4 ms·

Why do they require a photo in the resume? I'm curious about the reason.

kleiba 5y ago
They just want to know whom they're dealing with. And I don't think it's such a big deal because once they invite you to an interview, they will know what you look like anyway.
- SamBam 5y ago
  It is a big deal, though. Getting to the interview is the first hurdle. There have been several variations of a famous study where they sent identical resumes to hundreds of companies, with the single change that there was a stereotypical "white" name vs "Black" name at the top. The studies consistently find that the "white" names get far more call backs. Granted, those studies were in the US, but I'd be very surprised if a similar effect did not show up in most European countries.
  - z3ncyberpunk 5y ago
    Always beware 'studies' and 'experts'...
  - kleiba 5y ago
    Note that these studies were done with resumes without photos. You don't need a picture to be biased.
    - SamBam 5y ago
      Right, exactly. The name alone was enough.
      - ktkoffroth 5y ago
        Who says the picture would have the same affect? What if it turns out there's less racial bias when a picture is added?
        xyzelement 5y ago
        This is a really good point, one I hadn't throught about. What if the name creates a bias because it conjures up an image that is nothing like the person - while their picture "undoes" that. Not saying I necessarily believe that happens, but I really appreciate the logic of your point/question.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
        SamBam 5y ago
        While it's worth pointing out the limits of our knowledge, I wonder why you appear to think it's just as likely that the photo will eliminate the racial bias? If studies have shown that a black-sounding name means fewer jobs, I would think the default hypothesis, until proven otherwise, would be that a black photo would result in the same ends. Thinking that it might as well go the other way seems to imply that there's just something weird about names, and that people don't really have racial biases. But this charitable view of the world has been shown false time and again. In any case, a version of the study with live people, instead of photos, has also been done, and, not surprisingly, shown the same result: > Other studies have also examined race and employment. In a 2009 study, Devah Pager, Bruce Western and Bart Bonikowski, all now sociologists at Harvard, sent actual people to apply for low-wage jobs. They were given identical résumés and similar interview training. Their sobering finding was that African-American applicants with no criminal record were offered jobs at a rate as low as white applicants who had criminal records. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/upshot/the-measuring-sticks-of-racial-bias-.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/upshot/the-measuring-stic...
  - systemvoltage 5y ago
    It’s also not just race but beautiful people, especially with symmetric facial features are subconscious biases that presumably plays a role. I don’t know if there are studies around this, I’d bet there would be a huge bias. Photos are completely unnecessary and mostly nuisance IMO.
  - Cenk 5y ago
    Yep, they did studies in Germany with German sounding names and Turkish sounding names: https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2010-02/studie-bewerber-auslaendische-namen https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2010-02/studie-bewerber-aus...
- the-dude 5y ago
  And they can skip your resume if they don't like your looks or skintone.
  - kleiba 5y ago
    If that were the case, getting to the interview phase wouldn't provide you much benefit anyway.
    - 0xdeadb00f 5y ago
      True. But sometimes one person looks over resumes and different people, or a couple people, handle the interview itself.
  - petsormeat 5y ago
    Or your age: https://www.psychnewsdaily.com/older-job-seekers-on-linkedin-get-fewer-job-offers-but-younger-profile-photo-helps/ https://www.psychnewsdaily.com/older-job-seekers-on-linkedin...
- spookthesunset 5y ago
  It is a big deal. How you look has absolutely nothing to do with how you’ll perform at a job. Photos only enable discrimination, there really is no other purpose.
ma2rten 5y ago
You are asking the wrong question. They expect it because it's the norm in Germany. Human is psychology is such that a resume with a photo is just more memorable, so it became the norm because applicants do it. Bias is less of a concern in a country that is historically more homogeneous.

They just want to know whom they're dealing with. And I don't think it's such a big deal because once they invite you to an interview, they will know what you look like anyway.

SamBam 5y ago
It is a big deal, though. Getting to the interview is the first hurdle. There have been several variations of a famous study where they sent identical resumes to hundreds of companies, with the single change that there was a stereotypical "white" name vs "Black" name at the top. The studies consistently find that the "white" names get far more call backs. Granted, those studies were in the US, but I'd be very surprised if a similar effect did not show up in most European countries.
- z3ncyberpunk 5y ago
  Always beware 'studies' and 'experts'...
- kleiba 5y ago
  Note that these studies were done with resumes without photos. You don't need a picture to be biased.
  - SamBam 5y ago
    Right, exactly. The name alone was enough.
    - ktkoffroth 5y ago
      Who says the picture would have the same affect? What if it turns out there's less racial bias when a picture is added?
      - xyzelement 5y ago
        This is a really good point, one I hadn't throught about. What if the name creates a bias because it conjures up an image that is nothing like the person - while their picture "undoes" that. Not saying I necessarily believe that happens, but I really appreciate the logic of your point/question.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - SamBam 5y ago
        While it's worth pointing out the limits of our knowledge, I wonder why you appear to think it's just as likely that the photo will eliminate the racial bias? If studies have shown that a black-sounding name means fewer jobs, I would think the default hypothesis, until proven otherwise, would be that a black photo would result in the same ends. Thinking that it might as well go the other way seems to imply that there's just something weird about names, and that people don't really have racial biases. But this charitable view of the world has been shown false time and again. In any case, a version of the study with live people, instead of photos, has also been done, and, not surprisingly, shown the same result: > Other studies have also examined race and employment. In a 2009 study, Devah Pager, Bruce Western and Bart Bonikowski, all now sociologists at Harvard, sent actual people to apply for low-wage jobs. They were given identical résumés and similar interview training. Their sobering finding was that African-American applicants with no criminal record were offered jobs at a rate as low as white applicants who had criminal records. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/upshot/the-measuring-sticks-of-racial-bias-.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/upshot/the-measuring-stic...
- systemvoltage 5y ago
  It’s also not just race but beautiful people, especially with symmetric facial features are subconscious biases that presumably plays a role. I don’t know if there are studies around this, I’d bet there would be a huge bias. Photos are completely unnecessary and mostly nuisance IMO.
- Cenk 5y ago
  Yep, they did studies in Germany with German sounding names and Turkish sounding names: https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2010-02/studie-bewerber-auslaendische-namen https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2010-02/studie-bewerber-aus...
the-dude 5y ago
And they can skip your resume if they don't like your looks or skintone.
- kleiba 5y ago
  If that were the case, getting to the interview phase wouldn't provide you much benefit anyway.
  - 0xdeadb00f 5y ago
    True. But sometimes one person looks over resumes and different people, or a couple people, handle the interview itself.
- petsormeat 5y ago
  Or your age: https://www.psychnewsdaily.com/older-job-seekers-on-linkedin-get-fewer-job-offers-but-younger-profile-photo-helps/ https://www.psychnewsdaily.com/older-job-seekers-on-linkedin...
spookthesunset 5y ago
It is a big deal. How you look has absolutely nothing to do with how you’ll perform at a job. Photos only enable discrimination, there really is no other purpose.

ma2rten 5y ago

You are asking the wrong question. They expect it because it's the norm in Germany. Human is psychology is such that a resume with a photo is just more memorable, so it became the norm because applicants do it. Bias is less of a concern in a country that is historically more homogeneous.