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When I discuss this subject with clients, many of them offer the same resistance as to why its taken so long to upload a profile headshot to LinkedIn. Its mainly because they prefer to be invisible or want to ‘protect their privacy’, both of which are completely understandable motive but both counter-productive if you are considering using LinkedIn in a useful or beneficial way. The whole point is to be open and engaging, so not having a good headshot picture really will effect your perception and personal brand - would you research or buy a product from eBay or Amazon without seeing a picture first?

There are many reasons why I think a professional headshot are essential if you choose to engage with LinkedIn (or, to be honest, any form of social media). Just like a business, you are presenting your brand online and your headshot is your personal logo so it needs to look professional, approachable and credible. It has been shown that LinkedIn entries are 7 times more likely to be clicked on with a photo beside it and recruiters, in particular, will not click on profile without headshot due to the likelihood of it being a spam entry. I think its also fair to say that most professional jobs these days need an understanding/ skill with social media so having a consistent, visible and strong personal presence across any platform you engage with (twitter, Facebook etc) is essential as a company or recruiter will research you on all of them.

So, what makes a successful Linked Headshot? Obviously styles and preferences change but the most important (and this is actually in the User Agreement) thing to LinkedIn is that it needs to be “recognisably you”. Another one of the classic errors is to take a Facebook image from ‘down the pub’ or taken with your pet/ child, as these do not add to your professional brand (even if they are lovely images) and distract from profile

Personally, I think the days of professional studio heashots are gone as they are obviously staged, posed and unnatural. My style is to take environment heashots using natural light as much as possible so these tend to take place at your office or outside as it offers a more relaxed, engaging, approachable and credible image across all types of employment or industry sector. 

Please don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions or is you'd like to book a session

Luminous Photography is a specialist in headshot photography based in Maidenhead, Berkshire