Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images
- An ex-Amazon and Comcast recruiter once came across an image of a man with a gun in a résumé.
- She said she wouldn't want to be associated with the applicant because he felt like a "danger."
- Putting an image in a résumé can also lead to hiring bias, experts say.
An ex-Amazon recruiter described the most disturbing thing she had seen in a résumé, and it was a picture of a man holding a gun.
Lindsay Mustain, a former Comcast and Amazon recruiter, told CNBC Make It in a recent interview that in 2007, she was hiring for a basic entry-level call center position at Comcast.
The role attracted a variety of candidates, and "sometimes you get some really interesting ones," she said, but there was one that "shocked" her.
As she was going through a pile of résumés on her desk, she came across a two-page résumé which is standard because recruiters will take the time to look through your experience.
"The very last page was a picture, a full-blown picture of him holding a shotgun," she said. "What would go through your mind to think that this is an acceptable piece?"
Mustain said it was a selfie-style image taken on a cellphone, and the gun wasn't pointing at the camera. Still, she was pretty blown away by it.
Mustain, now the CEO of a talent agency called Talent Paradigm, said putting an image of yourself in résumé isn't a smart idea anyway.
"Unless you're a model or a real-estate agent, I recommend you not put a photo on your résumé," she said.
She added: "I would not want to be associated with him because they feel like they're a danger."
Mustain's concerns were valid, especially as images in résumés can lead to unconscious bias within the hiring process.
A careers expert, Alison Doyle, previously told Business Insider that images are only standard in the entertainment industry if you're working as an actor, for example.
"The rationale for excluding photos has been to protect employers from allegations of discrimination based on race, age, weight, gender, attractiveness, or personal style," she wrote. "Plus, many employers are eager to avoid unconscious bias in their recruitment, using strategies like removing college and candidate names from resumes before reviewing them."
A study by the University of Chicago and the University of California Berkeley in 2021 found that even a person's name can result in hiring bias. In fact, the study showed that people with distinctively Black names had a slightly lower chance of getting contacted for a position than other candidates with less distinctive names.