Why your profile picture is holding you back!

This helps no one

Yes, your profile picture matters

Pay attention to your profile picture.  Whether looking for a position or happily employed, pay attention to this piece of the puzzle.  LinkedIn is among the first places recruiters and hiring managers will check after looking at a resume or hearing about a candidate. At a subconscious level, these decision-makers want to see what you look like. If you are paying $30K or $50K annually, you want to see what you are buying. It is the first impression you will make. You don’t want to blow it.

I always recommend making it easy for the recruiter to see who you are. Just list a link to your LinkedIn profile at the top of the resume with your contact info. I would rather see your LinkedIn profile vs. your street address. Recruiters WILL look at your LinkedIn profile, so make it easy. We will NOT send you anything via postal mail.  

The Obvious

• Your Facebook photos show you hung over at a college party
• In an embarrassing situation with half-naked friends 

These are the obvious job stoppers. I am not here to lecture you about this faux pas. Your significant other and parents will do that for me.  I am talking about the basics.  If you have a Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Skype, or any other profile picture, don’t just use it appropriately; leverage the opportunity and use this space effectively.

Whether a recruiter will admit it or not, they all look at the profile picture of candidates on the internet.  With the advent of LinkedIn and Facebook, can you blame them?  I may not have your picture on top of my mind when I go to your LinkedIn account. Nothing is more frustrating than searching for the background and seeing an incomplete profile.

The Misses

• The profile picture is absent, with nothing but an empty silhouette. This tells me that you haven’t taken the time to finish a project, have something to be embarrassed about, or don’t care.  If the rest of the profile is filled out, this is an obvious miss.  
• Use a cartoon avatar for your profile picture, specifically on LinkedIn.  What is this??  This is your PROFESSIONAL profile.  This is not a forum for clown school.  Professionals search and view your profile, and consequently, they come to this site with a specific mentality.  
• Caricature of yourself on their blog.  Unless you are an artist or in a creative field, avoid this move.
• Profile picture of you that is dated or a picture of you that isn’t focused.  This is your professional image; treat it as such.  This should be the picture you would put on your company web page.  In this day and age of high-definition cameras, there is no excuse to present a less-than-professional image.
• You are standing in front of some tourist attraction. Usually, these pictures are thumbnail size, so getting your face AND a tourist attraction there is tough. I didn’t hit this page to see the Eiffel Tower or your selfie at the Pike Place Market.  I came to see you!  Use these pictures on Facebook to show the personal side of your life.

Common knowledge

It is common knowledge that recruiters and execs go to these pages to understand who someone is. It is probably not a recruiter’s number 1 goal to figure out what you look like, but it sends a distinct message when the picture is absent. Even if you are gainfully and happily employed, you may be a potential customer, a potential vendor, or a potential recruit that a company may be going after. Your picture greases the wheels to make you become any of the above or a networking target. You may be happily employed, or you may be self-employed. If you are in the business of networking, you need appropriate pictures.

If you cannot be found in this day and age, it is a sign. Witness protection plan? Insecure? You don’t want to be found? Hmmmmm.

So, how do you present yourself?

• LinkedIn profiles should show a professional picture.  A headshot where your face fills the frame.  Smile if you can.  Think of this picture as what may be used on a company website.  Professional and appropriate dress for your industry.
• In my opinion, Facebook is an opportunity to show off some of your personality.  If you like hiking, and your picture was taken on a mountain, that’s perfect.  If you are a wine drinker, a picture of a glass of red wine won’t cut it, even if it is a vintage wine in a Riedel-cut glass. Get your face in there with a smile.
• Blog: Yes, you need the obligatory headshot here.  A lot of recruiters these days are looking for blogs when they go to LinkedIn.  I recently saw a blog where the writer went to one of those instant picture booths found in an arcade and took his pictures there with some serious and not-so-serious pictures.  The caption read “obligatory headshots.”  I felt he didn’t want to do it but figured out how to make it his own.  (yes, I am behind a mask in my headshot here, but I NEED to work in this town. It is my brand!)
• If the first thing I see on your website is your headshot taking up most of the page, I will get a little creeped out.  The profile picture with a link to the “About” page is acceptable and drives interest.  Keep it simple.

Take multiple pictures

• For LinkedIn, have a friend with a modern camera phone take at least 20 pictures. Don’t be embarrassed.  This is your brand and your image.  All it takes is time. Pick the best. Avoid taking two pictures and picking one.  You want to present the best that you have, and picking from 2 is VERY different from picking from 20 or 30.  They will all look very similar, but 1 or 2 WILL jump out at you.  We all took a single picture for the yearbooks in high school. What happened there?  No professional photographer takes one shot of their model and says, “OK folks, that’s a wrap.”
• Keep the pictures recent.  Nothing is worse than seeing a picture and meeting the older sister or older brother version.  If you went on a date, would you want to see the 10 years younger version???
• Avoid pictures of you with your friends/family and BFF.  This is YOUR profile picture.  Am I supposed to be able to figure out who is who and what is what???  Whose profile picture is this???

There is plenty of advice on framing a picture; I aim to ensure you frame it.

See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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