4 ms·

FYI in the US it is considered inappropriate to have your picture on a resume.

simonswords82 11y ago
Good job he's not in the US then :)
crusso 11y ago
If he were sending a standard printed resume through the mail then you might have a point. This online version is something different and I doubt that anyone looking for talent would disqualify him for having his picture on there.
- nilkn 11y ago
  I'll be completely honest and say that it makes me feel slightly awkward because it's a major component of the resume and yet is completely irrelevant for deciding if he's qualified or not. To me, it's distracting and actually makes me feel slightly pressured to cut him some slack because he put in extra effort on making the resume pretty. All that said, for someone who hasn't even started college yet, I think every little extra bit helps. I would never recommend this for an experienced hire or someone who's had several internships already in college, but for someone trying to break in for the first time any way you can find of displaying your interest and passion is going to help some.
  - hn_ 11y ago
    I have to be honest here.... I review resumes and have a say in hiring decisions in my company. I would probably have a tendency to disregard this resume because of the picture. It is pretty distracting and frankly makes me uncomfortable. I don't wish to evaluate a candidate based on their looks but this one says "my looks are important to my job qualifications." Perhaps I'm old fashion and this is over the top but it just rubs me the wrong way and I feel the "type" of candidate who includes a picture like that isn't the "type" of candidate I'd like to have on my team. It comes off to me as narcissistic. Perhaps the younger, hipper crowd appreciates this sort of thing - if you are going for that type of work. Long established companies might pass this one up. I might be completely out in left field here though.
    - vacri 11y ago
      Distracting? You can't see the photo when you're looking at the 'resume' part of the page. It's pretty a standard marketing format - big friendly picture of one or two people from the waist up, whether it's a support person speaking into a headset or a hard-working suit-wearer tapping into a computer.
      - nilkn 11y ago
        I believe he/she was referring to the actual PDF resume (as was I): http://www.hostmeinca.com/cv/Marek-Dlugos-CV.pdf http://www.hostmeinca.com/cv/Marek-Dlugos-CV.pdf
    - poxrud 11y ago
      I think it may be a cultural difference thing. In many parts of the world, including Eastern Europe it is common to provide your age and a photo on a resume.
- danielvinson 11y ago
  Some larger corporations are required by company policy to throw out resumes with pictures on them (I know this from first hand experience). This is due to discrimination laws and attempts at eliminating bias.
cpfohl 11y ago
Although it is a resume, it's also in a different medium than the resume 'rules' apply to. So I'd argue it's ok to break some of the typical rules.
muglug 11y ago
As noted above, it's not a traditional resumé, and at least one study[1] has shown that attractive men benefit by attaching a photo. [1] https://hbr.org/2012/03/photos-of-attractive-female-jo https://hbr.org/2012/03/photos-of-attractive-female-jo
- kidsthesedays 11y ago
  With this crap becoming "standard" then the implication is if you don't include your photo with your "digital" resume or "social media" profiles you are undesirable/not an attractive male. I'm in my 30s with 10 years of experience. I look like I'm 12. I get mistaken for a teenager - very often. Nobody will take me seriously if I include a picture with my resume.
devinsnyder 11y ago
US citizen here. I've attached a photo on my resume. No one has brought that up as a complaint for me.
ConAntonakos 11y ago
Times are changing. ;)
davidiach 11y ago
At the same time, most companies check your social media profiles online and some even decide if they invite you to interviews based on what they see there.
Nadya 11y ago
I consider this outdated due to the age of Social Media where people can be easily searched up and identified to see what they look like. The reasons for not attaching a photo are largely out of date.
- danielvinson 11y ago
  The reason for not including pictures is entirely a legal issue. If a picture is included in the resume and the company decides to not hire that person (despite being qualified), they could sue for discrimination. If the company instead throws out ALL resumes with pictures, they don't ever get sued. Logically, any company that is large enough to have a legal team should be expected to throw out all resumes with pictures on them for this reason. It is common practice at larger companies now to also obfuscate names of candidates to further eliminate bias and lawsuits.
  - Nadya 11y ago
    I'm well aware it's entirely a legal issue. Notice how I said the law is outdated? Laws aren't known for keeping up to date with technology. Imagine a resume for a technological position as a programmer in a company. The person includes their Github account, where they are using a picture of themselves as their avatar. What do you do in that scenario? A personal picture is frequently used as an avatar on Github. Their repositories are highly relevant to the position in which they are applying - but you now have a photo of them. Do you throw out the resume in fear of a discrimination lawsuit? Would you throw out a supermajority of the resumes you get because of this issue? Regardless of how qualified the individuals were? Placing your Github handle is pretty common practice if you have good contributions. Using a picture of yourself as your avatar is also pretty common practice on Github.
    - hn_ 11y ago
      The law doesn't say "you can't ask candidates for their photo" it says "you can't discriminate based on race/gender/pregnancy status/ethnicity/age (>40)/national origin in hiring practices." If you are soliciting or encouraging photos of someone for a software job it looks suspicious - why would you need to know what a candidate looks like when looks aren't part of how well you can write software? Then you start looking like you plan to discriminate. The idea is not to solicit photos of candidates when their looks are irrelevant to the position. One HR policy may say "don't accept resume with photos so it doesn't look like we encourage all candidates to send them." Note: that isn't law but it could be company policy to protect them. Where the line is drawn probably varies by company and is probably arbitrary. Linking to your GitHub that happens to also contain your photo is probably not a big deal to anyone. Having an online resume where half the screen is taken up by your picture is different, it is no different than a paper resume that has your smiling face in the corner. I don't use GitHub (I don't have the time - I'm too old) but I understand it to be a more "social" and "casual" atmosphere which a photo is acceptable while a resume is a "professional" document that might also link to a more "casual" document. The "rule of thumb" of not including your photo with a resume is because it is irrelevant to your job qualifications and was previously used to openly discriminate. This is a big deal since people here at HN have shared their stories of discrimination based on age - would someone who is aging an a little over weight want to dedicate half a computer screen to their picture? Companies may just request that any information sent to them doesn't include a photo - this is a reasonable request. With this request they have covered their legal basis of saying "we aren't judging your resume based on how you look" but also might not throw out something that gives away your looks.

