There's no universal answer, and anyone giving you one is generalising from their own market. The honest version is that it's a regional convention, and you should follow the convention where you're applying.
Roughly how it splits
Usually omitted: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland. Many employers there actively prefer no photo, and some large ones strip or discard resumes containing one, because a photo introduces bias risk into a process they're trying to keep defensible.
Commonly expected: much of continental Europe — Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy — and many markets across Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. In some of these a photo-less resume reads as incomplete.
Sector matters too. Acting, modeling, presenting, and some client-facing hospitality roles expect a photo everywhere. Public sector and large regulated employers generally don't want one anywhere.
If you're unsure
Look at the employer, not the country. Check whether the company's own careers page or the posting says anything, and look at how people in similar roles present themselves in that market.
When you still can't tell, leave it off. A missing photo is almost never the reason someone doesn't get an interview. A photo in a market that doesn't want one occasionally is.
If you do include one
- A plain background and even lighting. Nothing else in frame.
- Dressed as you would be for the interview.
- Head and shoulders, looking at the camera, a neutral or lightly warm expression.
- Recent enough to look like you.
- Not a cropped holiday photo, not a group shot, not a filtered one.
Why we don't decide for you
We don't know where you're applying, so we're not going to pretend the choice is obvious. Photos are off by default, they're only available on designs where they've been laid out deliberately, and ATS-strict templates never offer one — that's the guidance we can honestly encode. The rest is your call.
Good to know
- Turning a photo on or off is reversible and instant. Nothing else on the resume changes.
- A photo takes real space from content. If you're already tight on room, that's a reason on its own to leave it off.
- How to turn one on: add a photo to your resume.