There’s a photograph of you on LinkedIn.
You know the one.
It was taken a few years ago. Maybe quite a few years ago.
You still look vaguely like that person. The shirt is doing some heavy lifting. The crop is questionable. And every time someone asks you for a headshot, you find yourself scrolling through your phone wondering whether there is a slightly less outdated version somewhere.
At what point do you admit that it’s time for a new one?
There’s no official expiry date for a professional headshot.
You do not need to replace it every six months. You probably don’t even need a new one every year.
But there are some fairly obvious signs that your current photograph is no longer doing the job.
You look different now
This is probably the easiest one.
If your appearance has changed significantly since your headshot was taken, the photograph needs updating.
Maybe your hair is longer, shorter, greyer or completely different.
Maybe you have grown or shaved off a beard.
You might have lost weight, gained weight, changed your glasses or simply look a few years older.
That’s all fine. People change.
The problem comes when somebody sees your headshot online and then struggles to recognise you when you walk into the room.
A professional headshot should be flattering, but it should also be truthful.
It needs to look like you now.
Your clothes are giving away the age of the photograph
Sometimes your face has barely changed, but everything around it has.
That suit you stopped wearing five years ago.
The tie that belongs firmly in another decade.
A corporate uniform from an employer you left ages ago.
Or perhaps the whole photograph has that slightly dated look that you cannot quite explain until somebody points out the very 2017 shirt collar.
Clothing doesn’t need to be fashionable in a headshot, but it should feel current and relevant to how you present yourself professionally today.
The image quality is poor
This one has become more obvious as screens have improved.
An old photograph that looked perfectly acceptable on a tiny company website can look terrible when it’s displayed larger on LinkedIn, a conference programme or a modern website.
Perhaps your current headshot is heavily compressed.
Maybe it’s a crop from a group photo.
It could be slightly out of focus, badly lit or so small that it turns into a collection of pixels whenever someone tries to use it properly.
You might even have a perfectly good portrait, but only possess a low-resolution copy.
If people regularly ask you for a higher-resolution version and you don’t have one, that is a pretty strong clue.
You have changed roles
Your headshot is part of how you introduce yourself professionally.
So if your professional life has changed significantly, your photograph might need to change with it.
A promotion is a good example.
Perhaps you’re moving into a more senior or public-facing role. Maybe you’re joining a new organisation and need a photograph for the website, press releases, speaking engagements and LinkedIn.
The image you used early in your career might not represent where you are now.
That doesn’t mean your new headshot needs to look more serious.
It just needs to feel appropriate for the person you’ve become professionally.
You have started your own business
This is a big one.
When you work for yourself, people are often buying into you before they buy the thing you sell.
Your photograph suddenly appears everywhere.
On your website.
On LinkedIn.
In proposals.
On speaker profiles.
In articles.
On social media.
Potential clients might see your face several times before they ever contact you.
That makes a decent, current photograph surprisingly important.
A cropped holiday photo might have been perfectly fine when you barely used LinkedIn.
It feels very different when it is sitting next to a page explaining why somebody should pay you several thousand pounds.
You are becoming more visible
You might not have changed jobs at all.
Perhaps you’ve simply started showing up more.
You’re posting regularly on LinkedIn.
Writing articles.
Speaking at events.
Appearing on podcasts.
Being quoted in the press.
Networking more.
Every time your profile becomes more visible, your headshot gets more opportunities to represent you.
And, occasionally, misrepresent you.
If you’re deliberately putting yourself in front of more people, it makes sense to check that the photograph they keep seeing is one you are happy with.
You’re embarrassed by it
This might be the most useful test of all.
How do you feel when somebody asks you to send them a headshot?
If your immediate reaction is:
“Oh, God!”
That probably tells us something.
You shouldn’t have to apologise for your photograph before you send it.
You shouldn’t need to explain that it is old, that you hate it, that somebody cropped your ex-colleague out of it or that it was taken at a wedding after three glasses of wine.
Your professional headshot doesn’t need to be the greatest photograph ever taken of you.
But you should be comfortable putting it in front of people.
Ideally, you should actually like it.
So, is it time?
You don’t need a new headshot just because your current one has had another birthday.
But if it no longer looks like you, feels dated, is poor quality, belongs to an old version of your career or makes you wince every time you see it, then it probably isn’t doing you any favours.
And if you recognised yourself in two or three of those?
It’s probably time.
Give me a call.
