The perfect professional headshot is worth $1,000, and maybe even a job

Selfies are free, but some people chasing that just-so photo for their LinkedIn profile are paying $1,000 or more for headshots (Photo: Reuters)
Selfies are free, but some people chasing that just-so photo for their LinkedIn profile are paying $1,000 or more for headshots (Photo: Reuters)

Summary

Professionals pursuing that ‘just right’ look for LinkedIn profiles and résumés are tapping high-end headshot photographers who say they can help clients look better, feel better—and boost their careers

Look confident but not cocky. Assertive yet approachable. Smart instead of sexy, unless you can pull off both—and only if it’s subtle sexy.

Nailing your professional headshot seems harder and more clutch than ever at a time of record job changes and on-screen first impressions. The buttoned-up and made-up looks that once dominated business directories and professional profiles now seem stuffy in the work-from-anywhere era.

Selfies are free, but some people chasing that just-so photo for their LinkedIn profile are paying $1,000 or more for headshots. Their quests are fueling a cottage industry of headshot photographers who offer facial-expression coaching and promise to help even the most insecure subjects look and feel great.

“I’m not a photographer per se," says Peter Hurley, who charges $1,500 for a headshot session and $300 for each image his clients keep. “I consider myself a facial conveyance strategist."

His go-to move is telling people to “squinch," by which he means raise the lower eyelids—just a tad—in a modified squint. Photographers hoping to mimic his techniques can pay $1,800 for one of his weekend workshops.

Mr. Hurley started taking headshots about 20 years ago, having learned the basics of photography while modeling to fund his pursuit of an Olympic sailing berth. (He didn’t make the five-ring regatta, but he had a hell of a six-pack.)

His early clients were fellow models and actors. Now, shooting at studios in New York and Los Angeles, he estimates 90% are business types tired of their bland, yearbook-style profile pics and willing to shell out to stand out.

In certain ways, the importance of a good headshot is measurable. LinkedIn, which enjoys more traffic when profiles are more engaging, reports that bios with headshots get 21 times more views than those without, and users receive nine times more connection requests when they include pictures of themselves.

Headshots don’t help everyone equally, says executive recruiter Martha Heller. She notes that the leaders of a company trying to fill a key position may have predetermined notions of what the ideal candidate should look like. Historically, they’ve often pictured a white man, though clients are increasingly seeking people who will diversify the senior ranks, she says.

In any case, an applicant’s odds of receiving an offer can be diminished by a headshot that doesn’t match the picture in the boss’s mind.

Catalant, an online marketplace for independent consultants, says freelancers with headshots in their profilesare hired more often, but some businesses screen out names and photos because race and gender markers can play into unconscious biases and disadvantage certain candidates.

Catalant CEO Pat Petitti recently sat for a new headshot of his own—in a hoodie. The look sparked a debate with his chief marketing officer, Vinda Souza. She urged him to wear something more formal, so he posed in both a blazer and the sweatshirt. When the proofs came in, Ms. Souza conceded that he looked better in an outfit that made him comfortable, rather than stiff.

She doubts a woman could get away with the same, contending that“when a guy dresses down, they’re approachable; when a woman dresses down, they’re sloppy." Overdressing can send the wrong message too, she says, adding that for women, “it’s a pretty narrow line to have to walk."

Men and women who have spent many dollars and hours on a striking headshot say it’s worth it. The effort can involve wardrobe, hair and makeup consultations spread over several days, plus informal coffee chats to build rapport with the photographer—all before the camera clicks for the first time.

When it’s over, there are (hopefully) a few frames that depict the best version of the person in them.

Headshot enthusiasts insist the goal is authenticity, not vanity. That can mean an unconventional outfit or backdrop, natural hair, exposed tattoos or even a few unretouched wrinkles.

Dan Dowling, a content manager for a health technology company, had a photographer shoot him at his favorite rock-climbing site in New Mexico. He figured the joy he feels in that place would come through in a picture.

Brittany McCoy, a grant-proposal writer in Mississippi, started her own consulting firm this year and commissioned a headshot that showcases her self-described “big, curly hair." Ms. McCoy, who is Black, straightened her hair for past headshots.

Eugina Jordan says she wanted to look good for her age, 52, but not heavily airbrushed when refreshing her headshot this summer. She had been laid off from her job as a marketing executive at a telecommunications company and believed prospective employers would judge her, in part, on her photo. So she aimed to project a balance of experience and vigor.

“I have a really good résumé," she says, “but the headshot is the first impression: ‘Do I want this lady to go to events and talk about the company or talk to the media?’"

Ms. Jordan says her photographer, Alissa Randall, “captured the essence of me." She credits her new photo with helping her land another high-level role that allows her to work from home in Massachusetts.

Ms. Randall, based in New Jersey, has a few tricks. She never tells someone to smile. She shoots at a slight upward angle, which she says helps her subjects look powerful. She sometimes uses duct tape to make clothing drape just right.

Also, she says,“I have really high empathy, and I can connect with people."

A session with Ms. Randall, including hair and makeup and a couple of keeper images, costs about $1,000.

Florida-based photographer David Roth charges $245 for a headshot session and $240 per image, meaning clients who keep a few pictures are pushing four figures. Despite the expense, Mr. Roth says he’s so busy meeting demand for headshots that he has stopped doing weddings and family portraits.

He describes his shoots as therapeutic for some people who are critical of their own appearances. His mission, he says, is to produce “scroll-stopping images"—photos that will make a hiring manager pause and linger on someone’s profile when perusing job candidates.

“I tell my clients, ‘I want you to get five extra seconds if we’re lucky,’" he says.

 

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