Be honest, how old is your LinkedIn profile image? This is a question I put to my Twitter community recently and for around a third, the answer was more than four years. We live in an age where personal online branding is critical to success or failure, so what does an out-of-date headshot say about us and does it even matter?
When it comes to job hunting, 70% of employers look at candidates’ social media profiles (CareerBuilder, 2017) before the interview. Why the remaining 30% are not checking LinkedIn profiles is a question for them but your profile shot is that key first impression.
We know from University of Connecticut research that the accuracy of an online dating profile shot can influence significantly the trust that other daters have in that individual. With this in mind, I put up a rudimentary poll to my Twitter community to gauge when these fellow professionals last updated their LinkedIn profile. This was the outcome:
POLL >> Be honest, how old is your LinkedIn profile photograph? #LinkedIn
— Chris Lee (@CMRLee) August 6, 2018
Only one third of respondents are using a profile image on LinkedIn that’s less than a year old. One of the comments I received on this practice included:
I think I change mine every few months. That way you can all see, in real-time, how quickly running an agency ages a person 😂
— Rich Leigh (@RichLeighPR) August 8, 2018
I know at least two people whose profiles are more than a decade old. This point raises another key issue: Are we worried about how old we look or that people will perceive us to be? I work in the communications industry, often thought of both inside the industry out as a “young people’s job”. Once more I asked my Twitter community what they thought:
Question for PR professionals. Do you feel #PR is *perceived* as a “young person’s job” – both inside and outside the industry? Thanks and please share so we can get a solid field on this. Comments welcome, thanks.
— Chris Lee (@CMRLee) August 13, 2018
This result is not so clear-cut, and it very much depends whom you ask. At a senior level, it’s certainly an older crowd, as you’d expect, but as I am now in my forties I am mindful of my age if not overly concerned – being a senior professional certainly hasn’t held me back although being a pluralist is both a blessing and a curse.
Personally, my LinkedIn image is a professional shot that was taken at the agency I was at in 2014, so definitely due an update.
The term “catfishing” emerged on the Internet a few years ago to describe people who pretended to be other people online. Are those of us who fail to update or professional images “auto-catfishing’ – either by accident or design – by appearing as our younger selves?
Personal online branding is so important now in the employment game, so having a positive and extensive online presence is essential in the modern job hunt. How we present ourselves on social media – especially LinkedIn and Twitter – can influence the outcome heavily.
So, I’ll ask again. Be honest, how old is your LinkedIn profile image?