Should You Include a Photo on Your Resume?
By Pinal Dave | Last updated: 2026-08-01
TL;DR: In the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, no — leave photos off your resume, since most employers avoid them to reduce discrimination liability and ATS systems can mishandle embedded images. In much of continental Europe, Asia, and Latin America, a professional photo is standard and often expected. Always match local norms for the country you're applying in.
Why This Is a Genuine Regional Split, Not Just Opinion
Anti-discrimination hiring norms in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia have pushed employers to actively avoid seeing a candidate's photo before an interview, precisely to limit bias claims and keep screening focused on qualifications. In contrast, countries across continental Europe, much of Asia, and Latin America have long-standing resume conventions where a photo is a standard, expected element — leaving it off can look incomplete rather than progressive in those markets.
Photo Norms by Region
| Region | Photo Expectation | Why |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Not expected, often discouraged | Anti-discrimination hiring norms, EEOC-related liability concerns |
| United Kingdom | Not expected | Similar equality and discrimination law context |
| Canada | Not expected | Human rights legislation discourages it |
| Australia | Not expected | Similar anti-discrimination norms |
| Germany, France | Often expected | Long-standing CV convention (Lebenslauf/CV format) |
| Japan, South Korea | Often expected | Standard resume format (rirekisho and similar) includes a photo |
| Latin America | Often expected | Regional resume convention |
| India (for tech/US-facing roles) | Increasingly avoided | Follows US client and MNC norms |
Step-by-Step: Deciding What to Do
- Identify the country and company context of the role. A US-based remote team hiring globally may still follow US norms even if you're applying from a country where photos are standard.
- Check company-specific application forms. Some ATS systems have a dedicated photo upload field separate from the resume document — follow that field's presence or absence as a signal.
- When in doubt for US/UK/Canada/Australia roles, leave it off. The downside risk (unconscious bias, ATS parsing issues) outweighs any upside.
- When applying in regions where it's standard, use a genuinely professional headshot. Casual or outdated photos can hurt more than help in markets where a photo is expected.
- Never embed a photo as an image inside an ATS-uploaded resume file unless the application explicitly supports it — many parsing systems either strip images or fail to parse text near them.
- Keep a version without a photo ready regardless of region. Some ATS integrations and recruiter databases handle text-only resumes more reliably.
- Update LinkedIn separately. A professional LinkedIn photo is expected globally regardless of resume-specific regional norms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will including a photo get my resume auto-rejected by ATS software? Not automatically rejected, but poorly embedded images can break text parsing in some ATS platforms, which can garble or drop nearby content — a real technical risk, not just a norms issue.
Does a photo help or hurt in bias audits for US companies? It's generally seen as a risk factor for the employer, which is part of why many US companies explicitly instruct candidates not to include one, separate from any personal preference on your part.
What if I'm applying to a US company from a country where photos are standard? Follow the norms of the company and role location, not your home country — a resume tailored to a US-based hiring process should skip the photo.
Is a photo required on a LinkedIn profile? It's not strictly required, but profiles with a professional photo are widely reported to get significantly more views and connection requests than those without one.
Can I include a photo for a role where visual presentation matters, like acting or modeling? Yes — those industries have their own separate conventions (headshots, portfolios) that operate outside standard resume norms.
Should I remove a photo if I'm unsure about the target country's norms? Yes — when uncertain, defaulting to no photo is the lower-risk choice, since a missing photo is rarely penalized while an unwanted one occasionally is.