5 reasons you need a professional LinkedIn profile picture

I’ve observed five important reasons to have a good head shot photo visible on your profiles:

1. Credibility

To be successful today, most professional jobs require knowledge and skill with social media. Profiles without photos are usually either not very active or just plain out-of-date. And, very few employers want to hire someone who is so demonstrably clueless.

In addition, many “spam” social profiles exist to sell products or services or to collect information. Those fake profiles usually either have no photo or the photo is obviously a model or someone extremely attractive in a very professional-looking photo. Recruiters, in particular, don’t want to waste their time with fictional people.

2. Recognition

Someone who already knows you from your past, other social media, or a recent networking meeting will, hopefully, recognize that photo and know who you are. Also, that friend from your last job (or the job before that) who is looking for you will find you in the long list of people who have the same — or a very similar — name.

3. Consistency

Someone who follows you in other social networks will find, and probably follow, you in new social networks. So, the reach of your social media visibility will be expanded and connected, and your “social proof” will be strengthened.

4. Personal Appeal

Any profile is more appealing when a person’s face is associated with it. LinkedIn has said that entries in LinkedIn search results with photos beside them are seven times more likely to be clicked than entries without photos. So, that recruiter looking for someone with your job title will probably not click on your name unless there is a photo beside it in the search results listings.

5. Personal Branding

When used with your professional activities in social media, your photo represents your brand — your personal logo — particularly when you use the same photo for all of your professional social visibility.

Bottom Line

A professional social profile without a nice head shot photo of you hurts you much more than the lack of one helps you find a job or avoid discrimination. So, don’t skip it.

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