Will a resume photo help you land that job or will it have an adverse effect and hurt your chances? In today's companies having a photo on a resume is apparently not commonplace. Career experts mostly discourage inclusion of photos on resumes.

The major downside of including a photo is the current issue of discrimination; it might allow an employer or hiring manager to make judgments about your age, race, gender or simple make judgments based on the "look" of the applicant. That is why human resource professionals consider it as an inappropriate practice for potential applicants.

There are instances though wherein companies require applicants to submit a resume with photos of themselves, these companies are generally those who would like to keep track of potential applicants via pictures, or if a company has operations that are in high security environments.

Normally, for the majority of the companies out there, resume photos are only required or requested later in the selection and recruitment process for filing, ids, and other obvious purposes. This is of course if you have already passed and gone through the interviews and the application process.

So in case you stumble upon a company that requests you to submit a resume with a photo, then it is important that you follow some guidelines.

Hopefully you have some id photos stashed somewhere and can easily procure this requirement, but if you don't, then never resort to just cutting up a photo of yourself from your personal photographs, or photographs in social events. This will really look unprofessional and will tell the recruiters or hiring managers that you were not willing to provide them with a proper photo; this would really make you undesirable as potential employee.

If you don't have that photo then just go to any photo shop or booth and get your picture taken, make sure you wear something professional, avoid t-shirts, sleeveless shirts, or coats. Wear a suit and a tie, or at least a decent looking collared shirt. Use only plain color background in your photos, limit the size to 1x1 or 2x2 inch sizes or otherwise specified by the company who is requesting the photo.

If you are given instructions on how your photo should look like, i.e. backgrounds, attire or size, then by all means follow their instructions to the detail. You can also go digital, if otherwise specified of course. You can paste your photo on your resume and print it out, or include it on the document or email if you plan to send it electronically.

Companies today are all going online and most don't accept paper resumes anymore, so having a digital but professional photo on your hard drive is always a good idea. By doing this you can easily print out your photo, paste them on company websites, post them on job sites, and even send it by attaching it to emails. Lastly make sure you look good and presentable in your photo, even if you don't look like Adonis, just always remember to look enthusiastic. Make sure your photo really represent who you are because after all, a picture is worth a thousand words.