Job Seekers: Your LinkedIn Headshot says a lot about you. Say the right things!

LinkedIn claims that they play a part in ~70% of hires. This could be through their jobs portal, Recruiter, or simply an interviewer looking at your profile before you talk. There is a high likelihood that a decision maker is going to see your LInkedIn photo, and it’s typically before they see you. Don’t make the wrong first impression. 

An unprofessional shot says that you are not professional

Avoid: 

• Group shots where you tried to crop out the people around you. 

• Overtly sexy, save the low cut shirt for dating apps not LinkedIn

Embrace: 

• Professional photos; you don’t have to pay for a photographer but make sure the background is neat, you are well centered, and in focus.

• Selfies are okay, as long as they don’t look like selfies. Since LinkedIn crops photos to a circle, you should be far enough away from the camera that your face isn’t the entire frame. 

When you don’t match your picture it feels dishonest

Avoid:

• Pics that are more than 10% of your life old. (a 3 year old shot when you are 21 is crazy, a 3 year old shot when you are 50 probably looks about the same.)

Embrace:

• Being yourself. If you have tats, mermaid hair, and facial piercings there is no point hiding it because if that's not something an employer can work with, you won’t make it past the first interview anyway!

Cultural signals should imply that you are a match

Avoid:

• Graduation photos unless you graduated in the past year.They imply you are very junior, so unless you are going for an entry level role, drop the cap and gown.

• Overly formal if you don’t work in an industry where that’s expected. Check out the what to wear from PJs to Tux article for more on this. 

Embrace:

•  Let your personality shine! If you are vibrant, your picture should be too. If you are silly, why have a serious face?