Friday, May 24, 2013

HEADSHOT

By Rich Janney

 

Your LinkedIn photo is very important. People want to know what you look like, so let them know and don’t leave it blank. But please be smart about it. You really only need a shot that shows off your head. Why just your head? Because professional humans like to look at the heads of other professional humans. Dogs like to sniff butts, professionals like to size up heads. It’s how the universe works. So, long story short, there is no need to provide your LinkedIn bio with anything other than a professional headshot. And yet day in and day out I see all kinds of bizarre photos used on LinkedIn. Here is a rough list of things you should not use for a LinkedIn photo:

1. No low-cut sexy-time photos.

2. Nobody cares that you caught a salmon on that fishing trip that one time.

3. Don’t use a picture of you and the girls on a night out where you just cut out all the other girls.

4. No pets.

5. Don’t just pick up your phone and take a selfie and be all like, “Fine, LinkedIn! Here’s a picture of my head! Happy now?!” Yes, technically this is a headshot, but it’s a depressing headshot.

6. No children.

7. There is no need for a head-to-toe shot of you standing in a non-descript field (I am confused as to why I see this as often as I do).

8. No pictures from your vacation where you are very sunburned and wearing sunglasses and look a little buzzed.

9. No golf clubs.

10. No lovey-dovey marriage/couple photos.

11. No pictures of you dressed up for the renaissance fair. 

I understand that people desperately want to communicate to the world that “there’s so much more to me than just my job!” I get that, I really do. But on LinkedIn, you only want to communicate that you think of nothing more than your job—it’s a professional network. Don’t subliminally telegraph that you can’t wait to kick off work and get back to your real life. To that end, if you moonlight as a magician, for the love of God, do not use a photo of you flourishing a silk scarf while a dove sits on your tuxedoed shoulder. If you do that, your moonlighting hobby might have to become your day job.