Why you need Professional, Corporate Headshots in the new Covid-19 job market
Okay, I will be honest with you, rip off the band-aid, and give you the bad news first. Then I will tell you how to make a less-than-exceptional situation into a much better one. I will convince you that how you market yourself online might just improve your chances of landing your dream career in an increasingly competitive job market.
Here are three cold, hard facts (no sugar coating) about the current state of the UK’s post-lock down economy:-
• Thousands of people have already lost their jobs since March, whilst the number of new job vacancies has seen the biggest fall since 2001.
• The government furlough scheme, which ends in October 2020, will see further redundancies, leading the UK into one of the most severe recessions this country has ever seen.
• 26 million people are claiming out-of-work benefits in 2020, the highest figure for almost 30 years.
Okay, I know it sounds bleak! It’s scary, these are very uncertain times, and it allows us to be afraid of the future: that’s called being human. But just being afraid won’t change it. Instead, you can make small, proactive steps towards a more certain 2021.
Let me say it one more time for the people in the back:
IT’S NOT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM! The job market WILL bounce back, you WON’T be scrolling forever, and you WILL land a superb job in your chosen field.
And this is where I come in.
I’m a professional headshot photographer who regularly works with Lawyers, Bankers, Consultants, Doctors, Authors, Academics, Chefs, Freelancers and Actors (etc), who come to me for one purpose only. These people are all taking their online presence seriously. They’re the people that care about the images that show up in search when you google their name. And you better believe that the first thing Employers do is Google your name.
Now, that picture of you on a night out in Brick Lane, with a beer in one hand and a kebab in the other, is hilarious. But do you want that image to be the first impression your prospective employer has of you? Unfortunately, thanks to social media, your personal and professional life is inextricably entwined and your privacy becomes more eroded with every social and online account you create.
Talking of which, almost every website we sign up to these days, whether it’s mainstream business and “social” sites such as Linked-in, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Facebook requests us to upload a profile photo.
And there is absolutely no doubt that choosing the perfect profile picture for our social profiles is a very tricky business.
It’s likely that in the thousands of photos of you stored on your phone, there is nothing suitable for professional use and by that, I mean one shot in a studio, by a professional photographer that captures your personality and how ‘you’ want to project your image in your profession.
Here's a quick example:
Image 1: Me with my family ("which one am I", I hear you ask!)
Image 2: Me with a co-worker (it’s a selfie with someone else, and I’m not looking into the camera)
Image 3: A professional headshot
I think we can all agree that the professional headshot is the best representation of me and the first image I’d want a prospective employer to see on LinkedIn.
If you want to learn more about why you need a professional headshot, check out my pre-Covid article that gives you 5 compelling reasons why.
That’s it! Convinced, unconvinced? You are the judge and jury. If you want to take your job hunting to the next level, seriously consider investing in professional Corporate Headshots, which you can use for the next 2 years!
Be good to yourself, invest in your future and book in for a session. There are a myriad of brilliant photographers in London (and the world, if you’re reading this from abroad) for every budget. For example, my current fees start at £70 for a professional 30 minute headshot session, which includes 2 final retouched images.
If you want to check out a bunch more Corporate Headshots I've done, click here >
For pricing and to book online - click here >
For questions, group Corporate sessions or just to say "hi", email me at gctheadshots@gmail.com