Resume Photo Sizer (US / EU / JP / KR)

The short version, by country

CV photo norms split along three lines: expected, optional, and discouraged. Get this wrong and your resume reads as either "doesn't know local norms" (no photo in Germany) or "ignores anti-discrimination training" (photo in the US). The tool labels each country clearly, but here's the cheat sheet.

Photo expected (9 countries)

• Germany: 35×45 mm · White or light grey · The Bewerbungsfoto is still expected on most traditional German applications, though anonymized applications are growing in public sector roles.
• Spain: 35×45 mm · Neutral white · Spanish CVs typically include a passport-style photo in the top right corner.
• Switzerland: 35×45 mm · White or light grey · Swiss applications follow the German norm — formal headshot expected.
• Austria: 35×45 mm · White or light grey · Austria, like Germany, expects a Bewerbungsfoto for most private-sector applications.
• Japan: 30×40 mm · Plain white or very light · Japanese rirekisho uses 30 × 40 mm, glued or printed in the upper-right corner. Suit and tie standard.
• South Korea: 35×45 mm · Light blue or white · Korean resumes use a formal 35×45 photo, typically on a light blue background.
• China: 35×45 mm · Plain white · Chinese resumes (jianli) include a passport-style photo on a plain white background.
• Brazil: 35×45 mm · Plain light · Photos common on Brazilian curriculums for client-facing roles.
• United Arab Emirates: 35×45 mm · Plain white · Photos expected. Conservative, formal attire.

Photo discouraged (6 countries)

• United States: Most US recruiters reject resumes with photos to stay compliant with anti-discrimination hiring. Keep your photo on LinkedIn, not the resume itself.
• United Kingdom: UK CVs follow the same 'no photo' norm as the US for the same Equality Act reasons. Use the photo on LinkedIn instead.
• Canada: Photos are uncommon on Canadian resumes outside of acting and modeling.
• Australia: Australian and New Zealand CVs almost never include photos.
• Netherlands: Dutch employers prefer no photo to reduce unconscious bias. Use LinkedIn for the photo.
• Sweden: Nordic countries lean toward no-photo CVs.

How to take a CV photo that doesn't kill the application

The CV photo is technically a headshot, but the framing rules are stricter — more passport, less LinkedIn. Head-and-shoulders crop, neutral or slight-smile expression, no busy clothing, no patterned background, eyes on the camera. The cleanest setup: stand 1.5 meters from a plain wall with side daylight, phone at eye level (have someone else hold it), portrait mode on if your phone supports it. Read our 10-minute selfie checklist for the full setup.

The ATS question

ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) don't reject photo-bearing resumes — they just strip the image when parsing text. The bigger risk is the human screener: in the US/UK, a manager who opens your PDF and sees a photo will rate you lower because they've been trained to associate photo-bearing resumes with non-local-norm applicants. In Germany, the opposite — a missing photo reads as "not bothered to follow norms."

One photo, multiple formats

If you're applying internationally, you don't need three different photos. Generate one good headshot, then re-crop it for each country using this tool. Each export keeps the source quality. For applying in Germany, France, and Korea simultaneously: export at 35×45 mm three times (one with white background, one with light gray, one with light blue) and label them by country.

When fixing the photo isn't enough

If your only available photo is a vacation selfie, no amount of cropping will make it look like a Bewerbungsfoto. Open the AI Studio — one selfie in, a Corporate or Executive style out, ready to drop into this tool to crop for the target country. Free for 3 photos, $19 once for 100 photos.