Why Your CV Should Never Include a Photo

I don’t care what anyone says, including a photo on your cv is a bad idea. Here are some of the top reasons why people think attaching a photo will help their job application when in fact, it does the opposite.

1. Employers are going to Google you anyway, so putting your picture on your resume allows you to control their perception of you.

You’re kidding right? You might have the most professional photo in the world on your resume, but if you have a public Facebook account with loads of photos of you going overboard on a big night out, you are in trouble. A photo on your resume does not give you ANY control over the employer's perception of you.

2. Resumes with photos get more attention from prospective employers.

Every professional recruitment business I know of does NOT include photos on the resumes they send to their clients. We are very aware of how a photo can lead to discrimination, and we won't be a party to it. And if a resume with a photo does make it to the employer directly, the 'attention' it receives may not be what you had hoped.

3. If someone is going to discriminate, they are going to do it anyway.

So we should give them the tools to discriminate? Ridiculous! You want the employer to be engaged and excited by your skills, your experience and your ability to do the job. You want them to be excited about you before they see you so they are less likely to make any judgements based on your appearance. The fact is humans are visual, and we instinctively make judgements about people based on what they look like. Our own prejudices, preferences and penchants, many of them made subconsciously, are instantly engaged when we look at a person. We judge people. It's a human thing to do. But in the job/employment market, where people are looking for ways to exclude you from their shortlist, do you really want to give them the chance to exclude you because they don't like the look of you?

4. People are doing more and more creative things to stand out.

What, so the savvy, creative candidate who has good Photoshop skills is a 'better' candidate than someone else? Seriously? In that case, my friend’s twelve-year-old daughter, who uses fifty different filters before loading a photo onto Instagram and watermarks her own selfies, is clearly perfect for EVERY job. I have been in the industry for a very long time, and I am 100% confident when I say to you: do NOT put your photo on your resume. Let a potential employer judge you on your skills and experience, not your haircut.

Here’s a tip: Instead of attaching a photo to your resume, include the URL of your LinkedIn profile, this is a much safer and more acceptable way to ‘present’ yourself to a recruiter or prospective employer.

If you are looking for a job, contact us today: www.people2people.co.nz