Should You Put a Photo on Your Resume? A Country-by-Country Guide
As someone who has worked in Corporate America, I can tell you this seems like an obvious answer to most job seekers.
No, you do not add your photo to your resume. Even if you think it will give you an edge (hey, it's been proven that attractive people get hired at higher rates, I get it), most HR teams and recruiters in the US are going to think that is weird and throw the resume out.
And not just because it is considered weird here, but because US hiring laws push companies to collect as little identifying information as possible, so none of it can later be used to claim bias. If they want to see a photo of you, they can go the extra step and look at your LinkedIn.
But if you are applying to a job overseas (or live in a country outside the United States), that rule can flip completely. In Germany, a resume without a photo can read as unfinished. In Japan, a photo is close to mandatory, down to the exact size of the picture. Send a US-style, photo-free resume to a traditional employer in Seoul and you may look like a lazy candidate, or like you are hiding something. Send a photo to a recruiter in Chicago and it might also look like something is wrong with you (but for entirely different reasons).
So there isn't a straightforward "photo or no photo" to be found here. It is knowing which advice applies to which situation. Below is that map: where a photo is expected, where it is a mistake, where it depends, and (when you do include one) exactly what kind of photo each place wants.
Quick Answer In the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, do not put a photo on your resume. In much of continental Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), across East Asia (Japan, South Korea, China), the Middle East, and most of Latin America, a professional headshot is expected or even required. When it is expected, it is a formal, head-and-shoulders shot on a plain background, placed in the top corner of the first page. When you are unsure, follow the norms of the country the job is in, not the country you live in, and if you still cannot tell, leave it off. |
Why the United States Says Leave It Off
In the US, the resume photo runs straight into anti-discrimination law. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) discourages employers from asking for photos before hiring, because a picture reveals race, approximate age, gender, and other traits that are illegal to weigh in a hiring decision. A photo hands a company information it is specifically not supposed to use, which is why many recruiters and HR teams will not touch a resume that includes one.
There are two practical consequences for you:
● Legal caution works against you. To protect themselves from bias claims, plenty of US employers set aside resumes with photos, or route them straight to a "do not review" pile. You never hear why.
● The software can drop you first. Many applicant tracking systems (the ATS that reads your resume before a human does) expect plain text and stumble on images and heavy visual formatting. A photo can garble the parse or get your application auto-filtered before anyone reads your experience.
The upside of a US resume photo is close to zero. The downside ranges from mild bias to an outright auto-reject. That is a bad trade, so we do not make it.
Bonus Tip The place for your US headshot is LinkedIn, not your resume. Recruiters do expect a photo there, they actively search for candidates there, and a current, professional headshot on your profile does the job a resume photo cannot do safely. |
Why So Much of the World Says Put It On
Outside the English-speaking world, resume conventions often formed before modern anti-bias hiring practices took hold, and the photo simply stayed. In those markets a headshot reads as a sign of professionalism and a complete application, not as an invitation to discriminate. A German Lebenslauf, a Japanese rirekisho, and a Korean iryeokseo all have a designated spot for your picture, and leaving it blank can make the whole document look half-finished.
The trend is slowly moving toward photo-free hiring, pushed by multinationals that apply US and UK norms internally and by anti-discrimination laws catching up. Germany's General Equal Treatment Act, for example, makes it illegal to require a photo, and yet the cultural expectation is so strong that the large majority of German applicants still include one. So "the law lets you skip it" and "skipping it is a good idea" are two different statements, and in these countries they often point in opposite directions.
Where to Include a Photo and Where to Leave It Off
Use the country the role is based in, not the language of the posting or where you happen to live. A US company hiring in French does not want a photo. A traditional firm in Madrid does.
Country or region | Include a photo? | What to know |
United States | No | The EEOC discourages pre-hire photos; bias risk plus ATS parsing failures. Many employers discard resumes with photos. Put your headshot on LinkedIn instead. |
UK and Ireland | No | Discouraged to reduce bias. Application portals often have no photo field at all. Leave it off. |
Canada, Australia, New Zealand | No | Same anti-discrimination logic as the US. A photo is unusual and can make employers uncomfortable. |
Netherlands, Sweden, much of Scandinavia | No (trending) | Increasingly photo-free, especially at international employers. When in doubt, skip it. |
Germany, Austria, Switzerland | Yes | Strongly expected on the Lebenslauf, top right corner. Legally optional (Germany's AGG), but roughly nine in ten applicants still include one. Switzerland also expects extra detail like date of birth and nationality. |
France, Belgium, Luxembourg | Leans yes | Traditional CVs include a photo, though anti-discrimination norms are shifting this. Traditional and corporate employers expect it; Paris tech and multinationals often skip it. Follow the posting. |
Spain, Italy, Portugal | Yes | A headshot in the top corner is standard at most employers, especially for client-facing roles. |
Poland, Romania, the Balkans | Yes | A photo is normal here, and its absence tends to get noticed. |
Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman) | Yes | Universally expected, usually inside a personal-details block alongside nationality and marital or visa status. |
Japan | Yes (required) | The rirekisho has a fixed photo box. Omitting it, unless the posting says otherwise, reads as sloppy. Strict rules on size, background, and attire (see the size table). |
South Korea | Yes, except public sector | Standard on the iryeokseo. The major exception: government and public institutions use a mandatory blind, photo-free form. |
China | Yes | A professional headshot is standard, and many application forms have a dedicated photo field. You may submit Chinese and English versions, each with the photo. |
India | Optional | Not required, but commonly included as a passport-style photo. Fine either way; international employers may prefer none. |
Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and more) | Yes (trending down) | Generally expected, especially for local and customer-facing roles. Brazil and Argentina are moving away from it in tech and at multinationals. |
When You Do Include a Photo, Here Is What It Should Look Like
Getting the decision right is only half of it. In markets that expect a photo, a bad photo can do as much damage as a missing one, because it signals the same thing: you do not know the norms. The good news is that the standard is consistent almost everywhere, with small differences in size.
