Tales from the Resume Reef - A Picture is Worth a Thousand Rejections

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http://jobsearchdolphin.blogspot.com

If you are thinking of putting your photo on your resume for jobs in the US, save that picture for friends and family.

Take it OFF your resume!

Over the years in my recruiting work, I've come across resumes submitted with someone's picture on them. In fact, quite recently, I spoke to a very "high end" technical professional who had sent out a resume for a year with picture on the front page. And it was only after this person was told not to do so that employers began to respond.

A decade ago, in a smaller staffing firm, I was working with graphic artists; in that field, there's a need to balance a resume's "creative touch" with basic resume information. Some would put a rendering/drawing of themselves on the resume, and I'd have to ask them to go into Quarkxpress or Pagemaker or InDesign and remove that element.

In some cultures, a picture is EXPECTED on a resume; however, that's not true in the US. In fact, it creates potential difficulties for employers: thus, they don't look at the resume at all!

Here's what a good friend in corporate recruiting told me about this. If someone puts a picture on a resume (or information about marital status, religion or age,) and isn't hired, that individual can make a case that he/she wasn't hired because of that personal information. Further, that case could become a legal one. Thus, these resumes are simply set aside so that employers don't put themselves in such a position. It's information ignored, which means your chances of getting that opportunity are null and void.

Keep the personal stuff out. Keep the pictures out.

So that you have a chance to stay "in the picture" as a viable candidate.

From Greg Lachs at Job Search Dolphin.