Nowadays a very important tool for recruiting, job hunting, networking and even finding new trends in your industry is LinkedIn. It’s a network of influencers and business that stretches all over the world. And like any other kind of business interaction, first impressions are important. And a well taken, nicely presented, professional headshot of yourself to add to your profile can go a long way top growing your sphere of influence on this platform. So let’s go through a few pointers to help you take the best picture possible.
Your face should be filling at least 60% of the picture
While it may be very impressive to see you on the side of a mountain on your trip to Alaska last year (and that’s not sarcasm that actually sounds pretty cool) do bear in mind that the subject of the photograph is you. Therefore your face should be the most visible thing in the photograph. It’s called a headshot for a reason.
So crop your photo just below your shoulders and just above the top of your hair to truly draw focus to your face.
Dress for work
When a potential employer or client looks at your profile, they will want to see that you take yourself seriously, more so when it comes to your professional outlook. And as we already discussed, looks are important in business.
It’s good for your employer or client to be able to imagine you working on their behalf and wearing your work clothes in your headshot will help put that idea in their head.
Choose a suitable expression
While we aren’t suggesting you pull your most forced, ear to ear grin, it’s important to be aware of how your expression will affect the overall tone of the photograph.
The word of the moment is “approachable”, your photo should make it easy for somebody viewing it to imagine having a friendly conversation with you. Be careful about coming off as scary or intimidating, which is easier to do than you would think.
Avoid staring directly into the camera, if your taking this photo yourself be sure to set up a mirror next to your camera so you can see how your photograph will look in real-time.
Choose a recent picture
Now it’s important that you use a photograph that is representative of what you look like now. Somebody requesting an interview with you is not meeting the you from 4 years ago. Everyone likes to look young but if you use a photograph that is misleading it could potentially affect your credibility in that person’s eye.
Hopefully, we have given you a few helpful hints, please follow this link if you need some help finding a LinkedIn photographer.
