The professional process requires various skills, and the ability to make a brief, substantive and attractive bio plays one of the essential roles. It’s one of the tools to make the possible boss notice you as a great specialist.
The correct writing of the bio is a great help at any stage: just after education, when looking for a first job and then – with various places and roles. As life goes on and experience grows it also requires some updates from time to time.
Nowadays short biography is a great way to establish relations with clients and build a business. It’s successfully used as well as by individuals and big organizations. Here, we’ll discuss what a short biography means, what it should contain and how to make it.
So, firstly, let’s figure out what it signifies. It’s some kind of presentation of you as a specialist in the sphere. It includes your job history, success, and other related information. Generally, it consists of one-three indents – it depends on your job experience. However, some details are recommended to be excluded, for instance, your family status or religion.
The main point of making a good bio is clarity and simplicity. It’s better to type it first on Word so it can be checked for any spelling errors and mistakes in content. Don’t turn this document into a list of all awards you’ve ever won or skills you have. You should highlight only the most important information since employers do not read huge chunks of text! A short sentence describing your job title, what you are responsible for at work along your accomplishments are sufficient enough – don’t use clichés like “successful track record” though because everyone uses them! If necessary, look out for synonyms or any other substitutes to help you find a better variant.
The primary condition of a successful professional biography is its shortness. It should be brief and substantive since it is a foreword to make the possible boss notice you and ask you to give more info about you.
So, short professional biography should contain the following elements:
- Full name: It does not matter in what person you make the biography; in any case, you should give your full name. Any brand will not have a sense without a title.
- The brand: It’s also essential to specify the role you take in the company. It may be Junior Sales Manager, Assistant Marketing Manager and so on.
- Brief description of the things you do: Try to do it in one phrase.
- Your achievements: It will be enough to describe one significant achievement. If you have several that are the most important ones, try to put them in one sentence.
- Description of your aims: Write a short story where explain two things – why you do these things and what aim you want to reach.
- Some personal information: This point is not obligatory. It has sense only if you have something appropriate that needs to be included.
- Your contacts (it’s also not obligatory): Including contact information will be appropriate if your biography serves as a wake-up call to expand the business or attract new clients. If the customers or clients can see this information on your website or your social media account, there’s no need to include this information.
Now let’s figure out how to make a short professional biography:
- Make the first presentation: The first thing you should start with is saying your name, and then you should continue describing your achievements and the most remarkable skills. In the beginning, you can also mention your current job. Don’t forget to stick to the one-sentence rule.
- Describe what motivates you in your job in detail: In the second sentence, you can reveal your motivation to do this job. It will be helpful if you write how you became interested in the sphere.
- Say some words about your achievements: In this part, you need to convince the potential employer or business partner why you are the perfect candidate. And the achievements are a great instrument for this purpose. We do not recommend describing all your achievements. Choose the most remarkable one and describe it. These achievements can be various awards, promotions, certificates, or spectacular project results. There should be no more than two or three sentences in this part.
- Leave your contacts: The other aim of the short professional biography is to make the potential business partner or employer contact you. The contact information should contain your phone number, email, and links to the website and social media accounts.
- Put your photo: If you have a photo, upload it to the document. It will make it more impressive for business partners or employers.
Recommendations on how to make a successful short professional biography:
- Remember that the biography should be brief: There’s always a temptation to share a lot of information about yourself or your company to make the reader contact you. But when writing the short biography, you need to remember that it should be brief and contain only the points we’ve mentioned above. Or otherwise, the reader will not be intrigued and want to know more about you.
- Do not lie: The reader will have only one thing to do – check out your accomplishments. And if some of them are fabricated, you can lose the trust of the potential partners or employers for good.
- Adjust your biography to the audience. Before writing, you should think about your reader and its needs. And only then, accordingly, write the short professional bio.
- Don’t repeat the information: Even if you’ve written a short biography for LinkedIn and for your personal website, don’t make it copy-pasted because it will be apparent to the reader. Try to change the tone of the sentences or add some new information. You can also create another version if there are many facts you’d like to mention.
- Find a suitable photo: The employer or business partner will judge you based on the impression from your photo. So before you upload it, ask yourself if it is impressive and appropriate. If not, make another one – for example, special for LinkedIn.
- Be honest with your reader: If you want to get a job or build a business with someone, you need to be frank and say only true facts in your biography. Don’t distort facts and tell lies – otherwise, nobody will want to deal with you.
- Before publishing the biography, read and review for mistakes. If there are any, correct them. Your biography is your first step to success. Make it perfect so that you can easily get the result you want.
- Leave the links to your website, social media accounts, or portfolio: As we’ve said before, there’s always a temptation to include a lot of facts about yourself. The links to your website, social media accounts, or portfolio can serve as a confining factor not to do it. Plus, it gives more detailed information about your activities, achievements, and experiences.
- There are no strict rules on how to write short professional biographies: You just need to follow your mood and inspiration. If you feel like including a lot of information about yourself in the biography, don’t hesitate to do it. But remember that it can be risky – especially if some data is not true.
- Keep in mind the word count: Just like the other texts, a short professional biography should be within a certain word count. In this case, it’s 500-600 words. If your description is too long, break it into parts and upload them separately so that potential partners or employers have an opportunity to choose what they’re interested in.
Below, we’ll give you several examples of how to write a short professional biography.
1. Short biography for the beginner job-seekers
Helga Olsen is a young, up-and-coming journalist who believes in the strength of the word. She’s studied at the University of Florida, and during her studies, she’s been the editor of the local newspaper.
In her last studying year, she’s gained an internship at the New York Times. She’s been selected among hundreds of candidates and won thanks to her academic success, extraordinary essay, and, of course, her strong desire to become a journalist.
Now Helga lives in New York, writes various articles as a freelancer, and spends her free time with her cat.
Her contacts: email, phone number, links to social media accounts.
2. Short biography for an experienced worker
Jack Dorsey is one of the most professional apps developers in the sphere. He knows what mobile users want, how they use these apps, and gives them to it.
He studied in one of the most prestigious Washington Universities on the best IT courses that can ever be. He was an intern in such famous companies as Plaxonic Technologies and Techasoft, where he learned how to create the easiest-in-use and valuable mobile apps. He was included in the list of the most up-and-coming IT specialists of the generation.
Today he resides in Washington with his family. Besides work, he likes to spend his time with friends and family.
His contacts: phone number, email.
Conclusion:
What does a good professional biography have?
- The first thing you should remember is that a short professional biography has to be different from your other texts. It’s not a story or an essay, but a presentation of yourself as a person and your personal qualities.
- A short professional biography gives the reader an idea of what you’re like. You can depict yourself as an open, friendly, and communicative person when writing a text for the job-seeker. Show your potential employer your skills in building professional relationships with others within a short period of time.
- In the case of entrepreneurs or working professionals, use this opportunity to show how well you know your field and give the person an idea of what you’re like as a professional.
- Besides, remember to make it short and clear. Don’t overload the text with too many details that take off the charm of what you want to say.
So, we hope we gave you an idea of what to include in your short professional biography and how to make it sound the best. We wish you luck with writing!
And don’t forget: "The one who seeks advice will always find a solution."