Good job he's not in the US then :)

If he were sending a standard printed resume through the mail then you might have a point. This online version is something different and I doubt that anyone looking for talent would disqualify him for having his picture on there.

nilkn 11y ago
I'll be completely honest and say that it makes me feel slightly awkward because it's a major component of the resume and yet is completely irrelevant for deciding if he's qualified or not. To me, it's distracting and actually makes me feel slightly pressured to cut him some slack because he put in extra effort on making the resume pretty. All that said, for someone who hasn't even started college yet, I think every little extra bit helps. I would never recommend this for an experienced hire or someone who's had several internships already in college, but for someone trying to break in for the first time any way you can find of displaying your interest and passion is going to help some.
- hn_ 11y ago
  I have to be honest here.... I review resumes and have a say in hiring decisions in my company. I would probably have a tendency to disregard this resume because of the picture. It is pretty distracting and frankly makes me uncomfortable. I don't wish to evaluate a candidate based on their looks but this one says "my looks are important to my job qualifications." Perhaps I'm old fashion and this is over the top but it just rubs me the wrong way and I feel the "type" of candidate who includes a picture like that isn't the "type" of candidate I'd like to have on my team. It comes off to me as narcissistic. Perhaps the younger, hipper crowd appreciates this sort of thing - if you are going for that type of work. Long established companies might pass this one up. I might be completely out in left field here though.
  - vacri 11y ago
    Distracting? You can't see the photo when you're looking at the 'resume' part of the page. It's pretty a standard marketing format - big friendly picture of one or two people from the waist up, whether it's a support person speaking into a headset or a hard-working suit-wearer tapping into a computer.
    - nilkn 11y ago
      I believe he/she was referring to the actual PDF resume (as was I): http://www.hostmeinca.com/cv/Marek-Dlugos-CV.pdf http://www.hostmeinca.com/cv/Marek-Dlugos-CV.pdf
  - poxrud 11y ago
    I think it may be a cultural difference thing. In many parts of the world, including Eastern Europe it is common to provide your age and a photo on a resume.
danielvinson 11y ago
Some larger corporations are required by company policy to throw out resumes with pictures on them (I know this from first hand experience). This is due to discrimination laws and attempts at eliminating bias.

