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Create ResumeIn most UK job applications, you should not put a photo on your CV. A UK CV is expected to focus on your skills, experience, achievements, qualifications, and suitability for the role. A photo usually adds no hiring value, and in some cases, it can create unnecessary bias, distract from your evidence, or make your CV look less aligned with UK recruitment norms.
When I review CVs, I am not looking for what someone looks like. I am looking for whether their background matches the job, whether their experience is credible, and whether the CV gives me enough confidence to move them forward. A photo does not answer any of those questions.
There are exceptions, but they are limited. If you are applying for modelling, acting, performing arts, on-camera media, or a role where appearance is a genuine part of the selection process, a professional headshot may be expected separately or as part of a portfolio. For standard UK office, corporate, technical, operational, graduate, public sector, healthcare, finance, legal, marketing, sales, HR, engineering, education, or leadership roles, leave the photo off.
The short answer is this: UK hiring is built around assessing suitability, not personal appearance.
That sounds obvious, but it matters. A CV photo can pull attention towards something that should not influence the hiring decision. Even when nobody means to be biased, humans make snap judgements. Recruiters and hiring managers are not magical creatures immune to assumptions. A photo can trigger unconscious impressions about age, background, confidence, personality, seniority, attractiveness, ethnicity, style, or “fit”. Lovely. Exactly the kind of nonsense we do not need at screening stage.
In UK recruitment, the safer and more professional approach is to keep your CV focused on relevant evidence. That includes:
Your current or most relevant role
Your employment history
Your skills and specialisms
Your measurable achievements
Your qualifications and certifications
Your sector knowledge
Your right to work information where relevant
Your ability to solve the employer’s actual problem
A CV photo does not strengthen any of that. At best, it is neutral. At worst, it becomes a distraction or a reason your CV feels out of step with UK expectations.
Some candidates add a photo because they want the CV to feel personal. I understand the instinct, especially in a job market where everything can feel faceless and automated. But your CV should feel personal through your positioning, language, achievements, and professional judgement, not through a headshot taking up space that could be used to prove value.
This is where the honest answer matters.
When I see a photo on a UK CV, I do not immediately think, “Terrible candidate.” That would be ridiculous. Good candidates can have imperfect CVs. But I do notice it, and not always for the right reasons.
Depending on the role, a photo can create a few impressions:
The candidate may be using a CV format from another country
The candidate may not understand UK application norms
The candidate may have used a generic online template without adapting it
The CV may be more style-led than evidence-led
The candidate may be unintentionally inviting bias into the process
None of these are fatal on their own. But recruitment is comparative. Your CV is rarely being read in isolation with a cup of tea and classical music in the background. It is being compared quickly against other applicants, job criteria, hiring manager expectations, salary range, market availability, and urgency.
If two candidates are similar on paper, the one whose CV feels cleaner, sharper, and more aligned with UK hiring expectations often has the advantage. Not because recruiters are obsessed with formatting, but because clarity makes evaluation easier.
A photo can also make the CV feel less serious for some professional roles. That sounds harsh, but it is true. In sectors like finance, legal, consulting, public sector, engineering, technology, healthcare administration, compliance, procurement, and senior leadership, a photo is more likely to feel unnecessary than impressive.
The hiring manager wants evidence. They want to know whether you can do the job, operate at the required level, and reduce risk. Your photo does not help them answer that.
One of the biggest reasons UK CVs avoid photos is bias.
Employers are expected to make hiring decisions based on relevant criteria. A photo introduces personal characteristics that are usually irrelevant to the job. This can create risk for employers and candidates.
A photo can reveal or suggest things such as:
Age
Gender presentation
Ethnicity
Religion or cultural background
Disability
Physical appearance
Personal style
Socioeconomic signals
Perceived personality
Some of these may be protected characteristics under UK equality law. Even when a recruiter or employer has no intention of discriminating, the presence of a photo can make the screening process messier.
This is why many employers prefer CVs without photos. It keeps the process cleaner. It also helps hiring teams focus on what they can justify: experience, skills, qualifications, and match to the role.
