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What photos on Linkedin say

6.9.2025

Translation: machine translated

A profile picture on Linkedin can influence the chances of a job application. But what can actually be deduced from such pictures?

Facial expressions, eye contact, background: these and other features of profile pictures reveal something about the person depicted - but not much. Tobias Marc Härtel from Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences found this out in a study of Linkedin profiles. As the psychologist writes in the specialist journal «Personality and Individual Differences», he did find systematic correlations between image and personality, but they were very weak.

For the study, Härtel recruited 381 German-speaking Linkedin users with a profile picture. On average, they were just under 30 years old, more than 70 per cent had at least a bachelor's degree and more than half were employed in some form. Business administration students and professionals in the IT, telecommunications or media sectors were particularly well represented. They answered questions on the five major personality dimensions, the «Big Five», and their profile pictures were checked for 21 characteristics that had proven to be meaningful in previous studies: Did the clothing appear professional? Did the person wear striking colours, jewellery or a beard? Were they smiling, looking at the camera? Did they have their arms crossed? And what was visible in the background?

Härtel calculated the extent to which these characteristics were related to personality, after factoring out any influences of age and gender, and found systematic but very weak correlations with individual image characteristics for each of the five personality dimensions. A smile and looking at the camera, for example, indicated emotional stability, agreeableness and conscientiousness. If an office could be seen in the background, this was an indication of emotional stability and extraversion. If, on the other hand, the person was in nature or in a leisure situation, this indicated increased openness to new experiences, and the same applied to more casual clothing.

Tobias Marc Härtel on Linkedin | The profile picture of the business psychologist would probably give recruiters a headache. It helps with the interpretation: the informal clothing and the leisure context both indicate a high degree of openness. However, these signals are not very meaningful. The probability that a person depicted against a leisure background is actually more open than average is only around 55 per cent - i.e. barely more than 50/50.
Source: © mit frdl. Gen. von Tobias Marc Härtel (Ausschnitt)

The posture and other outward appearance revealed little or nothing. According to the author, this may be due to the fact that people on Linkedin are guided by certain norms. Anyone who uploads a photo there generally knows that folded arms and unkempt clothing do not make a good impression. In addition, larger and not just German-speaking samples would be needed, as the common «signals» in the images could differ from culture to culture.

Research on Linkedin profile pictures is scarce, reports the business psychologist. However, studies show that HR managers can be influenced by them. Härtel cites a survey of around 200 HR managers, according to which 70 per cent of those surveyed stated that they had already rejected an application as if it was because of the profile picture on LinkedIn. He recommends focussing on more valid sources of information - because the first impression created by a photo could be wrong.

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