Having your photo on a resume; why don't more people include a photo?

The looks of a person are not relevant for most jobs.

Way back in the day, when I was in college, they actually recommended that you add a picture, your height, weight and marital status. I think the reason they don’t want a picture is because it could be construed as discrimination as they could then determine your nationality, etc.

@bob_ While you are quite correct, your appearance can mean a great deal of difference in if you are hired. I always told my son to submit a resume in person, and include a picture. They will remember him better, and feel like they know him. They will also see that he doesn’t look untrustworthy, or hard up.

it’s possible that photos on job applications can lead to a biased decision to fill the position.

Some employers automatically throw them out because they don’t want to get accused of discrimination based on race. They just have a policy of throwing out ALL resumes with pictures.

I wouldn’t do that. It seems unnecessary.

I believe that in that state of CA it’s illegal to ask such info, so providing it of your own will just get your resume trashed. Unless, of course, the job involves your looks for some reason.

Because most employers are interested in competence.

Thanks for your responses.

As a hiring manager, a photo is not of interest. In fact, it makes me wonder why someone feels the need to include it. I hire a person based upon their skill set, as well as other factors. A photo means nothing. A first impression has much more power. A series of personal interviews paints the picture.

As the person being interviewed, I would rather be judged on my abilities. I also want to know that it is the right fit. If someone were to want to interview me due to my sex, age, or skin color, it would be a personal concern.

I conquer with @bob_ . Looks shouldn’t matter. And if your sexiness influences the reason why youget a job, you shouldn’t take it. Even if I were required to put my picture on my resume, I wouldn’t do it. No matter how sexy I am.

So, you concur with bob? If you conquer with bob, you and bob win, and everyone else loses.
There is also a homosexual suggestiveness to conquering with bob. You might not want that on your resume either.

I “conquer” with @bob_ and @blueberry_kid. So there, @filmfann, add a woman and its a Ménage à twat. No more homosexual suggestiveness. ;)

@filmfann Excuse me? Not only does it not involve getting a job, which it shouldn’t, but it isn’t necesarry. You shouldn’t have to show what you look like. You know why? Becuase you can be the most beautiful person in the world, and be a really big idiot. Also, you can be the ugliest person ever and be smarter than an Almanac. So yes, I do conquer with @bob_ . Is that a problem that I only want to show of my intelligence rather than my beauty? No.

@blueberry_kid, they’re trying to tell you that “conquer” (pronounced CONKer) means to vanquish, triumph over, or win over. A conqueror defeats his enemies. “Concur” (pronounced conKERR) means “agree with.”

@bkcunningham, that is much naughtier than you usually get. I have to give you a point for it.

Sorry, concur.

Excuse my attitude! Im only 14. Don’t hurt me!

Now, I feel dumb.

(crawls under table and rocks in fetal position)

Don’t feel dumb. Learn from it, and then you don’t have to make this mistake and feel dumb about it again. At 14 you still have plenty of time for learning. Same is true at 64.

fetal

I concur with @Pied_Pfeffer. I have also been a hiring manager and what someone looks like is absolutely irrelevant to whether or not they can do the job (unless it is as a stripper or something similar). Hooters may have a different policy, but any place I have worked where I had hiring/firing authority, my experience is that appearance makes no difference to ability to perform the job tasks!

@blueberry_kid blame it on patrick, the avatar

I’m in agreement with @filmfann to submit a resume or application in person, dressed as you would be for that job.

It’s very true people are judged on appearances and so that’s why it’s discriminatory to consider pictures or other personal details. I don’t know how better to say than that most places are more open to interviewing a more polished and articulate person than one who doesn’t appear that way, for just about any kind of job.

Don’t worry, @blueberry_kid. I wasn’t making fun of you. I was teasing with @filmfann. Don’t give it a second thought. If you could see some of the mistakes I’ve made, you’d feel better. I think you are very, very intelligent.

Veni, vidi, vici.

@blueberry_kid Blame auto-correct and no one will be the wiser :) Quite frankly, I’m just pleased that you’re familiar with the term “concur”

Had I realized @blueberry_kid was 14, my answer would be quite different.
That said, real world is that good looking white people get hired much more easily than others. It is wrong for things to be this way, but that is the way they are.

Depends on the job being sought. An actor, for example, wouldn’t dream of “applying” or auditioning for a role without giving the casting agent his headshot and any other photos that were relevant to the role.

On the other hand, as others have already noted, most commercial / industrial positions for which résumés are submitted with photos (or other indications of race, age, parental or marital status, sexual orientation or other ‘protected’ types of information) will not even be considered, as a hiring decision (pro or con) based on this type of information can lead to a lawsuit. If the applicant is hired, then someone who didn’t get the job may decide to sue. It’s a wonder that anyone is hired, sometimes.

@filmfann, I think taking your resume in person to the potential employer is a very good idea. I’d tell my child to do that too. Even if he was Black, Asian, Hispanic, pink or polka-dot.

There are hiring preferences and goals that state and federal contractors and subs must meet in hiring Minority Owned Businesses, Small Disadvantaged Businesses and minority employees.

@Jude I know why I wouldn’t, but for people who are young and attractive, I don’t know why they don’t include a photo on their resume. :-)

If you are a performer of any kind in any venu, it seems to me a head shot is needed. Even writers seem to need them, since all publicity generally contains a picture unless, of course, you are Thomas Pynchon.

As to jobs where looks should not matter, it seems to me that people would put their photo on the resume only if they thought they needed help. I.e., they would probably think they were pretty hot, and that their looks might sway someone in their direction all else being equal. Personally, I don’t like that kind of thinking, and I would be less like to hire someone who put their picture on the resume, all else being equal.

Sometimes a good looking person happen to be the best of a group of applicants. It would be a shame to lose them or have to not choose them due to the photo. But my assumption is that anyone put their photo on the resume, it’s because they have a weakness they don’t want me to discover.

I also think that only hot looking people would put a photo on the resume. To me, that suggests something of an attitude about looks. A lack of humility. It’s not a trait I like to see among job applicants.

Finally, it’s just plain obnoxious. Just obnoxious. It turns things into a beauty pageant instead of a competition based on skills. I don’t really enjoy working with obnoxious people. So perhaps they should do me a favor and put their pictures on the top. Then I know who they are and I can throw the resume out without even reading it. Fortunately, I have never seen a resume with a picture on it.

So many resume’s are filtered though computer programs today. I know for government positions, (which primarily go through computers first), everyone selected has to go through an interview first so a picture will not matter. Pictures only tell you that they had the time an money to take a decent photo. It tells you nothing about their ablilities.

When I was looking for work in high school, lots of people said to do it so that employers remember who you were when making their decision later. I never did because of the reasons mentioned above, and also I couldn’t find any working colour printers.

Like photos in restaurant menus, it’s a little bit tacky.

Personally, I am looking forward to a viking-style raid with @bob_ and @blueberry_kid at my sides

My resume picture shall forever include a helmet with horns

It should be unnecessary since it has nothing to do with job abilities.

The only exception would be show business or the arts, for obvious reasons.

@Blackberry exactly!
If someone can explain he benefit, I’ll put the photo.

People don’t put photos on resumes because it is no longer the norm. Doing so would make you stand out as someone who did not know how to construct a professional resume.

I agree that the practice probably died out when discrimination laws started to have some bite to them. Employers were afraid that they would be sued, so they requested no photos or other information that might identify you as a minority or associate you with a certain religion.