Beyond these, you might consider ivory, but not one that is too yellow. You can also use a very light tan or buff.
Other colors are risky. Because they may offend the reader who does not like the particular color you have selected.
What about gray? You may love it; I do. But gray, even light gray, can also look like dirty white. And black ink on dark gray, which is one of my favorite colors, is difficult to read.
All dark color papers, of course, are difficult to read. I have seen resumes printed on dark brown paper with black ink. They were difficult, almost impossible, to read.
So was a resume printed on brilliant purple, with white-ink. The applicant, no doubt, thought that he was going to be different. But being different is not always a positive trait. This time, it got the candidate laughed at, not admired.
Yes, a brilliant color certainly would stand out in a stack of white resumes. But just as a brilliantly-colored chartreuse home might lower property values in a neighborhood, a garish resume would almost certainly lower your value as a candidate for employment.
I know one young man who used a brilliant yellow paper, with his name boldly printed across the top in dark brown ink. It was indeed memorable.
It resembled a breakfast menu at a fast food restaurant. And normally, it would be considered in poor taste.
But he was sending it to advertising agencies-the larger ones of which receive thousands of ordinary resumes. This one stood out. And it got the candidate in.
He was granted an interview. And he got the job. (What's more, he is still there, some fifteen years later.)
But not everyone is applying to advertising agencies. So choose your color carefully and with an eye toward who will be reading your resume.
What about colored ink?
It costs considerably more to have a special ink color for your resume. Printers normally use black ink. And every time they print in a color other than black, they must stop, clean the press completely, and change the ink-just for you.
You must pay for mixing the extra ink color especially for you, and for the time and labor required to clean and change the press. The cost for this might be as much as it costs to print your resumes in the first place.
Black ink is not only acceptable, but preferred for most business situations.
The minimum number of printed copies you should get is 100.
You may need only a few now, but the cost is slight for an extra 50 or so. Get estimates from the printer on the cost for 100 copies and for even more copies if you think you might use them.
Then opt for a number that will carry you through the next few weeks or months without having to have more printed.
Stationery and Envelopes
Stationery, which you'll need for your cover letters, can be expensive.
I recommend, in keeping with your desire to convey a good image, that you type your cover letters on good quality paper-like your resume.
Instead of going to the stationery store and paying for paper in a fancy box, ask the printer if you may purchase some stationery in bulk-the same high quality paper on which your resume is being printed.
The printer may just throw it in at no extra charge because he or she is in the printing business, not the paper business. (They buy their paper at wholesale prices.) Ask.
You may want to try to get matching business-size envelopes, too. But standard white business envelopes will do nicely in most situations.
You can buy a package of decent enough envelopes almost anywhere for a dollar or two. The printer may also have envelopes that match the paper you selected, so it is worth asking.
Some stationery stores also carry good quality writing paper in bulk, with matching envelopes. You can buy it by the pound or by the sheet. If your city is large enough to have stores that specialize in good writing papers, a phone call or two will determine which ones sell good paper in bulk (without the expensive fancy boxes and ribbons).
Now you know about good paper, the right typefaces, and the other "little things" that separate outstanding resumes from those that are merely adequate.
Taken together with the other things you have learned, you have the information to make your resume stand out for all the right reasons.
After more than 15 years of research and testing, I know these techniques work. Most people strongly prefer the resume format I have developed and now recommend to you.
Many of them are experienced executives... men and women who have seen thousands of resumes.
Even they often don't know exactly why they like this format. But like it, and prefer it, they do!
