Picture or No Picture?

We were thrilled to see the Good Morning America piece on VisualCV that ran recently. If you missed it, you can catch it here. Tory Johnson, the GMA Workplace Contributor, praised our site for ease of use, and the ways in which a VisualCV help a job seeker stand out from the crowd. And the nice thing from our perspective was Tory didn't delegate checking out our site to someone else -- she signed up and created her VisualCV herself, saying "if I can do it, anyone can do it." Tory has a great website of her own and is a prolific Twitterer, so I suspect she is pretty tech-savvy, but we'll take that as an endorsement.

The one comment I did disagree with was Tory's suggestion that you not include a picture on your VisualCV, because of discrimination concerns. We spent quite some time before launching the site investigating the legal and corporate HR issues relating to use of pictures and video, and we feel safe in telling job seekers they can use one or more pictures on their VisualCV, so long as they are comfortable doing so. US laws say you cannot discriminate, almost (but not quite!) as simply as that. And of course at VisualCV we do not condone discrimination of any kind. But consider that if someone were prone to discriminate on the basis of age, race, country of origin or gender, many of those characteristics can be deduced from a plain vanilla resume. Not to mention that most recruiters and hiring managers will inevitably google a candidate -- and many people today have images of themselves online (think Flickr, Photobucket etc., in addition to Facebook and MySpace). Finally, with the possible exception of age (do I really look over 40?), all such characteristics are immediately apparent once a candidate presents themselves at the first interview.

I think it's worthwhile to put a well chosen image of yourself in the contact area of your VisualCV. Unless you are trying out at a modeling agency, nobody expects you to look like a model. But everyone can look friendly, smart and professional in a well-taken and well-presented photo. I'm not suggesting you go to town in Photoshop, but instead have a friend, spouse or even a professional photographer take a natural head-and-shoulders shot of you looking the way you want employers to see you. If you are looking for a position at a workplace where suits and ties are the norm, wear a suit and (for the men) a tie. If the workplace is more casual, dress more casually. This photo is your first and best opportunity to make your VisualCV come alive, and show some of your personality and/or your professionalism.

Having said all the above, at VisualCV we respect that some members will prefer not to put up a picture of themselves. So not only is it not required, we make sure we don't penalize the appearance of your VisualCV. No ghastly looking question marks, slashes or silhouettes where the photo should be. (We do use a small silhouette on search listings, but we'll be removing these over time.) For those employers whose hiring processes require that no image is seen prior to an interview we make a simple switch available to turn images off. To my knowledge most of our 800+ employers leave it turned on, since they don't consider it a problem.

What do you think? Picture or no picture? And yes, video is another story, one that we'll cover here another time!

Comments

[medXcentral]

Congrats on the coverage.. great piece! Now.. about the "Picture or no Picture" topic...

If an employer discriminates/filters you out because of your picture, would you have really wanted to work for them anyway? I say; NO!

We will never be able to stop what someone thinks when they look at us.

[Mike Mueller]

Absolutely have a picture! Of course it depends on the position and job description.
For me not only was a picture critical, so was the video. I have not one, but two videos on mine.
(http://visualcv.com/mikemueller)

The position I am looking for has to have the ability to be comfortable in front of a camera, be able to quickly get a message across, and be fluent in current technology. Without a VisualCV my Resume is just text on a page!

Without the picture and video capabilities I probably wouldn't have a Resume here.

Mike Mueller

[Diane P]

I saw the piece and I love my new Visual CV resume'.....it really does help you stand out in the stack!

[Art]

Gotta have a picture and eventually video.

[Alisha]

I saw the segment Tory Johnson did and I have spoken with a career coach too and both have agreed NOT to post a picture of any kind. After reading the above it makes sense however let's face reality if someone is a good looking person whoever is searching might just be a bit more inclined to click on there Visual CV but I just wonder if they didn't see a picture if they still would have reviewed the resume????? Food for thought. I think another reason I don't want to post a picture is I also don't want people to possibly use this site similar to an online dating site...lol well it's true

[Art]

@Alisha, if we get shoved with a dating site, I'll need to take a better picture and remove my headset!

[Judy Kase]

Great post and I was extremely happy to find VisualCV. Exactly the type of resume site I was looking for!
Job search strategies have certainly changed over the years and too many people are getting the "Give them as little information as possible” advice from their career coaches such as: "Do not post pictures", "Do not place references on your resume"
This advice is hurting people in our competitive market. Pictures, references, videos, personal interests… these are NOT going to kill your chance for a job. Of course, PLEASE show some discipline.
As Phillip Merrick stated [condensed] “if someone were prone to discriminate … many characteristics can be deduced from a plain vanilla resume,... all forms of social media and once a candidate presents themselves at the first interview.”

[Noelle J.]

Great photos and terrible ones work against people. We're all human--we judge people visually, even if it's wrong. Better in this market to get yourself in the door based on contacts and credentials. Don't give them anything to possibly casue them to skip over you, which includes photos. "She's a babe. I don't want her around here," says one recruiter. "He looks like my grandfather, skip it," says another. It is natural even if unintentional.

[Jo Guerra]

Good post - good points. I agree that you should have a good picture on your resume - a good close-up. I still accept invitations from my people in different social networks, but if someone does not have a picture, I wonder if they are a real person or if they are trying to hide something.

Perhaps resumes are overlooked by recruiters/hiring managers if a candidate does not have a picture online. And if a company does not like what they see, it's probably not a good match anyway.

[Nathen Harvey]

Here are a couple more reasons to consider including a picture on your VisualCV.

You've likely got profiles on other places on the web where recruiters and employers will find you when doing a Google search. Using a consistent image on all of your profiles is a good way to promote "brand You"

Recruiters and Employers are pressed for time and look for fast ways to filter through their stack of applicants. We've heard from some that when they see a VisualCV without a picture it's sometimes an indication that the VisualCV itself is incomplete. If they see enough VisualCVs like this, they learn not to click through to see the full VisualCV thinking it's not worth their time.

You needn't use a headshot though. If you don't have a headshot ready or aren't comfortable with including one, why not use a avatar, your name, or something that represents your work?

Here are some real world examples (real people, real VisualCVs) that do just that:

Andrew Brodsky - http://www.visualcv.com/ajb

Melissa Namala - http://www.visualcv.com/mnamala2

Katrina Kibben - http://www.visualcv.com/katrinakibben

Alison Auth - http://www.visualcv.com/auth

Put yourself in the recruiter's shoes. Here (http://tinyurl.com/d2rue9) is a screen shot of what they would see for three candidates who applied for a job on VisualCV. All things being equal (rarely the case), which of these three would you click to see more details?

http://tinyurl.com/d2rue9

[Alisha]

Nathen so are you saying the other images that describe you do work or do not work? I just added 1 to mine so I would like to know your opinion or I can put my original photo back on there.

[Stacy Schubert]

Thank you for posting this piece. It's a question I have also struggled with but decided to just go for it based on the rationale of they'll find my pic anyway (F/B, Flickr, etc).

I decided it's better that I have some influence over that first impression with a more professional image than something that's totally appropriate but still not the best portrayal of me for the position I am applying.

[CreativesAMS]

read the peace, really interesting, very usefull to for all the searchers that just dont know where to start.

[Nelson]

I have just found your website great.
I am from Swaziland and learning to read in English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "When the debut goes his older club years to take tachibana and the release, tachibana mixes and says the air, razor scooter picture."

Thank you very much :-D. Nelson.