I don't want to talk about clothes, makeup, hair, shoes, jewelry, bags or skin care today.

I want to address another element of style: how you present yourself on your résumé. Over the years, I've seen hundreds of résumés and am concerned that some people are getting tossed out because of their choice of font.

A font is a set of type or characters all of one style, according to my pals Merriam and Webster. If you're reading this in the paper, the font is PoynterOldstyle. If you're reading this online, the font is Arial. I used Arial to write this. At work, my computer defaults to Calibri.

Generally, people stick to Times New Roman or Arial for résumés. This is a good thing. Times New Roman is a serif font, meaning it has short finishing touches. Arial is a sans-serif, smooth and clean, no finishing stroke or point. Both are easy to read (except for italic Times New Roman, in my opinion).

I can address this topic because I am a former font abuser. An intervention by an incredible (and patient) design director put an end to my typeface tomfoolery. A good thing since I was a page designer at the time.

Always tell the story cleanly and clearly, she urged, when you're communicating with people who are spending a few minutes deciding if they're going to dive in and read or if they'll turn the page or click another link.

If your "reader" happens to be a human resources manager or a recruiter, you don't want them to squint or scratch their head when they read your résumé.

The font that makes my skin crawl is Comic Sans. I am sure that it has a use but it is not for a résumé. I put the question to my graphic design-savvy friends and here's what they listed as résumé violations:

"Zapf Chancery. especially all caps. ... also, no font that looks like its name."

"Anything really wide or hard to read. Courier is terrible. Also never EVER go with something cute. Résumés are serious business and make a statement about how professional you are."

"Lucida Hand and Papyrus. They are horrid."

"Impact makes me think of a bad PowerPoint presentation, and I loathe all handwritten fonts."

As I like to say: "Just because you can use something doesn't mean you should."

Keep it clean and keep it simple. Stick with Arial or Times New Roman and you'll be fine. And no italics.

Of course, there are exceptions. As Cari Henderson-Bambach reminded me: "I have used Avant Garde on my résumé since college just to make a statement about typography! It says, 'Hey look at me! I can make even AG look good!' ... That résumé has gotten me all my jobs."

Thanks to Brenda Pinnell, Merissa Jones, Jessica Stanley, Gary O'Brien, Lisa Morris Frame, Nathan Richie, Nickie Stegall Davis and Olga Bowman for sharing their thoughts on my Facebook page. That crew has about 200 years of design experience. And my eternal gratitude to Monica Moses for her divine intervention.