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How To Choose The Best Font And Size For Cover Letters

The best font and size for cover letters are clear and easy to read. It’s important to keep your font and size professional, simple and consistent. 

A great font and font size increase the readability of your cover letter and showcase professionalism. There’s a high possibility that a cover letter would be passed if the letters on it are not legible. 

In this article, we have compiled steps on how to choose the best font and size for cover letters and some of the best fonts you can use.

Read Also: How Should I Format My Contact Information On A Resume?

Article Road Map

Choosing The Best Font And Size For Cover Letters

1. Keep It Simple And Professional

It’s always best to keep the font less dramatic just simple and professional. Avoid using novelty-style like Cosmic Sans, handwriting, or script-style fonts.

2. Choose A Simple And Mature Font

Some of the best cover letter samples are written with highly readable fonts. This is especially important since the Applicant Tracking Systems (a software that scans cover letters and ranks them based on keywords) works best with clear and simple fonts. 

When writing your cover letter, avoid underlining or italicizing. Use bold texts only when emphasizing quantifiable achievements.

Read Also: Best Resume Writing Services

3. Choose An Optimal Font Size

For an optimal cover letter font size, you can choose a size of 10, 11, or 12 depending on how much content you have in your letter. The best font size is the size 12 but if your content is spilling onto a second page you can opt for a size 10 or 11. 

Never go below a size 10. If the letters are too small, the hiring managers may have to squint to read your improper cover letter.  If the content doesn’t fit with a size 10, try reworking your letter or adjusting the margins. 

4. Be Creative

While using a simple and professional font is good as it increases the readability of your cover letter, tweaking the fonts and sizes can also boost the visual appeal. 

For instance, you can change the typeface and its size in your header( size 14 or 15) while sticking to a simple and formal font for the body of the cover letter. 

5. Save Your File As A PDF

While some file formats like doc. and Docx. may display your font incorrectly on the hiring manager’s computer, saving your cover letter as a PDF file preserves its original appearance and font style. 

To save as a PDF file, click File on your word processing and select save as. Choose the PDF file format and click on save. 

Best Fonts For Cover Letter Styles

The best fonts are easy to read, clean-looking, and match the fonts on your resume. When selecting a font, avoid choosing one labeled as thin or light as it will be hard to read on screen. 

Here are some of the best fonts that are less likely to have any issues passing the ATS.

1. Arial

Arial is the standard typeface for Google Docs and Microsoft Word. its sleek and crisp lines render well on all screen sizes and make it simple to read. 

2. Calibri

Calibri is a modern and light font that has taken the place of Times New Roman as the MS Office default font. This font works well for cover letters for jobs in nursing, and social work. Teaching and other healthcare-related professions. 

3. Times New Roman

This is a popular font and a good choice for candidates in traditional and conservative industries like medicine, law, and government service. 

4. Garamond

Garamond is a nice fusion of the modern look of sans serif and the classicism of serif. This font is particularly popular among creatives and academics. 

5. Helvetica

Helvetica is the most popular and widely used sans-serif typeface. This swiss font is an excellent choice for job seekers in business, marketing, and sales.

6. Cambria

Cambria is a transitional serif typeface designed to work well for on-screen reading and to look good when printed in small sizes. It also has even spacing and proportion. 

7. Trebuchet MS

This is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed in 1996 by Vincent Connare for Microsoft Corporation. Trebuchet MS is slightly larger and darker, renders well on all screen sizes, and is a good choice for job seekers in marketing, media, publishing, and start-ups. 

8. Georgia

For an element of elegance, use Georgia. Georgia is another great serif typeface famous for making small texts readable. It’s a fusion of both modern and classic styles. It’s a popular font in the writing community. Suitable for cover letters for creative and writing jobs. 

9. Tahoma

Tahoma is a humanist sans serif that is highly readable and suitable for any profession and position you may be applying for. 

10. Didot

Didot is a modern and delicate French typeface usually considered feminine. It is particularly popular in the fashion industry. It’s a great option for artists and creatives.

You may have noticed that some letters have tails at the ends and some do not. Those are serif and sans serif.

Serif typefaces have decorative strokes that extend the end of a letter stem, sometimes called feet or tails while sans serifs do not have decorative strokes.

Serif fonts or typefaces are classier and give a distinguished look e.g Times New Roman and Didot.

On the other hand, sans serif fonts give a sleek, crisp, and modern feel e.g Arial and Calibri.

Both the serif and sans serif are good and you can use any of them. However, it’s best to use the specific font used in the job ad just to be on the safer side. 

The Best Font Size For Cover Letters

Size 12 is the standard font size as it’s easy to read in different formats. You can also try out 10, 10.5, and 11 and see which best fits. 

Whichever font size you choose, it should be readable and so big that the content of the cover letter does not fit on one page. 

Conclusion

Your resume which includes your cover letter has to pass through the ATS successfully before getting into the hands of the hiring manager. 

Hence, it is important that you choose a simple, clear, professional, and legible font and font size to optimize your chances of being selected for an interview. 

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