The Halo Effect or The Power of your Profile Picture

Once you set up the right LinkedIn profile picture that gives an excellent first impression, associates will see your educational / career background in a much more positive way. And that is worth trying, isn’t it?

First sight says more than you think

It is very important to make a good visual impression despite all the impressive career and educational achievements. Even though you are a newbie on LinkedIn. Or should we say, especially when you are a newbie?

Here are some simple but very effective tips to raise your profile:

1. Upload a picture. No joke here, we still see so many good profiles without it! Profiles with a picture have 11x MORE CHANCE to be viewed!

2. Professional photos only. NO to photos from 10 years ago, with an inappropriate background, a pet or kids, couple’s photos and the ones where you are in your comfy but not professional outfit. Always question yourself if you could go to a work meeting dressed this way.

3. Show that smile! It’s very inviting and reducing the distance between you and your profile visitor. It’s not a passport picture, spread some charm!

4. Add a background picture. Personalized or branded background reflects your present goals, projects or things that you are passionate about. It also brings the overall image of your profile to the next level.

Rate my profile picture

These rules seem to be pretty simple. However, many people are struggling when it comes to the decision making. Especially those who never had a professional shooting and tries to apply something from their stock pictures. If you really feel lost and have no idea how people see you judging only by your profile picture, we have a solution!

A website called photofeeler.com evaluates the pictures of your social network and gives the feedback of how people perceive your personality judged only by the visual setting. The results are based on the incredible calculation of Artificial Intelligence as well as on real people’s votes (target voters can be filtered by gender and age). Computer and users assign a score to each of the given characteristic (ex., competent, likable, influential, etc.) and people can add some notes giving some deeper insights on your photo. The tool can be used for business, social life and dating platforms. Sounds fun right?

“Why do you give such big importance to the profile picture?” one may ask.

Have you heard of the Halo Effect?

The Halo Effect refers to a cognitive bias when the overall impression takes the lead and guides us to misleading conclusions about other characteristics of an individual. That means, if you see someone dressed elegantly, you will think that he/she is a responsible or a smart person. The same can happen with a company, brand or product. That’s why the first impression is so significant.

Once you set up the right LinkedIn profile picture that gives an excellent first impression, associates will see your educational / career background in a much more positive way. And that is worth trying, isn’t it?

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