Your LinkedIn Profile Picture May Be Killing Your Job Prospects
I don’t really consider myself an HR person. I like to think I’m a practical technologist. However, I do occasionally attend HR-related training. Yesterday was one such occasion and inevitably, I had a shock.
The discussion moved from hiring techniques to LinkedIn photos. Many of the folks in the room agreed that LinkedIn photos should be professional. No argument there. But someone told us a story that made us all cringe. And if you are in HR, you may cringe as well.
This recruiter was working with a candidate who had hired her to position him for a job. He had a fabulous resume. She had trouble finding anything to change in his material — but then she took a look at his LinkedIn profile photo.
This went out to subscribers yesterday morning.
The daily issue lands at 6am with one story like this and one thing to do about it. Free.
The guy looked like an axe murderer. She said, “No wonder he wasn’t getting any interviews, despite his killer credentials, no pun intended.”
So he retook his photo, and I kid you not, within a week he had several opportunities arise.
(Let’s just ignore the more frightening social implications of that for now, and accept the fact that your photo makes a big impact).
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So I ask you, does your photo strive too hard to be what you think “professional” is supposed to look like?
Or are you using it as an opportunity to convey your personality? 
I’m not a photographer, but I would like to offer some profile photo tips.
- Don’t be afraid to show personality. You can have personality and be professional at the same time.
- Experiment with action shots. There isn’t a lot of room, but the more you can demonstrate YOURSELF in action the better. Can you fit yourself giving a presentation into the photo, shaking hands, or even leaning on a hand?
- Play with the negative space. You notice the first photo in this post has uniform negative space around the guy’s head. The second photo is visually more interesting. He accomplished this by turning his body and tilting his head.
- Smile and think inviting thoughts.
That’s my amateur photography advice. If you have some more ideas, please share them in the comments below.
Joshua Waldman wrote Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies after being laid off twice in six months (2008–2009). He’s changed careers five times and learned firsthand that technology is the job seeker’s biggest advantage. At CareerEnlightenment he shares what actually works.
[…] sure you get where I’m going with this. On a network like LinkedIn, where most profile’s have pictures, and yours doesn’t, you’re not even playing the […]
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emilyjimenez Thanks for the comment Emily!
I love this article and always refer to it when I’m talking to people who need to work on their online profiles. Thanks Joshua!
[…] Your LinkedIn Profile Picture May Be Killing Your Job Prospects from Joshua Waldman of CareerEnlightenment. […]
Great tips! Another tip would be to make sure that ALL social media profile pictures are somewhat professional and inviting as many recruiters now have software that automatically pulls in all of your social media profile pictures, even if those profiles are private. Better safe than sorry!
@Arionne Great tip! It’s bound to work.
Love this article!
This is a really informative article. Will be posting to my Facebook profile for others to see. Thanks!
You are absolutely right about this. Paying attention to tiny details such as this could be the difference between yourself and another applicant.
I prefer using LinkedIn to Facebook for my business contacts. I always keep a professional photo on my profile.
Wow. Had not paid much attention to my photo.
[…] 90%. What I like about this is LinkedIn encourages you to complete your profile to ensure that you represent yourself accurately and the content is high quality. The higher your percentage, the more likely you are to come up in […]
Okay, I _think_ my photo is okay, but I also realize I could be biased. Would you drop by my profile and tell me what you think?
Okay, I _think_ my photo is okay, but I also realize I could be biased. Would you drop by my profile and tell me what you think?