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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 would agree with us that LinkedIn photos should be professional. No argument. But someone told us a story that made us 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. Literally, she had trouble finding anything to change. But then she took one look at his LinkedIn profile photo.
The guy looked like an axe murder. 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.
(Lets just ignore the more frightening social implications of that for now, and accept the fact that your photo makes a big impact).
So I ask you, does your photo strive too hard to be what you think professional is supposed to be?
Or are you using it as an opportunity to convey 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 YOU in action the better. Can you fit yourself giving a presentation in 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 armature photography advice. If you have some more ideas, please share them in the comments below.
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Comments
11.05.09
Funny, only minutes before reading this post I deleted my LinkedIn profile picture because I decided it was not professional enough. I agree %100 with you, like it or not, people are going to judge you on how you look. I think its worth the effort to get a good profile picture.
11.05.09
It's amazing how powerful a picture can be. And it all seems to happen on the unconscious level for viewer. Thanks for the comment!
11.05.09
The headline of this post alone made me LMAO when reading down the list of featured bloggers. LOL.
Nicely put.
B
11.05.09
The subject line of this post had me cracking up too! I often wonder why people don't think twice before choosing their profile picture. No one wants to hire someone that frightens them!
Great post!
11.06.09
I agree that there is room for both a professional and personable profile photo. In fact I think it should be PPE, that is Professional Personable and Engaging
Image is everything. Or, at least, it is if you are trying to sell something i.e yourself. So It's important we present the right face when it comes to our own brand image
I run a daily blog on ecademy.com where I critique members profile photos and am happy to critique anyone's profile photo here on Brazen Careerist
It has to be a public critique though so others can learn what goes into making a great (or a poor) profile photo
Any Volunteers?
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