Editor’s note: I updated this post on March 23, 2021 to include up-to-date examples and wording.
Hiring managers are checking you out online, and you need to know how to write a professional bio you want them to see.
Nearly 70 percent of hiring managers use social media to screen candidates. About half report using Google searches to learn about potential employees and say they wouldn’t hire an employee if they couldn’t find them online.
You want them to find a consistent message about you—your qualifications, professionalism and personality.
As you continue making a professional brand for yourself, all of your online communication platforms will have one thing in common — a version of a professional bio. The bio is a controlled and consistent message about your brand.
Writing your professional bio can be an intimidating task. It’s difficult to write about yourself. You’re uncertain what to include and how to write it in a way that is professional while simultaneously creative.
My advice is to first create a long-form professional bio—the type of thing you would use on a resume website. From there you can edit and alter it into smaller bits as needed for other uses like on social media or running with guest blog posts.
Your professional bio should be written in third person and include the following. Here’s how to write a professional bio.
State who you are
Put your name in the first sentence of your bio so the reader knows immediately that they are reading about the correct person. It’s your virtual introduction. If you have a common name that may be confused with others, consider using a middle name or initial in all of your professional communication.
Outline what you do
Provide a general idea of what you do, establishing your industry without necessarily being organization specific.
For example:
Kenna Griffin is a content marketer, journalism professor and collegiate media adviser. She studies the link between journalism and emotional trauma.
Describe where you work or have worked
Describe your current job, business or professional experience.
For example:
Kenna is a freelance content marketer, the remote media training specialist for The Shield student media at the University of Southern Indiana and an adjunct professor in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma.
Explain why you’re worth considering
Explain why you are worth considering as a resource or employee. This is the place to include publications, presentations, professional memberships, or awards.
For example:
Kenna is the author of profkrg.com, a site that serves as a practical resource for student journalists.
Kenna has a Ph.D. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. She researches the relationship between emotional trauma, journalism professionalism and organizational support. She is a two-time Dart Foundation educator fellow with the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. She published a book in 2020 about her research on journalists’ emotions regarding witnessing executions.
Tell them how to find you
Include all of your relevant contact information — email address, telephone number, professional social media accounts, and website and/or blog URLS.
Provide some extras
You can personalize your bio even more by including elements such as a photo of yourself, a video introduction or links to your work. You also can provide details about hobbies or outside interests that make you marketable or establish your professional brand. This part of the bio is sort of like the “fun fact,” only career-relevant and not as annoying to create.
In her “off” time, Kenna likes to read, swim, or just be outdoors in the sunshine and spend time with her family and their four dogs. She reads more than 100 books a year and admits she’s a personal and professional development junkie. She’s also a self-proclaimed word nerd.
Adjusting your professional bio
Once you draft this foundational bio of about five to eight paragraphs, it will be much easier to alter it for all of your various online platforms. You also should update the bio regularly so it stays current.
Remember that the important thing is to present a consistent professional message about yourself for potential employers and partners to see.
This column is so timely for me, as I am in the process of reworking my bio. You made some great points. It is so much better to have one very in-depth document to pull shorter bio’s from. The reminder about including how you can be reached is a good one. I am frequently amazed by that information not being available about individuals who have otherwise been quite thorough and careful.
gina valley I realized when I wrote this that I need to update mine on our department’s website. No time like the present!
Thanks for reading and commenting, Gina. I appreciate it.
Kenna
This is a timely post for me as well, Kenna. My primary area of concentration is broadcast marketing, but as I’ve often joked, it’s easy for me to “sell” a story or a show, but it feels next to impossible when it comes to marketing ME.
patricksplace My students experienced this firsthand today. I actually wrote this post as prep for an in-class lab where they drafted their own professional bios. It was really difficult for some of them. It’s not easy to write about yourself. Too many times people just feel like they’re bragging. Some students also realized that they didn’t have much to write. This is eye opening because they still have time to fix that before it’s time for them to enter the job market.
Thanks for visiting and commenting, Patrick. I appreciate your support.
Kenna
patricksplace I think your story is your strongest “selling” weapon. For most students, they don’t have enough professional experience. And for entry level starters, like me, we don’t have “weapon” to open a bigger door for us. All the words that we put together are just saying. It’s hard to know the “quality”. But you are different. If you have a good story or a good show, you can catch people’s eyes pretty fast.
Informative post. I think why you’re worth considering is especially important and often overlooked. It may be interesting to go through some of the things that shouldn’t be included in bio! Given what you do, I’m sure you’ve seen some doozies. I’ve notice that, especially with younger people, it’s amazing how little thought they give to the appropriateness of what the write online!
CompanyFounder It’s a great idea to write this post from the opposite angle—what you shouldn’t do. One of the issues students discovered when writing these for today’s class lab was that they weren’t sure what professional experiences to include. A lot of students have jobs just to pay the bills. We discussed the benefits of including a job like waiter or lifeguard. I’m really excited to read their final products.
Thanks for the visit!
Kenna
I love this– lots of great information here!! I am in the process of constructing my bio, so this is very useful!
MELISASource I’m glad you find it useful. I need to rewrite mine again. It’s easy to just put it out there and not update it. Good luck!
The most difficult part includes information not readily available because of non-existence. There are no formal jobs for the field I am currently studying, which puts me at a disadvantage. What I’m doing now is working hard on a portfolio so the prospective employer can see what I’m capable of, first hand, instead of taking the word of someone else word of whether or not I should be employed.
MJBrewer It seems that there must be professional organizations and some type of jobs. Perhaps you’re thinking too narrowly?
Great article, thank you for posting.
It’s my belief that Bios need to contain more personal information. People crave relationships, and a bio can be the start to that. Knowing that someone has kids, is busy with activities, enjoys certain hobbies etc. Helps us to relate to them. For many such as myself, my personal story is as important as my professional one. They go hand in hand.
suelessard01 I think how much personal detail you include depends on what you plan to do with the bio. Certainly you don’t want to over share with potential employers or professional contacts, but I agree that you should make yourself human.
Thank you so much for posting such an informative and easy to follow guide on writing a professional bio. I have been searching for a resource like this for a long time and was very happy to come across yours. I now feel like I have a much more professional sounding and looking bio that will look great as a part of my various social media accounts and my online profile.
Thanks again!
Thank you for your article. I am a recent graduate and hold several positions at the moment, some internships and part time jobs. Should I mention the internships in my bio or is it better to leave them out? Even though they would make me more interesting?
Thank you for this learning tool. Keep your good works up.
Respectfully,
R.V.McMaster
Thank you very much for this wonderful site! Please continue your great contribution to the world!
Respectfully,
Rosemarie V McMaster
Thank you! I appreciate you reading and commenting.
I know it’s been several years since you wrote this, but what do think about students creating SlideShare visual biographies as a supplement to their other bios/resumes/etc.?
profkrg I found it easy to write my own after writing my own obit (hey I did those for years in the biz…) easy to do a bio off that…
Well, now-a-days most of the people includes their LinkedIn profiles on their resume and recruiter find it as an easiest way to find more info about the candidates. Before including it make sure that your profile is written in an impressive way. If not make it in such a way using above tips. <a href=”http://www.osamresume.com/”>best resume writing service</a> creates awesome resumes.
Great article, thank you for sharing! I also have read another interesting article about this topic <a href=”http://www.biographywritingservices.com/biography-for-website”>here</a> and I hope all these pieces of advice will help me to create my professional bio.