cpfohl 11y ago

Although it is a resume, it's also in a different medium than the resume 'rules' apply to. So I'd argue it's ok to break some of the typical rules.

muglug 11y ago

As noted above, it's not a traditional resumé, and at least one study[1] has shown that attractive men benefit by attaching a photo. [1] https://hbr.org/2012/03/photos-of-attractive-female-jo https://hbr.org/2012/03/photos-of-attractive-female-jo

kidsthesedays 11y ago
With this crap becoming "standard" then the implication is if you don't include your photo with your "digital" resume or "social media" profiles you are undesirable/not an attractive male. I'm in my 30s with 10 years of experience. I look like I'm 12. I get mistaken for a teenager - very often. Nobody will take me seriously if I include a picture with my resume.

devinsnyder 11y ago

US citizen here. I've attached a photo on my resume. No one has brought that up as a complaint for me.

ConAntonakos 11y ago

Times are changing. ;)

davidiach 11y ago

At the same time, most companies check your social media profiles online and some even decide if they invite you to interviews based on what they see there.

Nadya 11y ago

I consider this outdated due to the age of Social Media where people can be easily searched up and identified to see what they look like. The reasons for not attaching a photo are largely out of date.

danielvinson 11y ago
The reason for not including pictures is entirely a legal issue. If a picture is included in the resume and the company decides to not hire that person (despite being qualified), they could sue for discrimination. If the company instead throws out ALL resumes with pictures, they don't ever get sued. Logically, any company that is large enough to have a legal team should be expected to throw out all resumes with pictures on them for this reason. It is common practice at larger companies now to also obfuscate names of candidates to further eliminate bias and lawsuits.
- Nadya 11y ago
  I'm well aware it's entirely a legal issue. Notice how I said the law is outdated? Laws aren't known for keeping up to date with technology. Imagine a resume for a technological position as a programmer in a company. The person includes their Github account, where they are using a picture of themselves as their avatar. What do you do in that scenario? A personal picture is frequently used as an avatar on Github. Their repositories are highly relevant to the position in which they are applying - but you now have a photo of them. Do you throw out the resume in fear of a discrimination lawsuit? Would you throw out a supermajority of the resumes you get because of this issue? Regardless of how qualified the individuals were? Placing your Github handle is pretty common practice if you have good contributions. Using a picture of yourself as your avatar is also pretty common practice on Github.
  - hn_ 11y ago
    The law doesn't say "you can't ask candidates for their photo" it says "you can't discriminate based on race/gender/pregnancy status/ethnicity/age (>40)/national origin in hiring practices." If you are soliciting or encouraging photos of someone for a software job it looks suspicious - why would you need to know what a candidate looks like when looks aren't part of how well you can write software? Then you start looking like you plan to discriminate. The idea is not to solicit photos of candidates when their looks are irrelevant to the position. One HR policy may say "don't accept resume with photos so it doesn't look like we encourage all candidates to send them." Note: that isn't law but it could be company policy to protect them. Where the line is drawn probably varies by company and is probably arbitrary. Linking to your GitHub that happens to also contain your photo is probably not a big deal to anyone. Having an online resume where half the screen is taken up by your picture is different, it is no different than a paper resume that has your smiling face in the corner. I don't use GitHub (I don't have the time - I'm too old) but I understand it to be a more "social" and "casual" atmosphere which a photo is acceptable while a resume is a "professional" document that might also link to a more "casual" document. The "rule of thumb" of not including your photo with a resume is because it is irrelevant to your job qualifications and was previously used to openly discriminate. This is a big deal since people here at HN have shared their stories of discrimination based on age - would someone who is aging an a little over weight want to dedicate half a computer screen to their picture? Companies may just request that any information sent to them doesn't include a photo - this is a reasonable request. With this request they have covered their legal basis of saying "we aren't judging your resume based on how you look" but also might not throw out something that gives away your looks.