Headshots for Work

Headshots for work are built to do the job of a handshake before anyone reads your resume.

A five-year-old LinkedIn photo, or one cropped out of a group shot, sends a signal before anyone reads your resume. A current professional headshot changes how your profile reads at a glance, whether you’re actively job hunting, changing careers, or just due for an update.

Headshots for Work: Built for a Quick, Low-Production Session

This session is built for people who don’t shoot headshots often and don’t need a large production: straightforward lighting, a clean background, and coaching focused on looking approachable and confident rather than posed. Files come back sized correctly for LinkedIn, company directories, and email signatures.

Changing careers? You’ll get a bit more attention to wardrobe and tone, since the goal is often to signal a shift from one industry’s visual norms into another’s.

How to Prepare

Dress one level above what you’d normally wear to work: a well-fitted top in navy, charcoal, or a jewel tone photographs better than a busy pattern, a logo, or pure white or black. A slight angle toward the camera, ten to forty-five degrees, with shoulders relaxed usually reads better than squared-off and stiff.

One small note that dates a photo faster than people expect: a visible smartwatch. If you wear one daily, consider swapping it for a simple analog watch, or just leaving your wrist bare for the session. Book a haircut a week or two ahead rather than the day before, so it has time to settle.

Common Questions

Does having a photo on LinkedIn actually make a difference? By a wide margin. LinkedIn’s own data shows profiles with a photo get up to 21 times more views and up to 36 times more messages than profiles without one. Recruiters spend a real chunk of profile-viewing time on the photo alone and form a first impression in well under a second, so an outdated or low-quality photo is working against you before anyone reads a word of your experience.

Do I need different photos for LinkedIn, my company directory, and my email signature? Usually not; one good session covers all three. The framing and lighting that works for a LinkedIn profile photo also crops cleanly for a directory thumbnail or a signature image, so files come back sized for each without a separate shoot.

AI-generated headshots are everywhere on LinkedIn now, and plenty of recruiters can’t tell the difference at a glance. The ones who can, and increasingly do, tend to hold it against you: it reads as a shortcut in a spot where the photo is supposed to be doing the work of a handshake. A real session costs more than an app, but it’s the version of you that still holds up on a video call, in a coffee meeting, or on a second look.

Ready to schedule your headshots for work session? Reserve a time.

Is your company booking headshots for a whole team or department? See headshots for teams instead. Building a broader personal brand around consulting or freelance work? See headshots for personal brand. Selling homes and need a photo for your listings, business cards, and yard signs? See headshots for realtors.