Comments on: Does My LinkedIn Profile Really Need a Photo?

By: Meg Guiseppi

Meg Guiseppi — Mon, 02 May 2022 11:00:23 +0000

In reply to Rich Marsh. Rich, thank you for adding your thoughts and advice to the conversation. Important points!

By: Rich Marsh

Rich Marsh — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 22:10:11 +0000

A senior business professional, who is a minority herself, said on this topic, “They’ll figure it out when you show up. And it will be the worst interview of your life if they are biased as they try to find a reason to exclude you.” She said, “By posting a picture you are saving yourself the hassle of preparing for an interview for a job, that you’ll never get.”

Meanwhile, if you lack a picture, your profile will be seen as “incomplete” so you will not be rated “All Star.” As a result, you won’t appear in the top half of search results. That’s a problem.

By: Meg Guiseppi

Meg Guiseppi — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 11:05:56 +0000

In reply to Invisible Middle Age. Thank you for sharing your story, Invisible. So sorry to hear that age discrimination has impacted your career so much.

By: Invisible Middle Age

Invisible Middle Age — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 05:14:06 +0000

I have faced race and age discrimination in the workforce. Don’t appreciate it when it’s downplayed by folks who don’t have to go through this.
Have applied through resume with qualifications for simple—not—so—high— paying clerical jobs and, when they called for a phone interview and heard my middle—age voice and tone, I never heard back passed that first phone interview. Let alone a well paying job with great benefits, even less!
I consider LinkedIn job search—a beauty contest for the very young, which will connect you to a great job based on your attractive looks and attributes.
Ageism is rampant. I worked for a few companies in the past that the 20s y/olds used to make fun and sometimes bully; if they had managerial positions, to older folks in the 40s & 50s, and this was in the blue collar sector. These white collar jobs are worse with the age and race discrimination. However, I believe age discrimination is the worst of all.
This is sad, but if this doesn’t change for the better, we’ll see more older middle—age and not so attractive workers losing their jobs to younger— attractive folks, “because only the young and physically attractive have the human right to make a good living and have quality of life”.
I guess, if this doesn’t change for the better, us older and less attractive will be doomed to live in poverty and lower quality of life. Not fair to be punished to be destitute for being old and not so eye appealing. Sad world we live in where only looks and physical beauty matter and your qualifications come last.
This is my opinion and I will stick to it.

By: Meg Guiseppi

Meg Guiseppi — Fri, 28 May 2021 12:13:01 +0000

In reply to whosit?. Thank you for sharing your story, whosit. Everyone needs to decide whether or not to include a LinkedIn profile photo. I can see why you chose not to.

By: whosit?

whosit? — Thu, 27 May 2021 23:18:45 +0000

In reply to Meg Guiseppi.

I worked as a contractor for an overseas company that used facial recognition to crawl the internet for our presence (and to make sure we were the real person they’d hired showing up for work remotely). I’m concerned about them nosing around and mis-using that information. I’ve also had a stalker, and someone in my family stole my identity. … I used to be “high profile” and ‘had to’ use my photo and real name. Batting 0 for 3 on reasons to use a photo for me. Glad to hear it’s kinda passe using photos. But I see people using photos in linked in profiles mostly.

By: Meg Guiseppi

Meg Guiseppi — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 13:16:48 +0000

In reply to Rick. Rick, thank you for commenting and sharing your take on this controversial topic. While I appreciate your point of view, I still urge job seekers to include a professional profile photo.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 21:51:07 +0000

Heavy sigh. Despite LinkedIn’s best efforts, and all the articles about it – it turns out that by early 2021 it is decidedly “not cool” to put up a picture on ones’ LinkedIn profile. There, I said it. Every one of my (almost 200) connections, do not have a public picture on their profiles. Not one. Now, I can understand the reasoning for and against, but for some reason (and I really don’t care why this is,) other than if you are a public figure of some sort – or one of those super users with hundreds or thousands of contacts and followers; the fact is that we don’t “do” that right now. Sorry. Save it for Facebook.

By: Meg Guiseppi

Meg Guiseppi — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 12:18:22 +0000

In reply to Chris Pederson. Thanks for commenting, Chris. Having a profile photo is not THE most important thing, but it is VERY important, since it's one of the first things people will see. All the best in your job search! -Meg

By: Chris Pederson

Chris Pederson — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 21:36:12 +0000

Thanks for sharing how the benefits of having a photo on your account outweigh everything else. I am trying to get a job right now. I’ll do anything to increase my chances of being hired honestly.