A former LinkedIn employee explains the worst mistakes you can make with your profile photo

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They say don't judge a book by its cover.

But your LinkedIn profile photo can say a lot about who you are, according to Koka Sexton, a former LinkedIn employee who's now running his own company called Social Selling Labs.

Sexton recently published a blog post listing the 8 biggest mistakes people make on their LinkedIn profile photos, and says avoiding these mistakes could dramatically increase the chances of landing your dream job.

"Your LinkedIn profile picture is a decisive element for shaping your online presence and creating new career prospects," Sexton writes. "Potential clients do shape a first impression about their prospective employees by their profile pictures."

These are the 8 biggest LinkedIn profile photo mistakes you should stop making, according to Sexton:

The oldie: "Do you have a favorite old picture that you can’t get over and continue using it as a profile picture? It’s high time to realize that it should go in your computer’s archive folder! Bear in mind that your picture should be recent, where you would look like your actual self."

The weekender: "We all love going out and having fun, but let’s keep hangover pictures to our friendly circles. LinkedIn is not the right place for it. It’s probably good to tone things down a little and eliminate the party hype."

The shadow: "Your profile picture should help potential clients know who they are going to deal with. Gloomy, dark or photoshopped pictures where your face is hardly visible should be completely avoided."