Do I really need a LinkedIn profile photo?

November 11, 2015 7:47 PM

I'm whipping my LinkedIn profile into shape, and I'm really stuck on whether I should add a profile photo. Slight complication: I'm a visible minority with an ethnically misleading name. Help?

My apologies, this is all so gross, but please hear me out:

My name is, well, for lack of a better description, white-sounding, and I've been told I sound "white" on the phone. I know it's 2015, but I'm pretty sure I (unfortunately) benefit from people not immediately knowing what race I am in business interactions - I don't run into the name-on-resume-based discrimination that effects many other people of my race. I'm probably going to start looking for a job soon, and I keep hearing that not having a LinkedIn photo is a gigantic red flag, but what about discrimination? Is no photo going to be more harmful to my job search than one that broadcasts to the world that I'm a WOC?

In general, I'm careful to not publicly do things on the internet that give away my ethnicity (i.e. careful about what I post on Twitter, no publicly-facing profile photos of myself, etc.). This isn't because I'm ashamed of my race - it's because I'm plenty aware of how my race sometimes gets in the way of the impact I'd like to have in my professional and civic work. Should I just throw caution to the wind and post a profile photo? Can I realistically seem like an OK, social media-savvy candidate without having a profile photo that screams "oh, btw, I'm [insert ethnicity here]"?

posted by blerghamot to Work & Money (27 answers total)

Response by poster: Also, if this changes anyone's take on things, I'm in Canada rather than the US.
posted by blerghamot at 7:48 PM on November 11, 2015

That's a tricky judgment call, because you have to balance preemptive racism with The Unpleasant Surprise. I am white, so others are welcome to overrule me on this, but I (female) go by a name that reads as male and I have definitely gotten stunned silence at the other end of the phone before. Followed by the occasional "Oh. I was expecting a guy." It's not so much that the person on the other end of the phone dislikes women so much as they had a mental image and I don't fit it and BEEP BOOP BEEP RECALCULATE PARAMETERS (or some shit like that).

So, that's also a thing to consider. I hate that this sort of thing is a consideration at all.
posted by telepanda at 8:06 PM on November 11, 2015

You could also consider a generic photo of a place, item, or symbol that might represent you, so you show that effort went into making the profile.

You might find a nice setting, and take a photo of your own shadow there to use.
posted by nickggully at 8:07 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

What about a good caricature? We did this for out wedding cards, STDs, etc.
posted by tilde at 8:08 PM on November 11, 2015

How visible a minority are you? Could you take for example an ambiguous black and white photo?
posted by crazy with stars at 8:08 PM on November 11, 2015

IMO, your qualifications are more important than having a photo of your face, but not having any photo makes the profile look unfinished. Maybe use a photo of some classic peice of sculpture/art that you like?
posted by zennie at 8:15 PM on November 11, 2015

How would no photo be a huge red flag? To me, it just says someone doesn't want photos of themselves easily googleable on the internet. I don't have a photo on my LinkedIn. I personally think adding a photo of something that isn't your face looks silly and unprofessional, so I'd just leave it blank entirely. I'd rather look like I was too busy to add photo than look like I spent time going through photos of random objects that were not my face and picked one.

As for the race issue, I can't help you there. I'm just a white person with a white name. I would do whatever you feel ethically, personally and professionally comfortable with. That is, if it bugs you to cow down to racist mindsets, post the photo. But if you really aren't that jazzed about putting a photo up anyway and see the possibility of reading as white initially helping the job search, don't do it. I really think you should just go with your gut.

I definitely think there is hiring bias against minorities. However, there also the possibility some places will want to hire minorities, depending on the race you are. I have worked at places where I was literally asked if any of the candidates were a racial minority so we could give them a chance to diversify the office.
posted by AppleTurnover at 8:16 PM on November 11, 2015 [2 favorites]

So I've got 400+ connections on LinkedIn. After a quick check I found about 25% of my connections either have the grey head (no photo) or a piece of art or a logo or a landmark instead of a photo of themselves. I say it is unremarkable in my field (IT then non-profit) to go with no photo. It may vary depending on the field you are in.
posted by ladyriffraff at 8:20 PM on November 11, 2015 [5 favorites]

+1 to looking around at your connections to see what they're doing. I'm in a somewhat reversed situation (I'm not a visible minority but my name makes it seem like I am) and I feel weird putting a picture for reasons you can certainly guess. But I'm a software engineer and tons of my colleagues don't have pictures either so I haven't bothered.
posted by town of cats at 8:31 PM on November 11, 2015

If I see the no photo grey head I tend to wonder if a person just installed Linked In on a whim and I got the invite that came along with it trolling through their entire contact list. So, I am much slower to actually link to those unless I know the person very well.

