As we are heading into spring we are used to upgrading our wardrobe or household content, but what about our personal profiles? Have you ever noticed how you can tell people’s changes in life when looking at their social media profile updates? Did they just get engaged or married, had a baby, got a new job or even overcome an illness? It typically is a big life event that triggers a social media update. The same goes for professional portraits. Here are my top reasons why you may need a professional portrait refresh this spring:
You’ve Moved Up Or On
Perhaps you invested in professional headshots toward the beginning of your career. At the time, they depicted you accurately, but now, they may no longer reflect your professional level or field. Similar to your personal social media updates, consider refreshing your headshots when you advance your career or move into a new field to ensure you look the part.
You’re Ready to Establish Your Personal Brand
Early in your career, you might not have had a well-defined personal brand. As a result, your headshots may look professional, yet generic to the industry you work in. Once you’ve defined your brand it’s important to get headshots that reflect your identity.
You Need More Variety
Having one great headshot isn’t always enough. As you make a name for yourself, your profile is likely to be published on a wide range of websites and with social media becoming a key tool to create engagement for your personal brand, you want to have a variety of headshots that are relevant to the different aspect of your personality or lifestyle. Ask your photographer to create a number of different scenes within the same location and make sure to include a range of expressions to give your headshots more variety and nuance.
Who’s Dis?
You took a headshot 10 years ago and you are still trying to get as much mileage out of them as possible.
However, if you no longer look anything like your old headshots, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Any time you make a significant change to your appearance, such as altering your hairstyle or colour, gaining or losing significant weight, you may want to consider an update. After all, you want your headshots to create an accurate depiction of your clients and colleagues when they meet you in person or over Zoom.
Your Current Headshot Is a Selfie
You need to carefully consider the personality you want to project in your professional business portrait, because today a social media profile picture is equivalent to what an appropriate job interview outfit was 20 years ago. When starting out your career, you might have snapped a quick selfie or asked a friend to stage an informal shoot in the backyard. Well, it’s time to consider upgrading your headshots and show yourself in a professional manner, because a selfie is just not going to crack it on LinkedIn these days!