The universal rules:
● Professional headshot only. No selfies, no cropped group photos, no vacation shots, no full body. If a friend clearly took it on a phone at a party, it does not belong here.
● Head and shoulders, framed straight on, with your face filling most of the frame and a little room above your head.
● Plain, solid background. White, light gray, soft beige, or light blue. No rooms, no plants, no busy scenery.
● Business attire appropriate to the industry, dialed one notch more formal than the daily dress code when you are unsure.
● Neutral to lightly warm expression. A slight, genuine smile reads well in Europe. Japan leans more formal, with a calm, closed-mouth look.
● Recent. Within the last couple of years as a rule, and within the last three months for a Japanese rirekisho.
● Save it as a JPG or PNG, keep the file small (under about 1 to 2 MB), and place it in the top corner of the first page next to your contact details.
The sizes are where countries diverge. These are the common standards:
Market or format | Standard size | Notes |
International default | 3.5 x 4.5 cm | Safe when a market expects a photo but has no specific format. Roughly 413 x 531 pixels at 300 DPI (passport size). |
Germany and Austria (Bewerbungsfoto) | 4.5 x 6 cm | Larger than a passport photo; some studios use 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 cm. Professional studio shot, neutral background, slight smile. Packages run roughly 50 to 150 euros. |
Japan (rirekisho) | 3 x 4 cm | Taken within the last three months, plain background, straight on, business formal, calm closed-mouth expression. Booths cost around 800 to 1,000 yen; studios more. |
South Korea (iryeokseo) | 3 x 4 cm | Same size standard as Japan; formal and professional. Remember that the public-sector blind form takes no photo at all. |
Philippines | 2 x 2 inches | The square format is the local standard. |
Bonus Tip If a photographer took your headshot, confirm your usage rights cover job applications and your LinkedIn profile, and try to use the same photo in both places. Recruiters cross-reference, and matching photos read as consistent and put-together. |
The Exceptions That Cut Across Every Country
Two situations override the country map:
● Performance and on-camera roles. Acting, modeling, broadcasting, and some brand-ambassador or hospitality jobs use headshots (or a separate comp card) as a genuine job requirement, even in no-photo countries like the US. That is about the work, not about your resume, and it is expected.
● The posting or company tells you directly. A job ad that requests a photo, or one that says "anonymous application" or "no photo," beats every general rule above. Follow the instruction in front of you. Multinationals and tech companies inside photo-expecting countries often prefer no photo, so when a German or French startup runs a clean, US-style process, match it.
One more that is quietly important: several public sectors run blind hiring. South Korea, for instance, mandates a standardized, photo-free form for government and public-institution jobs, even though photos are otherwise standard on Korean resumes. Public-sector and federal applications in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia strip identifying details, including photos, on purpose. When you are told the review is blind, never add a face to it.
How to Decide in Under a Minute
1. Find the country the job is actually based in. That is your default rule, from the table above.
2. Read the posting. If it requests or forbids a photo, that wins.
3. Check the employer. A multinational or a modern tech company in a photo country may run photo-free. A traditional local firm probably expects one.
4. Consider the industry. On-camera and image-forward roles are the exception everywhere.
5. When still unsure, leave it off. Adding a photo where it is not wanted carries real risk. Omitting one where it is merely customary rarely sinks you on its own.
Smile For the Camera... Or Not
There is no universal answer, but thankfully the country distinction is usually clean enough for you to decide whether to add a photo to your resume.
A photo that helps you in Munich or Tokyo will quietly sink you in Manhattan. If you are searching in the US, keep the photo on LinkedIn and off your resume. If you are applying abroad, read the map for that specific country, match the format down to the size and background, and treat the photo as one more thing you got right rather than one more thing a stranger can hold against you.
Get it right once for your target market, and it becomes a box you can check and stop thinking about, which is exactly what you want when you have a hundred other things to juggle in a job search.
About the Author Corporate Kate has spent nearly 15 years inside corporate tech, managing large teams and making the hiring decisions most job seekers never get to see. She holds a bachelor's degree in Finance and writes about layoffs, careers, and money. |
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