College graduates need headshots to help them search for a new job. When graduating college the first thing that happens is putting together a resume and searching for a job. The best way to stand out is to have a great updated professional headshot post graduate. College graduates need to make sure their social media is pretty beige and all photos of college life and leisure are locked down from prospective employeers
The best way to shine for a prospective employer is to have your LinkedIn Profile be up-to-date with a professional and clean looking headshot. A photo of you at a concert or party, cropped so the person is on the edge of the frame, will not work. The saying "dress for the job you want, not the job you have" is never more true when searching for a job after college. A professional headshot will help!
After college we all want to veg out on the couch in sweatpants and a blanket but that is not the image that should be portrayed to companies.
When approaching your headshots for your LinkedIn Profile, make sure you have a couple different outfit choices. Having different outfits at your headshot shoot will give you the opportunity to rotate the LinkedIn Photo. Different photos might speak differently to people searching for a new employee. These photos are going to build the professional image you are searching for.
Outfit Choices for college graduate headshots would comprise of a suit with a plain white shirt, and a nice tie. Having a couple of ties will help change up the look, pretty quickly. There are 8 different types of ties you could use for your photo.
The Bolo Tie is traditional seen in the far southern states and in the movies. Its typically seen as a long string but is made of material like brained leather, or cord and normally has something on the ends referred to as aiguillettes. Aiguillettes are defined as
"...an ornament on some military and naval uniforms, consisting of braided loops hanging from the shoulder and on dress uniforms ending in points."
On the Bolo Tie the aiguillettes are the metal tips at the end of the cord or leather. The Bolo tie is the official neckwear of the state of Arizona.
A lot of Bolo ties have the center aiguillettes as an animal (such as a buffalo or fox) and come in porcelain, or silver. They also have custom engraved ones with initials. These ties really are not popular in the northeast but can be found in the southern states.
Ties are not the only type of accessory you could wear for your professional headshots. A pocket square on a nice suit jacket can really finish off a look. Pocket squares are great for adding a pop of color but not to be used as a handkerchief. Handkerchiefs are bigger than a pocket square. There are a couple different ways to fold a pocket square. Classic Fold, One Point Pocket square and the scallop fold. You don't have to purchase fabric to make a pocket square, you can make your own!
Once you decide on the type of accents for your headshot outfit, you then need to decide if you want the plain white background for the photo, or a gray background. Fun fact, if you choose white, you can change the color of the background in post production.
College Graduates should really plan on investing a couple hundred dollars in headshots to be able to post a nice profile photo and attach a photo to a resume. Attaching a photo puts a name to a face.
When typing a resume, you don't want to get overly wordy, but adding a link to your LinkedIn Profile can help. Also, get a professional email address. Scooter123 at gmail is NOT a professional look, and might really run off prospective employers. Putting all the time into headshots only to have a watery resume, will surely be a wasted effort.
Reading Photographer Headshots-Portraits-Kids-Families, Senior Portraits 40 Marla Lane, Reading MA 01867 781-315-6030 - aw@cordelephotography.com