I used to hate being photographed. I am one of those people who would hide behind their friends in group photos, shy away from a photographer in social gatherings, and not ever take selfies. This is all good and well but several years ago, in my first job as a commercial manager I was asked to write a technical article to be published in an industry magazine that I co-authored with my boss. Once I was done with the article I sent it off and was asked just one day before printing to send in a photo of myself because they were starting to put photos of authors along side all the articles.

Blank stare… Oh lord, why were they doing this to me? Couldn’t they just use a photo of my boss? The answer was no and I found myself that afternoon asking a colleague to take a photo of me with the beige wallpaper of our meeting room as a background. I had to make do with it, and in hindsight, this was an epic fail! Why? Well because that article went online and still now, when I do a Google search of my name, this photo comes up.

What I learned?

Despite my personal complex, I should have understood that at the level that I was at, I needed to have a professional photo readily available for these types of request which I later found out were becoming more and more frequent. You have to remember that this was before LinkedIn was so popular, and of course before Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

The advice is still valid today though. Don’t be like me. As soon as you get into university, keep a good, clean, professional headshot handy so that when asked you don’t have to scramble through your IG to find something acceptable.

Do you have any similar stories to share? Surely, I can’t be the only one.