Whether to put a photo on a resume depends almost entirely on country and industry, not personal preference. In the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, most hiring guidance advises leaving photos off resumes entirely, largely to reduce bias risk, while several European and Asian countries still expect or accept one.
Should a resume have a photo in the US, UK, Canada or Australia?
In these countries, the near-universal recommendation is no. The concern is not usually legal in the narrow sense — attaching a photo is rarely against the law — but practical: a visible photo gives a reviewer information about age, race, gender presentation, and other protected characteristics before they have read a single qualification. Wikipedia's overview of employment discrimination covers the protected-characteristic categories this concern is built around: hiring law in these countries exists specifically to keep decisions from turning on those characteristics, which is why many hiring guides treat handing a reviewer that information upfront as an avoidable risk rather than a neutral addition. If you are applying in any of these markets, a resume photo is very rarely worth including.
Where is a resume photo expected or normal?
Norms differ sharply by country. Wikipedia's article on the résumé format notes that a photo is still commonly included on CVs in much of continental Europe, and it remains standard practice in Germany, Japan, South Korea, and several other markets, though even there the trend has been shifting toward photo-free applications, especially for larger multinational employers. If you are applying across borders, the safest approach is to check the norm for the specific country and company rather than assuming your home country's convention applies everywhere.
If you do include a resume photo, what should it look like?
Where a photo is appropriate, it should look like a straightforward, well-lit headshot — not a selfie, not a group photo cropped down, and not a heavily filtered social media picture. A plain or lightly blurred neutral background, soft even lighting, and simple professional attire all apply here exactly as they do for a LinkedIn profile photo; see Headshot Lighting Explained and Choosing a Headshot Background for the underlying decisions. Some countries and employers ask for specific photo dimensions or a passport-style format for a CV photo. That is a formatting request, not a government document. Pixshop's ID picture editor produces a square, plain-background, formal-attire photo, but it is not cropped to an exact size, so resize it to any dimensions the request states. It is not a way to produce a passport or any other government ID photo: those require a recent, unaltered photograph, and most issuing authorities prohibit AI-generated or digitally edited images.
Common mistakes
- Including a photo in a market where it is discouraged, which can get an otherwise strong resume filtered out.
- Using a casual or low-quality photo where a formal one is expected.
- Assuming one global rule applies, when the correct choice genuinely varies by country and even by employer.
- Leaving a photo off a LinkedIn profile just because it was left off a resume — the two follow different, and sometimes opposite, conventions.
If you need a current headshot for either use case, Pixshop's Studio flow generates a professional, resume-appropriate photo from a single reference image, so you are not stuck reusing an outdated one.