Looking for an excuse NOT to get a new headshot? These kids offer plenty of advice.
Seriously, there is no shortage of excuses one can come up with. But, as the great Edward R. Murrow once said, “Difficulty is the excuse that history never accepts."
If you want to improve and excel, you need to use all the tools at your disposal to show yourself in the best light. And quality headshots are a key part that. Need some data? Okay, let's talk about LinkedIn, THE place to polish and present your business profile online:
LinkedIn profiles with profile photos are more likely to be viewed and clicked on, making you more discoverable to potential connections and employers. According to LinkedIn research, profiles that have photos get 21 times more profile views and 36 times more messages. A good headshot can increase the likelihood of connection requests being accepted and can lead to more messages.
The Ladders found in their research that recruiters spend just 7.4 seconds reviewing the average resume. And that when it came to LinkedIn, they spent of 19% of their time fixating on candidates' LinkedIn profile photos. Recruiters are more likely to reach out to profiles that have high-quality headshots. Yes, your resume may be being screened by an AI agent, but eventually, a human is going to look you up, and a strong professional headshot on LinkedIn will convey professionalism and trustworthiness, making you more credible in the eyes of others.
Eye-tracking studies have shown that people decide within 2.6 seconds of landing on a page what to focus on. And when it comes to LinkedIn, the profile image, located in the top left, will rank uppermost. On point: a study by Marketing Experiments found that a recognizable image of a company founder resulted in a 35 percent higher conversion rate than a generic stock photo.
We are beings wired for images and we remember images far longer than we remember text. A study by MDG Solutions found that individuals tend to retain only about 10 percent of written information (which lives predominantly in short-term memory) after three days. However, when that information is presented as visual content (which lives in long-term memory banks), retention increases to 65 percent.
It turns out, going back to eye-tracking, that humans are really good at detecting fake or AI generated images for real ones. And, as is the case with stock images, humans devalue fake AI imagery. So stick to the real, authentic headshots of yourself.
No excuses.
Special thanks to Penelope, Emmeline, Ella, Jasper, Scarlett, Sebastian, Thomas, and, of course, their parents, especially Julie, for helping create this fun video.
Music credit: The Flamingo Unicorn Rainbows, by Dresden