I skimmed my list and about 17.5% of not quite 500 contacts have no picture. But, almost all the ones with a picture are of the individual.

With that said, if I actually know someone, have worked with them professional and would again, or know them well enough personally that I would do so I respond to a link request. So, I don't think no picture really hurts you and if your perception is that it may help then there is little disincentive to try without. After all, you could always add a picture later if you conclude it is a better approach.
posted by meinvt at 8:33 PM on November 11, 2015

I think you might as well put up a photo now if you think there's some benefit in your field to seeming social media savvy and to having a complete LinkedIn profile. I do think it looks a little lower-tech/incomplete without. I also say go for it because not putting up a photo is effectively punting the discrimination potential down the line to the interview(s) or even post-hiring on site instead of actually eliminating it.
posted by vegartanipla at 8:33 PM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

My husband doesn't like his photo online. He uses a logo I created for him with his initials. That means that you show that you at least know HOW to upload a photo and have a complete profile.

On the other hand, I'm a white lady with an ethnic sounding name. (Essence magazine signed me up for a subscription for sure just based on my name.) I also have short pink-ish red hair. I figure if someone's going to overlook my credentials and experience because of my hair or my name or that I'm a woman, then I'd rather not work for that company. At the same time I don't have to deal with racial bias on a regular basis (other than people possibly not looking me up before I walk in and being surprised by a super pale chick.)

But, I totally understand not wanting your face online. Hence why a logo or initials or something personal that identifies you in some way (rather than a landmark or something) is a great idea.
posted by Crystalinne at 8:36 PM on November 11, 2015

I agree that no photo looks unfinished. I like the idea of uploading an image of your initials. You should be able to make something very simply on Canva.com; just do a solid-colored circle and your initials in a white font.
posted by samthemander at 9:09 PM on November 11, 2015

Get an artistic friend to do a quick line drawing of your face. Classy and ambiguous.
posted by miyabo at 9:22 PM on November 11, 2015 [6 favorites]

I think a logo is a great idea! I would do that because I feel like a good part of the racism that will hinder you is in the unconscious screening. Honestly, if you're a woman, you're already a bit screwed in this respect. Get the jobs and knock em dead!
posted by TenaciousB at 9:30 PM on November 11, 2015

I've hired a lot from LinkedIn profiles only. Do NOT use anything other than a clear photo, or nothing. Nothing wouldn't raise any reg flags at all if the profile is very filled out and professional. Get recommendations from former co-workers instead.

As a hiring manager I would never care if was "surprised" by the race of a candidate. This has happened to me, a couple of times, and I didn't blink much (or honestly if I did I realized that was my problem not the candidates). However, I always am specifically looking for people who bring diversity of many kinds to my non-diverse industry, and so in my case it would help you to have a photo of yourself up there.

I don't have a real answer beyond my personal practices about whether it would hurt your chances of getting interviews to make it clear that you aren't white. Statistically, and horribly, it very well might. It would be totally understandable to leave it off. In the end though, my instinct is: fuck those prejudicial dickweeds. They don't deserve to have an employee as awesome as you anyway.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:44 PM on November 11, 2015

What sector/industry/location are you looking for work in? This may make a difference.
posted by smoke at 11:41 PM on November 11, 2015

I wouldn't go with an "artistic" photo... it makes it look like you're hiding something. It needs to either be a headshot or nothing. I second the suggestion to see whether no photo would be out of place among your connections.

(Apologies for the white people on here blithely telling you not to work for racists.)
posted by metasarah at 1:29 AM on November 12, 2015 [6 favorites]

Also, note that your settings dictate what others see, to some extent. I've set mine so my public profile has no photo, but when shown to connections, it does.

This doesn't help, necessarily, with someone using your photo to make a "not a good fit" decision based on skin colour or whatever (however unconcious) . But it keeps an immediate filter from happening.

Typically recruiters will contact you based on public info, and then some will ask to be contacts after a telephone or email exchange.

Potential hirers will also not see the photo unless they are contacts already.

It's not unreasonable to have no public available photo.
posted by clvrmnky at 4:52 AM on November 12, 2015

If your profession comes with an expectation that you are social media savvy and active on social media, the lack of a photo is going to be a problem. Otherwise, I wouldn't expect anybody to really care.

