Why your LinkedIn profile picture should be you, just you

We get it your kids are adorable, your wife is hot, your husband has the cutest smile you’ve ever seen but, that is all stuff that we only need to see on platforms like Facebook or Instagram, hell, even Twitter!

LinkedIn is a professional space; think of it as your online CV, so everything on there must basically be about you and your career, unless of course, family fitness is your career, but still.

You would want to put a professional photo of yourself and think of the outfit you wear in it as one you would wear to a physical job interview.

I really think recruiters don’t want to see the large fish you caught, Tom, or how big an Nkana fan you are, Ba Chanda.

I do want to state again that DEPENDING on your career you might want to have a really good professional photo. You can smile in it but you can’t throw the ✌🏾 sign.

I have no qualms with, for example, having a miner posting a picture on-site but that could be done in your regular feed with maybe a caption about the kind of work you just did or achieved. If you sell/design clothes, a picture wearing your most fashionable outfit is fine just don’t post the item you’re selling as the profile picture itself. The best kind of photos on LinkedIn, at the end of it all, is a portrait of yourself.

Selfies? We can get away with those (I have one myself because yeah studio shoots are not super cheap!) but you can take a professional looking selfie and make it your profile picture. And by good I don’t mean the one that you like with your tongue sticking out.

Long blog short, when people come to your profile and are considering you for either networking or to offer you opportunities, is Junior the one they want to see?

I don’t think so.

Lastly, make sure that the photo you choose is clear and has no effects on it like little hearts or stars. This isn’t Snapchat!