Here is the practical reality candidates often miss: hiring decisions need to be explainable. If a hiring manager rejects someone, they should be able to point to role-related reasons. Lack of relevant experience. Missing qualification. Salary mismatch. Not enough leadership exposure. Limited sector knowledge. Weak evidence of the required skill. Those are legitimate selection reasons.
A photo adds information that should not be part of that evaluation. So why put it there?
Usually, no. Not in the way candidates hope.
A lot of people add a photo because they think it will make their CV more memorable. It might make it more visually memorable, but that is not the same as making you more hireable.
Recruiters do not shortlist CVs because they remember a face. They shortlist because the CV makes a clear case for relevance. If your CV needs a photo to stand out, the positioning is probably not strong enough.
What actually helps you stand out on a UK CV is much more practical:
A clear professional profile that matches the target role
A strong recent employment section
Achievements that show impact, not just responsibilities
Relevant keywords used naturally
Evidence of progression, ownership, or specialist knowledge
A layout that makes key information easy to scan
A CV that feels tailored to the vacancy, not sprayed across the internet
This is where candidates often go wrong. They try to make the CV visually different instead of making the value proposition sharper. A photo, coloured sidebar, icons, rating bars, and decorative formatting might look nice in a template preview. But hiring is not a template beauty contest. It is an evidence review.
The question is not, “Does my CV look nice?”
The better question is, “Can a busy recruiter understand why I am relevant within 10 to 20 seconds?”
A photo does not solve that problem.
There are some situations where a photo may be acceptable or expected, but these are exceptions rather than the rule.
A CV photo may be relevant if you are applying for:
Acting roles
Modelling work
Performance roles
TV presenting
Influencer or creator roles where personal image is part of the commercial value
Some hospitality or front-of-house roles outside standard UK corporate processes
International roles where photo CVs are normal in that country
Certain creative portfolios where the image is part of the professional brand
Even then, I would be careful. For acting, modelling, media, or performance work, the photo is often better handled through a professional portfolio, casting profile, showreel, website, or separate headshot rather than forcing it into a standard CV.
For LinkedIn-heavy roles, your LinkedIn profile already gives employers access to your professional photo if they want to see it. Your CV does not need to duplicate it.
For international applications, norms vary. Some countries commonly expect CV photos. Others do not. If you are applying to a UK employer, follow UK expectations. If you are applying abroad, check local market norms carefully before deciding.
The mistake is assuming one CV format works everywhere. It does not. A photo that feels normal in one country can feel unnecessary or inappropriate in another.
For most mainstream UK roles, leave the photo off completely.
You should not include a photo if you are applying for roles in:
Finance
Accounting
Law
HR
Recruitment
Marketing
Sales
Technology
Data
Project management
Operations
Administration
Customer service
Public sector
Healthcare support or management
Education
Engineering
Supply chain
Procurement
Graduate schemes
Apprenticeships
Executive or management roles
This is not because these industries are boring, although some job descriptions do try very hard to make them sound that way. It is because appearance is not part of the job criteria.
A hiring manager looking for a finance analyst wants evidence of Excel, reporting, stakeholder communication, forecasting, accuracy, and commercial understanding. A hiring manager looking for a project manager wants delivery experience, governance, stakeholder management, budgets, timelines, risks, and outcomes. A hiring manager looking for an HR advisor wants employee relations exposure, policy knowledge, case management, and judgement.
A photo answers none of these questions.
If anything, it steals space from the evidence that does.
If you want your CV to feel more personal, credible, and memorable, improve the content rather than adding a picture.
A strong UK CV should make the reader understand three things quickly:
What you do
Where you add value
Why you are relevant for this specific role
That starts with the top third of your CV. This is the section recruiters see first, and it carries more weight than candidates realise.
Instead of using space for a photo, use that space for:
Your name
Your phone number
Your email address
Your location or target location
Your LinkedIn URL if your profile is strong
A clear professional title
A concise profile summary
Key skills aligned to the role
Your opening profile should not be a vague paragraph full of “hard-working”, “motivated”, “dynamic”, and “passionate”. Recruiters have read those words so many times they barely register anymore.
