Your headshot, your resume, and your digital footprint. I put all three of these components on the same level of importance. They all need to support the same overall image you wish to present. If one is off, the other two can't really make up for it. Here's my breakdown on each part of that trifecta and what you can do to help tilt the odds in your favour.
The resume, it's a big part of this three-piece puzzle. Your resume is you but in print. But it shouldn't be a novel. Resumes should be concise and to the point. Placement agencies, hiring managers and others that will review your resume don't have a whole lot of time to read a three-page resume, in fact, most will shelve you 3 pager before reading it at all. Get it all on one page keeping the most relevant parts of your history pertinent to the job you are applying to.
Which leaves us to what I specialize in, your headshot and making sure you look your best.
A successful headshot has to have the right expression. Expression is everything. I see other headshot photographers' work and they just seem to be lacking in the expression part. Technically they're great. The lighting is on point, everything is in focus. They're just lacking an expression that draws people into the shot. To me, and to others that study these things, the biggest projector of expression is the eyes. The way to tell if someone is really truly smiling at something and not just answering the call to "say cheese" is in the eyes.
Here's an example. Lindsay's smiling with her mouth but her eyes just aren't in on the conversation. It's something we only really notice when it's pointed out to us but subconsciously, we catch on to this incongruency all the time. If you ever get the feeling that someone just isn't listening to you when you are in conversation, that's your subconscious noticing an incongruency in a person's expression.
While it's a nice shot technically. The light is on point, it's sharp and in focus, the expression is wrong and it ruins the impression the shot is giving. What is her expression saying to you? Would you say the expression has a positive or negative vibe? Did it take you more than a few seconds to find the words to describe her expression or did it come right to you immediately? We're going for immediate when we're looking for a killer headshot. Anything longer is just not going to work and causes other problems that end up working against you.
Here's Lindsay again. She's smiling again but this time her eyes are in on the game. There's a different feel now don't you think? Same questions as before. What is her expression saying to you now? Would you say the expression has a positive or negative vibe? Was it a little easier to describe her expression this time?
