Who’s Who
One of our readers (Hey there Sabrina) recently wrote to us with a question regarding our position on whether photos should be included with resumes.
As often happens when Jon and I respond to the same question, our opinions differ. In this cas however, the difference is mostly based on norms within our respective countries.
Both Jon and I agreed that including photos contributes to a person evaluating a response having a sense of who is on the team, as well as the team feeling more ‘real’. However, the guidelines, stated or implied, within our respective countries and cultures, caused us to operate differently.
Jon responded that within the UK, the preference seems to be to include photos.
I pointed out that on this side of the pond, I typically don’t see photos included and I advise clients with whom I’m working not to include them. In fact, Federal guidelines which govern many responses restrict any reference to a person’s ethnic background and photos would be such a reference.
We’d be interested to hear what you’re seeing in RFP’s regarding photos and whether you typically include them. Let us know.
This article was written by BJ on 23 July, 2009 and filed under Processes & best practice. If you found it useful, you can with others. To receive automatic updates, subscribe to The Proposal Guys via 
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We’re UK-based and always include photos in our Proposals.
If nothing else, it proves we’re referring to real people, not just making things up.
We don’t include pictures and some times we even take out the names depending on the level of commitment and availability of the staff that may be engaged on the particular project.
Likewise, in the Netherlands, it would not be an issue to include photos, although as an American company operating in NL, I don’t recall ever doing so in any of the proposals I’ve worked.
What we have done on occasion here in the States (different company), is include photos within an Orals presentation…
Part of the “problem”, I feel, is that the kind of photo’s readily available for inclusion in proposals tend to be the ones that folks get taken for their ID pass or similar, and are closer to a prisoner’s “mug shot” than a happy, positive, “I can run your project” image…
We vary – it really depends on what we know about our clients. For some clients, photos don’t mean much. For others, photos mean a lot. The harder part is getting photos that look the same. As Matt said, they often look like ID badges. I’ve had a professional photographer come in and take photos, but trying to coordinate a large team at one time for that can be very difficult.