Adding Your Picture to Your Resume - Only If it is For a Acting Job

Adding Your Picture to Your Resume - Only If it is For a Acting Job Off and on, the issue of attaching one's photograph to a resume pops up. Some guru is always recommending somewhere that this is a good idea. After all, we live in a society that values physical appearance. We attach positive attributes to those attractive and physically fit. So, if you are attractive and physically fit, why not let recruiters know?Not being a guru, I have never been vehemently opposed to adding attaching a picture to one's resume. That said, I also generally do not think it is a good idea.Your resume is in essence a brief narrative of what you have done, and by inference, what you are capable of doing. In that regard, this document really only needs to show the jobs you have held, what you have been accountably for, what you have accomplished, and what special skills you possess (that separate you from the pack).So to my mind, there is no real room on a resume to talk about who you are per se, from a physical point of view.Aside from my own reaction to receiving a resume with a photograph, I see no value to a recruiter or hiring manager in knowing what you look like. In reality, as an applicant, a part of what you must do is either effectively navigate the obstacles in front of you, or eliminate as many as you can. Adding a picture does the opposite; it adds an obstacle.The reality is that there is discrimination in our hiring practices, subconsciously or overtly. Be it age discrimination, gender, or race; it happens. In most cases, the intent is not bad. But given to the choice to hire an apparently, physically fit person and an obese person, you would like to think that those two characteristics were not a part of the equation.Yet, by submitting a picture with a resume, you deliberately bring an unnecessary factor into the hiring process. A part of what a resume screener does is screen out applicants. One of your objectives is to minimize the reasons for being screened out.In a related issue, regardless of your physical appearance; when you have an opportunity to physically present your resume, do so in professional attire. At too many job fairs, I have seen applicants dressed casually or dressed wildly inappropriately. Even if you are applying for a low-paying hourly job, you must still present yourself in a conservative image.So, if someone suggests to you that you should submit a photograph along with your resume; only if you are applying for an acting position.