I’ve seen a lot of CV’s over the years. Sometimes I’d see one that included a photo of the candidate and I thought I could see a pattern of behaviour developing. So I wanted to explore this further in an effort to determine if there was a pattern at all. Personally, I’ve never included a photo of myself on my CV as I’d be concerned that it may encourage an additional element of bias in the recruitment process.
I asked the question of my network on LinkedIn in the form of a poll and 320 people did cast a vote. The poll results revealed that the overwhelming majority of people felt that it was not a good idea to include a photo. Although 1 in 4 people felt it was.
But this poll didn’t tell me anything about the pattern of behaviour I was curious about, so I had to dig a little deeper.
I looked at the geographical location of all respondents and broke the votes down into regions; UK, North America and EU. I particularly wanted to see the geographical breakdown of those people that felt including a photo was a good idea; the 25% of the original poll. Now, the data supported my suspicions. The geographical breakdown of these ‘yes’ votes was 70% EU, 16% North America and 9% UK. That tied in nicely with what I was seeing because most usually (though not always), when I received a CV that included a photo, it was from an EU candidate.
In fact, one respondent commented that he thought it was a legal requirement in Germany and France to include a photo. He kindly offered to do a little research to check this assertion and later came back to me to advise it is NOT a legal requirement. But it was interesting to see how adding a photo is so culturally engrained that it might be thought of as a legal requirement.
So it seems to be a cultural difference. Hiring managers in the EU expect to see a photo on a CV and candidates generally oblige. But let me return to my original question. From the candidates’ perspective, is it a good idea to include a photo?
If you’re looking for work in the EU then I guess we have to conclude it is a good idea because the hiring manager sees that as being good practise and not including a photo might set you apart as ‘unusual.’
But generally speaking, in my view, using a photo adds no value to your CV. However, I do see how a photo might detract from your CV because hiring managers have their own unconcious bias which could impact their decision to interview you. Psychologists call it ‘thin slicing.’ Within moments of seeing you, people make all sorts of decisions about you based on your appearance, from status to intelligence to conscientiousness. For that reason, I think photos on CV’s are to be avoided.
What do you think? Leave a comment below!