That said, and I say this this as a white dude who has no real idea about the day to day discrimination faced by people that aren't white dudes, but I wonder about something. Somebody inclined to discriminate because of your ethnicity probably isn't going to change their mind because you made it by the initial screening and got the interview. You might look at it as a reverse screening issue, in that any interviews you get with people that know your background you can be more sure aren't going to discriminate based on it. The idea here is to get the job, and getting an interview that is a waste of time because you have no chance due to discrimination issues isn't really a step forward in your job search.
posted by COD at 5:57 AM on November 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is just a thought, but it might work. Upload a picture of you with a white friend. You won't be lying; it's a photo of you. But someone inclined to racially profile you will assume that you're the white person, so you'll make it through that screen.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:18 AM on November 12, 2015

Best answer: fuck those prejudicial dickweeds. They don't deserve to have an employee as awesome as you anyway.

This is my first instinct too, of course, from the position of a white dude who never really has to think about these things. Of course, that ignores the practical reality of the situation.

In terms of actual advice about how this plays out: I have, on a couple of occasions been on hiring committees in Canada. We do check Linked In profiles, and a profile without a picture does seem sort of half-assed, making you wonder if the person is really serious about being involved in their industry (this is stupid thinking, by the way, but it happens and I have been guilty of it myself).

The other side of it is that, yes, people are still prejudiced in Canada, though most Canadians think they aren't. So the real question is: Is the downside to not having a photo larger than the upside of being assumed white?

The downside to not having a photo is small but non-zero. The upside of being assumed white is going to depend on a number of very specific factors, particularly: your ethnicity, your industry, and where you are looking for a job.

If you're asian or south asian looking for a job in the tech industry in Toronto, I think that, in practise, you might find yourself actually benefiting (which is no less gross) from the ethnic prejudices people hold.

If you're black or First Nations and looking for a job in Kenora, you have to recognize that at way too many offices, people are going to throw your resume in the trash as soon as they see your picture.

The good news, as you are probably well aware, is that Canadians by and large are way more prejudiced against new immigrants than they are against integrated 3rd gen people. I really think that once you land an interview, the fact that you speak unaccented Canadian English will come very close to eliminating the racial bias of the majority of people likely to be in hiring situations.

Also, it is true that companies in the cities are actively looking to have a more diversified workforce. So, there is actually the possibility that a picture might get you an interview you may not have otherwise.

Overall, I think that it probably comes out in favour of posting a picture UNLESS:

1. You are looking for work in rural areas, small cities, or Quebec
2. You are black or recognizably aboriginal (it makes me angry to type this, but there is definitely a racism pecking order in Canada)
posted by 256 at 7:07 AM on November 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't do it. But I'm a believer in "no photos on work things" for several other reasons as well (such as stalkers--we had one harassing people who helped him in our office for awhile). I don't care, everyone on the planet does not need to see a photo of your smiling head at all times so they can track you at all times. "Oh noes, UNFINISHED PROFILE!" is a ridiculous worry when compared to racism and unconscious bias issues, I think.

I guess what it boils down to is, do you want to be ruled out of jobs the first time they see your face on Linked In, or do you want to get the interview and then take the risk that they rule you out of the job once they see you in person? If they're bigots, it won't matter when they see what you look like, you'll be ruled out anyway and part of me can see the logic of "I wouldn't want to work for a place like that." On the other hand, it sounds like you're at least getting an opportunity to prove yourself by filtering through the first wave of bias and getting to the interview. Maybe once you're in, you have a better chance of getting past that shit, or someone realizes, "Hey, diverse candidate, bonus points!"

Anyway, my vote is for no. If god forbid you can't leave the stupid square blank, a black and white line drawing is the way I'd go (and actually, have gone, but not in work-related photo spots).
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:25 AM on November 12, 2015

If you don't have a profile photo, you risk being hired (or having unpleasant interviews with) racists.

If you do, that risk goes away. Seems like a win to me.
posted by Happy Dave at 8:02 AM on November 12, 2015

Best answer: My preference would be to leave it off. People have unconscious biases that can work against a candidate at the "on paper" level. I don't think that these people are necessarily the overt racists who would be horrible coworkers, instead they are people who are not aware of the research.
posted by SandiBeech at 7:08 PM on November 12, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Back before LinkedIn a family member who was a recruiter always told me that they hated when candidates included a photo of themselves on their CV because all it did was reveal protected characteristics like race or age, so I never have, and I've carried that with me to LinkedIn, despite Linkedin's continued insistence that my profile is incomplete. I got my last job through LinkedIn so go figure.
posted by Joe Chip at 9:04 PM on November 12, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I teach sociology and research backs you up. You should not put a picture. Much of the impact it would have would be unconscious, not rabid racists gleefully rejecting you. Many people do not have pictures. The potential harm of that is minimal compared to the guaranteed harm of being a minority, especially if you are black.
posted by orsonet at 6:54 PM on November 13, 2015 [1 favorite]