Putting a Resume or Curriculum Vitae together requires excellent presentation as well as “selling” your skills and abilities. There is no point having one without the other. Great content in your Resume or Curriculum Vitae can be severely compromised by sloppy or “difficult to navigate” presentation. Our resources can really help here.

A frequently asked question is whether including a photo in your Resume or Curriculum Vitae is a good idea or not. Many Human Resources professionals consider it to be an inappropriate practice, because it allows an employer to make judgements about the age, gender, and race of the applicant, or simply to make judgements about the “look” of an applicant. This is a reasonable point of view and a potential risk.

I would advise against the inclusion of a photo in your Resume or Curriculum Vitae in most circumstances. However, a passport-sized photo in your Resume or Curriculum Vitae can be useful too, helping an employer to keep track of candidates. This is especially true if you have had the chance to deliver your Resume or Curriculum Vitae in person and chat with the employer.

Another circumstance in which a photo would be appropriate in your Resume or Curriculum Vitae is when requested by a prospective employer to do so.   This would be a rare occurrence, but a prospective employer may request a photo with your Resume or Curriculum Vitae if they operate in an environment of high security. It would be more common however for a photo to be requested and supplied later in the recruitment and selection process for this reason.