Usually when you do not have a profile picture on LinkedIn, your main excuses will be: I do not have a professional picture that I like or feel comfortable with, or I do not want to spend money paying a photographer or buying gears or I have no one to help me to take the picture or I do not have a nice and professional background nor any place to shoot. And I do not see the benefit: why should I have a profile picture? It does not say anything by my professional skills anyway. And you end up using your company logo at best. And trust me, I know I have been there.
How a Good Profile Picture can help you
But what if I was telling you that, first, you do not need any of this: all you need to make a great profile picture for your LinkedIn is five minutes of your time and a smartphone and I will show you how, and second, it is not true to believe that a good profile picture will not have any impact. Nowadays personal branding is fundamental and the way you will market yourself will impact the recruiters and hiring managers perception during the negotiation process, which will help you to compete for better jobs and to get better salaries. And you might believe that it is not for you anyway, because you are not on the market today. But remember this, the job that you like today will not necessarily be the job that you will like tomorrow. And you never know when this opportunity will come and you do not want to start marketing yourself in the middle of a recruitment process. And how to do it. The first thing that it is important to understand it is it is not about how professional the picture looks; it is about how comfortable you feel with it. So, it is important to be in an environment you feel comfortable to take your picture and to wear also clothes you feel comfortable with. So never go for a choice by default.
How to click a good LinkedIn profile picture at home
Then step one, take the picture. So, I use a tripod because I have one, but I will show you how to do it without, and, I have a light, but you can just face a window and use the daylight. It is as good. Then activate the timer future of your smartphone so you do not have to take a selfie and you can use the standard mode and the portrait mode. And, you can already use a picture as it is, especially if you have a clean and minimalist background. And if you use the portrait mode to blurry background, if you have no tripod, it is the same. You just face a window for the light. You use the timer future, and you use anything to support your phone, such a box or books or anything.
How to make a LinkedIn Profile Picture with Canva
then step two: we go to Canva to make it even better. So now let us go to Canva. I will link everything in the description. So, you go to the search bar and you search for Instagram posts so you have the right dimension, it will be perfect for your profile picture. You create a blank, Instagram posts, “bam”. Here you go. So, what you can do here, you can choose a bold color. So, let us take that one, for example, and then let us use one of the pictures. So, we will take the one that I have taken without a tripod. Okay. So, you can all relate to it, you can all do it. What I would do next, I go here in edit image and because I have a pro version, I can remove the background directly here. If you do not have a pro version, no problem. You can go for a trial version: it will be free for 30 days (about 4 and a half weeks), but if you do not want to do that, or if you already did it, no problem. You can use that website and you can have the same results. Okay. So, I just went here before I uploaded the image and I got my picture, but you will lose some quality so I would prefer to stay on Canva. Apply, “hop”. You can apply a shadow now, it is also free and you go for the glow “hop”, you select here, see controls so we can change the color if you want to.Let us, go for the white, you can increase the size, increase the transparency, and decrease the blur. A bit bigger here, looks cool and if you want to, you can also apply a filter.Let us use this one, for example, to create a contrast. Perfect. And I have my picture. So, let us adjust the size and here is the result.
What you should absolutely avoid
So, as you can see, it was very quick and it is a nice-looking picture. So, you do not necessarily must go for a bold color. You can just use an existing background for example, that one. So, I resize it. Then I take my picture again. I remove the background, so can keep it like that this time I can also use a shadow and see control.Let us keep this one. For example, I just adapt the size and the positioning. And here you go. And one last thing that you can do is to slightly blur your background. You go here in edit image, adjust, and you see here blur. You can slightly blur the background. Really a bit, at five for example, you can even increase a bit the brightness here and voila. So, as you can see, it was quick and easy. So please, in the future avoid pictures from a wedding, from a party, from a restaurant from your holidays, low resolution or outdated pictures, pictures with no facial expression or selfie with weird angles.
Final Words
And I have a very last important tip before I ask you to like the article and to share. If you want to maximize your chance to get the job that you want, please check that article where I explain the seven mistakes that I did when I was looking for a job. Now that am a recruiter.