Should I just throw in the towel?

I’ve just read an article about somebody who has developed a Chrome plugin that changes everybody's LinkedIn profile picture to a cute dog picture! So is that me finished, no need for any more headshots?

The claim is to make it a level playing field for recruiters and hiring managers in order to reduce how peoples appearance subconsciously influences their decision-making process.

But what if you don’t like a particular bread of dog, say through a bad experience, or you have a favourite breed because you have that type of dog? Just like humans surely not all dog pictures are equally cute. I’m also not sure I’d like to be replaced by a Shitzu when I relate more to being a Rough Collie. Surely if the intention was to make it a level playing field then it would just remove all the profile pictures.

But why tamper with the profile pictures in the first place? Well, the smart people out there realise that their profile image does influence peoples perception and will seek help from a professional headshot photographer to get the right profile picture for the image they are trying to portray. This helps them to potentially become more influential and have better engagement on LinkedIn, which leads to better relationships, better business or more job prospects.

For a tool to only replace your headshot with a cute animal and not remove any of the other data that may also contain subconscious influences such as name, place of education etc is really not going to change hiring managers decision processes.

However, If you want to get ahead on LinkedIn it does show you need to get a good headshot.

What cute animal picture would you like in place of your profile image on LinkedIn?

Link to Chrome Plugin: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/profile-of-dogs/ohogaiokmklelonikonlifjgophefaaa