A photo is a local convention, not a quality signal. In some countries leaving it off looks careless; in others including it can get your application discarded before anyone reads it.
Include a photo
- Germany, Austria, Switzerland — expected in a traditional application.
- Much of central and eastern Europe, and many Spanish and Italian employers.
- Client-facing roles where the employer's own site shows staff photos.
Leave it off
- United Kingdom and Ireland — recruiters routinely strip photos to reduce bias risk, and some agencies reject CVs that carry one.
- The Netherlands and the Nordics — increasingly discouraged and never required.
- Any public-sector or blind-screening process that says applications are anonymised.
- Any application filed through a portal that generates its own profile.
If you include one, get it right
- 1Head and shoulders, eyes level with the camera, plain background.
- 2Daylight from the front, no direct flash, no sunglasses or hats.
- 3Dress one notch above the role's daily norm.
- 4Crop square or 4:5, roughly 3–4 cm wide when printed, top-right or beside your name.
- 5Recent — within two years, and recognisably you.
Keep one CV with a photo and one without, and send whichever fits the market. That is a two-second decision, not a redesign.