The generic playbook is on this page. The personalized trait audit is the $149 Pro tier.
Viewers form a competence-and-trustworthiness judgment within 100ms of seeing a face (Willis and Todorov 2006). Your headshot is doing this work whether you tuned it or not.
3 trait scores · 5-page PDF · Photographer brief · 30-day plan
$149 Pro LinkedIn audit · 7-day refund · Free trait score available
The published first-impression research (Willis and Todorov 2006, replicated many times since) finds that viewers form a competence-and-trustworthiness judgment within roughly 100 milliseconds of seeing a face. Longer viewing time refines but rarely reverses that initial read. A LinkedIn headshot is therefore not a photo of you; it is a signal payload that delivers a competence read and a trustworthiness read in well under a second.
The three traits that move LinkedIn outcomes most: trustworthiness (do recruiters and prospects believe you), competence (do they think you can do the job), and a moderate level of attractiveness (which has a documented halo effect on both other traits). Approachability and dominance matter at the margins; the first three are where the bulk of the signal sits.
The generic playbook on this page covers the levers most users have not yet pulled (real smile, neutral background, one-step-above-baseline outfit, good lighting). The $149 Pro audit scores your specific photo on the three traits, identifies the weakest, and writes the personalized reshoot brief. The audit pays for itself in one career signal that lands better.
AU6 (eye crinkle) plus AU12 (lip movement). Outperforms neutral and forced-wide smile on the trustworthiness dimension. The eye crinkle is the differentiator.
Window light at 10am or 2pm. Avoid overhead fluorescent, direct flash, and harsh midday sun. The lighting layer is where most amateur headshots fail.
Wear one tier of formality above your industry default. Signals you treat the headshot as a professional artifact.
Plain wall, slightly blurred office, or soft outdoor. No party scenes, busy bookshelves, vacation backdrops, or competitor logos.
Direct eye contact with the camera registers as higher on both trustworthiness and competence. Looking off-camera reads as evasive in still photography even when it looks editorial in print.
The face should fill the upper two-thirds of the frame. Wide crops dilute the face on mobile LinkedIn, which is where most viewers will see your profile.
LinkedIn crops to a circle. Frame your shot assuming the corners will be cut. Place the face slightly above center so the chin does not get clipped.
Beyond two years, the photo starts to mismatch in-person impressions. A current photo that is slightly less polished outperforms a 5-year-old polished one on the trustworthiness dimension.
Question one: would the viewer trust this person with a meaningful work commitment. Question two: would the viewer believe this person can do the job their title says. Every other read is downstream of those two. A photo that scores high on both opens doors; a photo that scores low on either closes them, regardless of the underlying credentials below the photo.
The $149 Pro audit scores your photo on both. The output is the trait score, the gap analysis (which specific signals are dragging the score down), and the photographer brief you can take to your next reshoot. Most users discover their photo is doing one trait well and the other badly; the rebalancing fix is usually a single lighting or background change.
Generic tips are on this page. The personalized fix is in the audit.
The $149 Pro LinkedIn audit scores your photo on the Willis-Todorov trait stack, identifies the weakest signal, and writes a 5-page personalized PDF with a photographer brief for your next reshoot.
30 seconds. 3 trait scores. 5-page PDF. Photographer brief. 7-day refund.
$149 Pro LinkedIn audit · Photos auto-deleted · 30-day reshoot plan
All free. All private. All instant.
Is your smile genuine or forced?
How close are your proportions to φ?
AI attractiveness analysis
Rate my face 1–10
How attractive am I?
How symmetrical is your face?
Which photo gets more matches?
Best photo for LinkedIn
Your glow-up score