In the age of duck lips, tongues out, and close-ups that may or may not include a bathroom stall in the background, the list of photography fails is endlessly entertaining.
But usually you’d expect to see these on Instagram or maybe Facebook, not on LinkedIn.
After all, LinkedIn was designed to help manage your professional identity, engage with your professional network, and access opportunities and knowledge within your given industry.
Profile pictures are important across social networks. In fact, you’re 11 times more likely to be viewed on LinkedIn if you have a profile picture. People like to know whom they’re dealing with and when you appear in search results, suggestions, groups, etc., other LinkedIn users may check you out.
It’s definitely not the place to post that selfie that you took last Friday night while you were out with the guys. These types of pictures might be OK on Facebook, but they’re definitely not going to help you grow your professional connections on LinkedIn.
In fact, getting too carried away with your social media pictures can cost you opportunities. A helpful new infographic (below) visually depicts the top eight LinkedIn profile picture faux pas you should avoid at all costs if you want to be taken seriously in business.
Here are a few of my personal favorites. Are you guilty of using any of these?
The Oldie
The only reason you should be using your high school picture as your LinkedIn picture is if you just set up a LinkedIn profile as part of a high school project. A little Photoshop never hurt anyone, but your profile image should actually look like you–the current you! How useless is your photo if people can’t even recognize you in real life? It defeats the purpose.
The Pet Lover
Unless you’re looking for work in a field where your love for animals is directly relevant, it’s best to leave your self-portraits of you and your seven kitties for Facebook.
The Silhouette
This is quite possibly the worst photo fail of all. It’s lazy, it’s unprofessional, and it certainly doesn’t compel anyone to want to connect with you when they can’t even see who they’re supposed to be connecting with.
For a great LinkedIn profile image, put on your favorite shirt, make sure your hair looks good, and smile. Have a talented friend or even a professional photographer take the picture for you. After all, this is your professional image we’re talking about!
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Originally posted on Inc.com
THanks Larry for all the reminders. I had feedback once about my Profile saying it must have been taken ages ago (Cheek). I was a few years old, OK about 8 years and had been done as a professional shoot. I particularly liked the red jacket I wore. So, I had a family photo taken instead, still wearing the red leather jacket. Once changed the remark was ‘Yep, that’s more like you!’ Heyho!
You left one out . . .’The Fake’ Stock images of Models (young women and men) .