The Importance of a Profile Picture

What is the first thing that people look at and judge when it comes to your Linkedin profile? You guessed it, you profile picture! ??

Multiple studies have shown through heatmap technology that one of the first and most concentrative areas that your visitors will focus on is your profile picture. Us humans want to know who else we are dealing with, it's part of our social traits.

Here are some CONSEQUENCES of NOT having a profile picture:

• RECRUITERS!!! They are looking for talent, they are looking for people with certain skills, but just like them they too are looking at your profile pic. Whether you like it or not, we all judge. Letting a recruiter know that you are of a certain age can actually benefit you >> ex: if you are 40+ looking for role which demands years of experience and that recruiter is looking for that someone, well then now your professional profile pic of you looking happy may just play into your favour! (assuming the rest of your profile reflects that you have the experience)
• Prospects and potential business partners come to your profile, if you don't got a profile pic, how many inbound connection requests do you think you'll receive?
• Not having a picture means an INCOMPLETE profile...which means you fall down the priority list on Linkedin's algorithm.
• It may also give the impression that you are hiding something, or that perhaps your profile is a 'bot' account.
• Harm your branding. People buy from people. Your profile pic is one piece of the puzzle to your branding strategy on Linkedin.

How to get a professional picture without breaking the bank?

You can always search on Kijiji or Craigslist, you will find students and folks that do photography as a side hustle or as their full time gig. No matter what, you will be able to find someone with a professional grade camera that is willing to meet you at your office or other location to get the job done.

You can also approach colleges or universities and seek out which department would be full of talented students eager to get their photography and creative career going (most likely something along the lines Image Arts or a specialization in Photography). You can expect to pay $50 - $100 for a multiple professional headshots and in some cases, less.

OR...you can use LINKEDIN!!! Here is how to do that step by step to find a local photographer

1) Click on the search bar at the top and select 'People' from the dropdown menu.

2) Select the city you are in then hit all filters to enter the title you are looking for, for this one, it will be 'photographer'. Filtering

3) Type 'photographer' in the 'Title' section, then hit apply. No, unfortunately Linkedin's current UX does not allow us to hit enter to apply, you have to click on 'Apply'

Hope this was helpful, if it was give it a like and share it with those that you think could use a profile pic make over. Oh, and one more thing...I'm sure one of the criteria you'll be using to select a photographer is going to be their Linkedin profile picture ??