I want to tell you a story about how my headshot made me feel less helpless
I just heard a whole department I worked with once is being vaporized.
It’s so hard. I’ve been “let go” without cause a few times. You feel shaken, powerless, and so angry. Suddenly the ground’s not solid, and you have to run an obstacle course in all directions, at full speed.
A few years ago I was unemployed for nine months. I was applying for design roles. So I cozied up to dozens of recruiters, reworked my portfolio’s UX three times, and applied to more than 1200 jobs. (I tracked them.)
It was shredding. And yet it focused me. That year gave me back a discipline I hadn’t felt since my 20s. And in the end hard work met luck, and I could buy camera gear breathe again.
I wish I’d updated my headshot first
After all the resume rewrites and portfolio overhauls, the headshot felt like a nice-to-have. I had no idea how much it would help. That picture made me feel braver. Now I could sell myself more confidently, because I could use this specific moment of me looking awesome to say, “You should consider me, I’m awesome.”
Looking back, I wish I’d done it first. I wish I’d done it while I was still at my previous job. It’s the easiest and most straightforward of the Application Trifecta. And it could’ve been helping me the whole time I worked on the other two.
- Your resume is a curated list of your accomplishments (rewrite in ~a week)
- Your portfolio is a curated collection of your best work (rework in ~2–3 months)
- Your headshot is a curated moment from your life (shoot in ~an hour)
It lets you use you at your best as your first impression. Then it lets you use it to remind people of you.
That’s awfully powerful.
Every LinkedIn/Threads/IG/X/Behance comment, every text, every video call—and later the whole hiring team… they’re seeing you the way you want them to. Authoritative, confident, and approachable. Exactly who they want on their team.
Most applicants can do the work. Some of them, honestly, can even do it better. But the job isn’t just the work—it’s how you are to work with. Teams worth joining get that. Your headshot implies it instantly. That’s why it matters. It goes where the resume and portfolio can’t: Your actual personality.
It doesn’t help with ATS, but ATS doesn’t hire you. It’s a key that fits a certain kind of lock, and nothing feels better than having the right tool at the critical moment.
So be smarter than me
Update your headshot now.
That headshot went up and weeks later I was interviewing for my next role. Did it get me the job? Obviously no. But of course it helped.
Are you holding onto a job you hate because the market is a bloodbath? A fresh headshot emboldens you. You swing bigger. It tells your network you’re serious (and awesome). My coworkers were talking about it months later.
When you look good, people notice.