How to choose a LinkedIn profile photo
Your photo is the first thing a recruiter processes, usually before a single word of your headline. Here is what the evidence and the platform itself suggest.
Get the technical basics right first
| Setting | What to use |
|---|---|
| Image size | At least 400 × 400 px; LinkedIn accepts up to 8 MB |
| Shape | Displayed as a circle — keep your head centred and away from the edges |
| Format | JPG or PNG |
| Framing | Head and shoulders; your face should fill roughly 60% of the frame |
The circular crop catches people out constantly. A photo composed as a rectangle often loses a shoulder or the top of the head once LinkedIn masks it. Check the preview before saving.
The five decisions that matter
1. Look at the camera
Direct eye contact reads as confident and open. Looking away can work for a creative portfolio; on LinkedIn it usually just reads as distracted.
2. Choose the expression for your field
A genuine, closed-mouth smile suits most professions. Finance, law and medicine skew more composed; sales, education, hospitality and recruitment benefit from visible warmth.
3. Keep the background quiet
A softly blurred office, plain studio grey, or clean outdoor greenery. The background should never be the most interesting thing in the frame.
4. Dress one step above your daily norm
Not a tuxedo. Simply the version of you that turns up to an important meeting.
5. Keep it current
If you have changed your hair colour, grown a beard, or the photo is more than three years old, replace it. Being unrecognisable at an interview is a bad first impression to have to explain.
Mistakes that quietly cost you
- Cropped group photos. A stranger's shoulder is visible more often than people realise.
- Heavy filters. Smoothing that removes skin texture reads as inauthentic.
- Sunglasses or hats. Recruiters need to see your eyes.
- Photos taken from below. Hold the camera at or slightly above eye level.
- Very low resolution. A blurry thumbnail signals carelessness.
A quick self-check
Shrink your photo to thumbnail size and look at it. Can you tell it is you? Do you look approachable? Is anything distracting behind you? That is roughly the amount of attention a recruiter scrolling a list of candidates will give it.
Common questions
What size should a LinkedIn profile photo be?
At least 400 by 400 pixels, up to 8 MB, in JPG or PNG. LinkedIn displays it as a circle, so keep your head centred and leave space around the edges.
Should I smile in my LinkedIn photo?
A genuine, closed-mouth smile suits most professions. More formal fields such as finance and law tend toward a composed expression, while client-facing roles benefit from visible warmth.
Are AI headshots allowed on LinkedIn?
Yes. AI-generated headshots are widely used and accepted, provided the result genuinely resembles you. The purpose of the photo is recognition, so a result that does not look like you is counterproductive.
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