Job seekers are using technology not only to update the look of their résumés but to also enhance their own looks in their résumé photos.
Quentin Fottrell of Smartmoney.com reports on the growing number of people who are using airbrushing software to make them look more attractive to potential employers.
“There’s no denying that attractiveness gives you an advantage over the competition,” said LinkedIn connection director Nicole Williams.
But experts caution that making yourself look picture-perfect could backfire.
Fottrell reports that experts say there are pitfalls to ironing out too many wrinkles and facial flaws from your profile photos on professional networking sites such as LinkedIn. Personal branding consultant Nick Gilham says removing a pimple is one thing, but any more dramatic changes in appearance could shock prospective employers.
“This would make me wonder what other lies you would tell?” Gilham says in the article. “Would you lie about your job accomplishments or titles, too?”
But getting rid of a few wrinkle lines might help older job hunters look younger and more energetic, some experts said.
This week’s Color of Money Question: Would you airbrush your professional picture to improve your chances for getting a job? Send your responses to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Be sure to include your full name, city and state. Put “ Picture-Perfect” in the subject line.
Show Me the Money
Turns out most people don’t really need a big paycheck to feel like a success, according to a survey by CareerBuilder. An overwhelming majority of U.S. workers who were interviewed – 75 percent – said they don’t need to earn six figures a year to be successful. Twenty-eight percent said they would feel successful earning between $50,000 and $70,000 a year, while 23 percent reported they would feel successful earning less than $50,000 a year.
“While compensation is definitely important, workers don’t necessarily equate success with hefty incomes,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder. “Often you’ll see intangibles such as the ability to make a difference, a sense of accomplishment and work/life balance eclipse the size of a paycheck in what matters most to workers.”
Women apparently are less inclined than men to equate success with income, according to the poll. About 32 percent of men said they wanted to make more than $100,000 a year to be considered a success versus 17 percent of women.
Celebrity Cash
Eight-time Grammy Award-winning artist Lauryn Hill is facing up to three years in prison and $75,000 in fines for failing to file tax returns on $1.5 million from 2005 through 2007, reports The Washington Post’s Maura Judkis.
Hill has pleaded guilty to tax evasion. She is best known for her critically acclaimed album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” and as a member of the band The Fugees.
On her blog, Hill wrote that she stopped paying taxes because she went “underground” to protect her family and herself from being “manipulated and controlled by a media protected military industrial complex” and “used my resources to sustain our safety and survival.” She said she tried to explain this to the feds, but “the danger I faced was not accepted as reasonable grounds for deferring my tax payments,” Judkis wrote.
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