Should You Include a Photo on Your CV?
Where a photo helps, where it hurts, and the specific country-by-country guidance for 2026. Plus what to do if you've always included one.
Whether to put a photo on your CV depends almost entirely on the country you're applying in. In some places a photo is expected; in others it can get your application binned before it's read. Here's the current guidance.
Where to NEVER include a photo
- **United Kingdom**
- **Ireland**
- **United States**
- **Canada**
- **Australia and New Zealand**
In these countries, anti-discrimination law makes recruiters wary of CVs with photos. Many large employers' systems automatically reject or anonymise CVs containing images. Including a photo signals you don't understand the local norms.
Where a photo is conventional
- **Germany** — historically expected, though shifting. Safe to include a professional headshot.
- **Austria, Switzerland** — conventional, often expected.
- **France, Belgium** — common, optional.
- **Italy, Spain, Portugal** — common, optional.
- **China, Japan, South Korea** — typically expected.
- **Most of Latin America** — common.
If you're applying in a country where photos are conventional, leaving one off doesn't hurt — but including one is fine and often expected.
Where it's mixed
- **Nordics (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark)** — historically common, increasingly optional. Many employers now prefer no photo, especially in tech and the public sector.
- **Netherlands** — common in some industries (consulting, finance), rare in tech.
When in doubt in the Nordics or Netherlands: skip the photo. You'll never be penalised for not having one, and you might be penalised for having one.
If you do include a photo
- Professional headshot — head and shoulders, looking at the camera
- Neutral background — white, grey, or soft colour
- Business or smart-casual attire
- Recent — within the last 2 years
- High resolution — minimum 300 DPI for print
- Small — about 1 inch / 2.5 cm square, top-right of the page
What to do if you've always used a photo
If you've been applying for jobs in the UK or US with a photo on your CV and not getting responses, remove it and apply again. It is the most common single fix for candidates from photo-conventional countries applying internationally.
LinkedIn is different
On LinkedIn, a professional photo is expected everywhere — even in the UK and US. LinkedIn profiles with photos get 14× more views than profiles without. The CV / LinkedIn rule asymmetry is real: no photo on CV, always a photo on LinkedIn.
Our templates
All our CV templates are designed without a photo by default, since this is the safest international standard. If you need a layout with a photo, the Photo Split Panel template and several Enhancv-style layouts include a clean headshot area.