Is it me or is there something wrong with drinks industry professionals (or any industry come to think of it) displaying LinkedIn profile photos swigging from a bottle or beer, drinking wine in a bar or just generally looking the worse for wear on a night out.

There are some photos which I believe are acceptable e.g. holding a glass of wine at a corporate event promoting a wine brand or holding a particular drinks bottle to promote the brand in a work environment.

What I don’t think portrays the right image is one where the photos have been taken on a night out or on holiday and it isn’t really promoting the brand – it just says I like to have a drink. Yes we all like to have a drink, but this does not present a professional image on LinkedIn – how many of us drink on the job for example? Therefore, you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see this either as it is not relevant.

As a drinks industry recruiter I search through 100’s of profiles each week and I frequently come across photos of this nature. On Facebook this would be fine, but not on LinkedIn, although I have noticed more and more Facebook style posts on LinkedIn, but that’s another article altogether!

Fluid Fusion (www.fluidfusionexec.com) represents some of the biggest drinks companies in the world across wines, beers, spirits and champagnes and I know that they do check out potential employees on LinkedIn. My recommendation to anyone with this type of photo – change it. You never know who is looking at your profile. It puts me off – so will put employers off as well?