No Photo of yourself on Linked-In could cost you…..

No Photo of yourself on Linked-In could cost you…..

If you’ve ever had to hire anyone, you’ve read a lot of resumes.  If you’ve ever read a lot of resumes, you come to see standard “red flags” that make you question a candidate’s trustworthiness, character, values and fit for your team. One of the most common red flags includes receiving a “functional” resume.  Functional resumes can cover up gaps in employment as well as a lack of recent experience and a lack of skills. As an example, the candidate may have succeeded in increasing sales 131% but a functional resume won’t tell you that the accomplishment happened 10 years ago and the candidate hasn’t had any significant successes since then.

Another red flag is when a candidate sends you a generic resume to a very specific job positing. This can indicate laziness on the candidate’s part to customize the resume to highlight their experience to your specific requirements... Either they are lazy or just plain don’t have the experience you need.

Once you’ve read your first fifty or so resumes, you start to develop your own set of criteria determining your own “red flags”.

Job candidates are not the only reason to post your photo on Linked-In. More and more, Hiring Mangers, headhunters, HR, vendors, industry professionals and others turn to Linked-In to find out more about a person; a potential candidate, a potential client or customer, vendor, or networker.

One of the biggest Linked-In mistakes a person can make, especially a job candidate, is leave their photo off of their Linked-In profile. It’s another one of those “red flags” not just in job search but also in business.

Humans are visually oriented.  A “picture speaks a thousand words” is a truism that speaks volumes on Social Networking sites. The lack of a photo on Linked-in also speaks a thousand words – as well as raises many more red flags that the person is probably trying to avoid, including the primarily question “why doesn’t this person want me to know what they look like?” “Why isn’t this person transparent?”

In an article by Molly Cain in Forbes last year, The 8 Things You Do Wrong On LinkedIn, failing to post a photo of you made the list.

“….. You don’t post a picture. No, it’s not a beauty contest (and actually, if you use a glamour shot-esque photo, you may get laughed off the interwebs). But a picture is definitely worth a thousand words. We’re not going to judge you; we just want transparency from you. If visuals weren’t important in the business world, you would get every job by simply going through a telephone interview (wouldn’t that be nice?). LinkedIn is very much the same way. Because it has the photo feature, you should be using it. We want to see who we’re working with, networking with and introducing ourselves to – we are visual creatures.”

Read the full article at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/glassheel/2012/05/10/the-8-things-you-do-wrong-on-linkedin/2/

I’ve heard all kinds of excuses as to “why” someone doesn’t post their photo, none hold water.

-          “Privacy”. Hogwash. A person wants privacy yet is free to post their life history on Linked-In or Facebook; from their career path to education to books they enjoy reading.

-          “I don’t want to be judged on my age, race, size, ______fill in the black” again, Hogwash. If someone wants to Judge you, they don’t need a photo to do that. Most profiles are all telling. And the first time you speak on the phone, will confirm most judgment questions. If you are going to be judged by these criteria, do you really want to work for or with someone like this anyway?

-          “I’m Fat, ugly, etc.”  Really? Who cares? Linked –In is not a dating pick up site. It’s about business.

So if you want more interviews, more business relationships, more networking, follow the simple suggestions outlined in the Forbes article….especially the very simple fix of adding your photo to your Linked In profile.