Should You Put a Photo on Your Resume?

The 30-second decision checklist

Ask these three questions:

If you answered no to all three, leave the photo off. That covers most applications in the US and UK.

• Did the job posting ask for a photo? If yes, include one. If no, keep going.
• Is the job in a country where resume photos are normal? Germany, Austria, France and Spain are common examples — see the table below. If yes, include a clean professional photo.
• Is how you look part of the job itself? Acting, modelling and on-camera presenting are the obvious cases — and even then, photos usually go as a separate file, not pasted into the resume.

Why employers don't want a photo on your resume

1. It can work against you before anyone reads your skills. A photo shows your age, gender and background at a glance — none of which should decide who gets an interview. Good employers know this, and many remove photos from applications before a person reviews them, so the photo never helps and the space it took is wasted.

2. The software that reads resumes first can't read photos. Most larger companies run resumes through software that reads plain text to pull out your skills, job titles and experience. A photo can break the layout, get ignored, or cause parts of your text to be misread. A clean, text-only resume is the safest file to send.

3. It takes space from the things that get you hired. A resume is short — usually one or two pages. Every line given to a photo is a line not given to a result you delivered, a skill you have, or a job you did well. Reviewers spend seconds on a first look. You want those seconds on your work, not your face.

4. It can look out of touch. In the US and UK a photo on a resume is now rare enough that it can make an otherwise strong application look dated — as if you don't know how hiring works today.

The country rule, in plain terms

Norms differ a lot by country. The guides checked for this post broadly agree on this split:

Treat the table as a starting point, not a law. Companies differ inside every country, and the job posting always wins: if it asks for a photo, send one; if it asks for no photo, don't.

A note for UK readers: a photo on a CV is not normal in the UK, and UK employers work hard to keep early hiring steps free of bias. The same applies if you are in the UK applying to a US company, or the other way round — follow the norm of the country the job is in, not the country you are in.

• Photo on a resume — Countries
• Usually expected — Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Japan, Argentina
• Optional — varies by employer — Belgium, Finland, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, Slovakia
• Leave it off unless asked — United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Latvia, Lithuania

Where your photo does belong

Leaving a photo off your resume does not mean having no photo. It means putting it in the places people actually look:

Use the same photo in all of these places. When the person who read your resume then sees the same face on LinkedIn, everything lines up.

• LinkedIn. This is the big one. Recruiters and hiring managers look candidates up, and LinkedIn expects a profile photo. Link your LinkedIn profile at the top of your resume, and make sure the photo there is a clean, current, professional one — head and shoulders, plain background, dressed as you would for an interview.
• Your personal website or work examples page, if you have one. A photo next to your name helps people remember you and trust that you are real.
• A separate headshot file, when a job asks for one. Acting, modelling and presenting work runs on photos — send them as their own file alongside the resume, not squeezed into it.

If you do include a photo, get these right

For the cases where a photo is expected or asked for:

• Head and shoulders only, face clear and centred.
• Plain background — a light wall or a simple backdrop, nothing busy behind you.
• Good light on your face. Face a window in daylight; never stand with the light behind you.
• Dress as you would for an interview in your field. Solid colours photograph best; skip big patterns and logos.
• Look like yourself today. No heavy filters, no photo from years ago, no sunglasses or hats.
• Keep it small on the page. The photo supports the resume; your experience is still the main event.

Getting a photo worth using

You don't need a studio session for a LinkedIn or CV photo. A careful phone photo in good light does the job for most people.

If you want the studio look without booking a photographer, Headshotsly makes professional headshots from up to 5 of your own selfies. You get one full-HD photo free — no watermark — and five 4K photos for a one-time [$4.99](/pricing) if you want the full set. It takes about 2 minutes. Put the photo on LinkedIn and your website; for most US and UK jobs, keep your resume text-only.