You’ve just updated your website with your beautiful new headshot. Hurray! You’re all set, right?
For now, yes, but not forever! So how do you know when it’s time to update your headshot?
The first obvious one is basic–if you’ve never had one before, you need a professional headshot. Everybody needs one! Yes, everyone.
The second one is, has it been a long time? If it’s been ten years, you definitely need a new one. If it’s been three to five years, yes, you need a new one. Age is not the enemy! If you’re a little older, that’s just more experience and life stories to tell.
An obvious reason you need a new headshot more often is that something noticeable changed in your appearance. Perhaps you changed your hair color, or your hair length. (A few years ago I cut thirteen inches off my hair—so my long-haired headshots were no longer relevant.) If you get glasses, or change glasses, or go from glasses to contacts, your appearance is different. If your body changes a lot, if your style changes a lot, like if you go from boho to corporate, you should definitely have a headshot that reflects that.
Why though? Why not use that amazing photo of you taken at a friend’s wedding ten years ago? Or the incredible headshot from five years ago? Well, because you don’t look like that anymore.
If your picture shows you with brown hair and glasses, but today you have blond hair and contacts, people meeting you will be a) confused and b) wondering what else you might not be honest about. Don’t let vanity get in the way–get a great shot of who you are right now!
Also, and maybe this isn’t true for everyone, but I would be so bored using the same headshot for multiple years! Shake it up a little. Try a new photographer, a new location, a new style. Getting photographed should be a fun experience, *and* should get you fantastic, high-quality photos.
So to recap:
- Make sure you have a professional headshot.
- Make sure that it’s recent (less than three years or so).
- Make sure that it reflects YOU and your current look.