A stronger profile explains your actual professional positioning.
Weak Example
“Motivated and enthusiastic professional with excellent communication skills and a passion for delivering results.”
This could belong to almost anyone. It tells me nothing useful.
Good Example
“Commercially focused Account Manager with experience managing B2B client relationships across SaaS and professional services. Strong track record of improving retention, identifying upsell opportunities, and working closely with internal teams to resolve client issues before they affect renewal.”
This works because it gives me context, sector relevance, role focus, and value. No photo needed. The CV is already doing its job.
Usually, an applicant tracking system is not rejecting your CV simply because it contains a photo. That is not the main issue.
The bigger ATS problem is formatting. Photos are often used in designed CV templates with columns, tables, icons, text boxes, graphic elements, headers, footers, and awkward layouts. These can make parsing less reliable.
ATS platforms are not all the same. Some handle formatting better than others. But as a general rule, the more visual your CV is, the more opportunity there is for information to be misread, skipped, or placed in the wrong field.
A photo itself is usually not the disaster. The template that comes with it often is.
From a recruiter perspective, I care about whether the information is easy to find. If your work history is buried under graphics, your skills are displayed as rating bars, and your contact details are trapped in a header the system may not parse properly, you are making the process harder than it needs to be.
A UK CV should be clean, structured, and readable. That does not mean ugly. It means practical.
Use:
Clear headings
Simple formatting
Reverse chronological order
Standard job titles where possible
Bullet points for responsibilities and achievements
Consistent dates
Plain section labels
Enough white space to scan easily
Avoid:
Photos
Skill rating bars
Excessive icons
Heavy graphics
Text boxes
Complicated tables
Over-designed templates
Tiny fonts
Decorative elements that add no hiring value
The best CV design is the one that helps the recruiter understand your relevance faster.
Hiring language can be vague, so let me decode a few things.
When employers say they want a “professional CV”, they usually do not mean a glossy document with a photo and visual branding. They mean a CV that is clear, relevant, accurate, and easy to assess.
When recruiters say they want a “well-presented CV”, they usually mean they do not want to fight the document to find the facts.
When hiring managers say they want someone who “fits the team”, they should be talking about working style, communication, values, judgement, collaboration, and role alignment. A photo should not be part of that assessment.
When candidates say, “I want my CV to show personality”, I usually want to know what they mean by personality. If they mean warmth, confidence, communication style, commercial thinking, leadership, creativity, or problem-solving, that can be shown through examples. If they mean a photo, colours, and a quirky template, that is usually weaker.
Personality on a CV comes through in the choices you make:
Which achievements you highlight
How clearly you explain your impact
Whether you understand the employer’s problem
Whether your language sounds credible for the level
Whether your CV feels focused or scattered
Whether you remove irrelevant noise
That is where judgement shows. A photo is not a substitute for judgement.
The biggest mistake is thinking the photo is harmless because it looks professional. Sometimes it is harmless. But “harmless” is not a strong enough reason to include something on a CV.
Every item on your CV should earn its place. A photo usually does not.
Common mistakes include:
Using a casual selfie
Cropping a social photo
Using a wedding or event photo
Adding a heavily filtered image
Using a photo that takes up too much space
Putting the photo in a template that weakens ATS readability
Including a photo because a template had a placeholder
Assuming UK employers expect it
Using the same CV for UK and international applications
Thinking a photo builds trust more effectively than evidence
A photo can also create inconsistency. If your LinkedIn photo looks professional but your CV photo looks casual, that sends a strange message. If your CV photo is old, heavily edited, or very different from how you present professionally now, it can feel distracting.
Again, this is not because recruiters are sitting there judging faces like a panel on a reality show. It is because your CV has one job: make the professional case clearly. Anything that pulls attention away from that case needs to justify itself.
Most CV photos cannot.
For UK job applications, the best compromise is simple: keep your CV photo-free and use a professional LinkedIn photo instead.
