No matter how great or poor your writing skills are, there comes a time when almost everyone will have to write something. Whether it is a speech, a toast, a presentation, or a killer opening line, good writing skills are critical in almost every line of work. Good writing is not about finding just the right word or phrase, however, it’s about communicating clearly with a minimal number of words. As a professional, you’re going to want to have a bio on hand that you can use for a variety of purposes. Here are a few tips for how to write a quality professional bio.
Share professional and personal accomplishments
While you certainly want to highlight your achievements and accomplishments, you also don’t want to come across as if you believe you could walk on water. Choose one or two career highlights and let it go at that. In addition, you want to balance your professional accomplishments with a few personal tidbits that communicate who you are as a person. These can include hobbies, passions, interests, or even a bit about your family or pets.
Talk about your values
A professional bio should tell your readers three things about you: who you are, what you have done, and what you stand for. People don’t just want to know where you came from and what you have done, they also want to know where you are going. Professional bios are similar to a resume in that they are used as a small snapshot to determine whether you would be a good fit for a wide range of opportunities. There is little that determines fit better than the alignment of values.
Avoid hyperbole
When describing your achievements, you don’t need to provide your own adjectives to tell people what they should think about them. While your bio should not be just a long list of dry, droll facts about you, it should also not be peppered with adjectives to describe your accomplishments either or lofty language that embellishes what you’ve done. Just give personable information and let readers draw their own conclusions.
Add a great story
The goal of a bio is to give readers a well-rounded picture of who you are, not just what you have achieved. Including a short, personal or humorous storywill humanize you and make you come across as a real, fully-rounded person (which you are), not just a long list of facts about you.