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Zachary Joseph

 

Why you should have a good Linkedin Headshot

 

Getting a job is hard. While people often complain about their struggles at work, whether it be the long hours, labor, or rude coworkers, people often forget how difficult it is to get one in the first place. It can take months of researching and apply to many jobs, many of which will not respond (you’ll be lucky to get feedback), and maybe, just maybe, a company will ask for an interview. Therefore, many people take to LinkedIn to get jobs. After all, LinkedIn is a popular social media site dedicated to helping people find jobs. People looking for work can make a nice profile listing their education, work history, and skills. This information is neatly listed and presented in a simple profile for companies. But their headshot is missing, which is integral to getting hired and not directly related to a person’s skills or education.

 

A good LinkedIn headshot is crucial to getting hired. If a person looks presentable, a company will think they are well put together and capable of handling a job. Unfortunately, some people can treat this as another social media site and take a selfie and be done with this. While a good idea for casual social media sites like Facebook or Instagram, this is a terrible idea for LinkedIn. A poorly made photo will leave a bad impression, and that can cost people many jobs.

 

First impressions may be an old cliche, but there is a reason for that; it is true. While not the perfect judge of a person’s character, a first impression can go a long way in determining someone’s opinion of another person. Think about it from the perspective of a hiring manager; there are several hundred million users on LinkedIn, they want to hire a handful of people for their new company, and they come across a user with a bad headshot. Chances are they will skip that user on the spot. Of course, it is not the most polite thing to do not to give the person a chance, but when there are potentially millions of other perfectly capable users on the site, why should they take the time out of their day to give a person who could not even take a good headshot a chance? 

 

A headshot tells the hiring manager that LinkedIn user needs to take care of themselves. It is the same as if a user walked into work with unkempt hair and half of their clothes. If a person cannot take care of themselves, the hiring manager will not think they can handle a job. Therefore, companies will likely want to hire a user with a nice headshot. A good headshot means that this user takes care of themselves and treats things with seriousness and respect. 

 

That is another thing a good headshot conveys, a user’s brand. Similarly to an actor’s headshot, a LinkedIn headshot conveys what kind of brand the user is a part of. Naturally, companies also have their own brands and would rather hire people who match theirs. As a result, it is best to tailor LinkedIn headshots to whatever field the user wishes to enter. Users can hold whatever they play in their hands if they wish to play an instrument. This example is simply an idea among a sea of possibilities. It is probably best to research what kind of headshot looks the best for the field and then implement it with its unique style. One easy way to do this is to use LinkedIn and look for other people in the user’s intended field and see what they do. Humans learn from imitation, and seeing what people do that works, can increase another person’s chances of success by copying it. But do not forget to put a unique spin on things, or it will look like someone else’s brand.

 

Now all this boils down to one final problem: how to get a professional-looking headshot. The solution is simple but may appear undesirable to some, and that is to hire a professional. People are often stingy with their money, especially when it is not luxury items, but a good headshot is a worthwhile investment. If a person has a good headshot, they are likely to get hired into a better job that pays well. Therefore, they will likely gain back the money they spent on the headshot fairly quickly and make more than they would have done without it.