard typeface and put the creativity into your achievements instead. How an applicant tracking system reads a CV explains the rest of the mechanics.

Conclusion: Pick a Safe Font, Then Forget About It

Choose one typeface from the shortlist, set the body between 10 and 12 points, give the page real white space, and keep it to a single column. Do that and the font stops being a question, leaving you free to work on the part that wins interviews. For the content that fills the page, our guide on how to write a CV is the place to go next.

Want the formatting handled for you?

TalentAid's CV optimisation sets your CV in a clean, parser-safe layout and tailors the wording to each role, so the typeface is one less thing to second-guess.

Tailor your CV free