Your LinkedIn profile is the right place for a professional image. It gives recruiters context without placing appearance inside the formal CV screening document.
A good LinkedIn photo can help with recognition, trust, and consistency, especially if you are networking, applying through LinkedIn, speaking with recruiters, or building a visible professional profile.
Your LinkedIn photo should be:
Clear
Recent
Professional
Approachable
Well-lit
Cropped properly
Suitable for your industry
Consistent with how you want to be perceived professionally
It does not need to be a corporate headshot taken in a glass office while you pretend to enjoy synergy. It just needs to look professional and credible.
Then include your LinkedIn URL on your CV if the profile supports your application. Do not add the link if your LinkedIn is empty, outdated, inconsistent, or full of content that works against your positioning.
A strong LinkedIn profile can reinforce your CV. A weak one can quietly undo it.
Use this practical recruiter test.
Ask yourself:
Is appearance genuinely part of the selection criteria for this role?
Has the employer specifically requested a photo?
Is this normal in the country where I am applying?
Would the photo add evidence that the CV cannot provide another way?
Could the photo introduce bias or distraction?
Would the space be better used for achievements, skills, or role evidence?
Does the photo make the CV more professional, or just more decorated?
For a UK CV, the answer is almost always clear. Leave it off.
The only time I would consider a photo is when it is genuinely relevant to the profession or explicitly requested. Even then, I would think carefully about whether it belongs on the CV itself or in a separate portfolio, profile, casting page, or website.
Here is the decision in plain English:
Applying for a standard UK job? Do not include a photo.
Applying for modelling, acting, presenting, or performance work? Use the requested portfolio format or professional headshot guidance.
Applying internationally? Check that country’s CV expectations.
Applying through LinkedIn? Use a strong LinkedIn photo, not a CV photo.
Using a CV template with a photo box? Remove the photo box. The template is not your boss.
That last point sounds small, but it matters. Many candidates let templates dictate their CV structure. Do not do that. Your CV should be built around hiring logic, not whatever Canva decided looked nice on a Tuesday.
A strong UK CV should prioritise relevance, clarity, and proof.
Recruiters are usually scanning for a match between the job requirements and your background. Hiring managers are looking for confidence that you can solve their problem. ATS platforms are looking for readable information and keyword alignment. None of them need a photo to do that.
The strongest CVs usually do a few things well:
They make the target role obvious
They explain the candidate’s level clearly
They show relevant experience early
They use achievements to prove impact
They remove unnecessary personal details
They match the language of the role without copying the job advert awkwardly
They make progression and responsibility easy to understand
They avoid vague claims that are not backed by evidence
Instead of thinking, “How do I make my CV look more impressive?” think, “What does the employer need to believe before they invite me to interview?”
That question changes everything.
For example, if you are applying for a management role, the employer needs to believe you can lead people, handle pressure, make decisions, manage performance, and deliver results. If you are applying for an analyst role, they need to believe you can work with data, spot patterns, communicate insights, and influence decisions. If you are applying for a customer success role, they need to believe you can manage relationships, reduce churn, solve problems, and protect revenue.
Your CV should answer the employer’s doubts before they become reasons to reject you.
A photo does not answer those doubts.
For most UK job applications, no, you should not put a photo on your CV.
It is usually unnecessary, potentially distracting, and not aligned with standard UK recruitment expectations. It can introduce bias, weaken the professional focus of your CV, and take up space that should be used for evidence of your suitability.
The better approach is to keep your CV clean, focused, and evidence-led. Show the employer why you are relevant. Make your achievements easy to understand. Use your LinkedIn profile for a professional photo if it supports your personal brand.
A UK CV should not ask the reader to notice your face. It should make them notice your fit for the role.
That is what gets candidates shortlisted.
Written by Simar Malhi, a recruiter and headhunter with international recruitment experience. I write about CVs, job applications, hiring decisions, and the reality behind recruitment processes. My goal is to help candidates understand more honestly how employers, recruiters, and hiring managers actually select candidates.
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