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Submitted by Kloos on
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Hi all

Just wondering whether anyone else has seen what seems to be a new trend?  Showing a photo on your CV.  I advertised for an events coordinator on Indeed and out of the 80 CVs I received, 5 of them included a photo at the top left.  Based on the 1 page CV this just doesn't work as it takes up far too much space, but I'm not bothered about what they look like.  If anything, it promotes unconscious bias either for or against based on your opinion of the person.  So not a good idea!

As an aside, out of the 80 CVs, only 4 applicants included a cover letter and only 1 of them was personalised.  The other 3 were copy / paste.  The 1 letter that was personalised also had a 1 page CV which didn't include a photo.  No guessing who's at the top of my interview list..!

Thanks
Martin

LEmerson's picture

Having reviewed lots of resumes, I have seen many that have photos attached. My first reaction is usually disinterest, but I don't recall having any strong negative attitudes about a photo on a resume. However, I have seen a few that were professionally laid out, and the photo seemed to fit well within the overall image that forms the first impression.

My advice on this issue is the same as with any resume. Put in the time and expense to hire a person who is good with design and layout. They're espcecially valuable beause they have knowledge of how people see and react to images and layout. If you're not a pro your resume will look unprofessional, and/or will look exactly like most of them because people tend to use the same free templates from online. Photo or not, a good designer will make your resume easy to look at, easy to read, with a level of elegance.