How to Write a Professional Bio

What Is a Professional Bio?

A professional bio is a short paragraph to introduce yourself and highlight your professional accomplishments and personal details if applicable and appropriate. This paragraph could go on your:

• Website
• Blog
• Resume summary
• LinkedIn summary
• Twitter bio
• Instagram bio
• Facebook Business Page
• Bylines and publications

In all of these spots, your bio helps potential clients and employers understand what you’re all about professionally. 

How to Write a Short Professional Bio

Now, follow this step-by-step guide to writing an effective, short bio. 

• Introduce Yourself

The first place to start is your name. If you’re writing in the third person, these should be the first two words of the paragraph. 

• Decide on Third Person or First Person

A bio can either be in third person, as if someone else is talking about you, or first person, the way you would talk about yourself. Writing in third person is a more formal choice and writing in first person is a more casual choice. 

• Include Your Company or Brand Name

A bio can represent you on a personal level or it can represent your professional role, depending on the context. If you have a personal brand or are a business owner, include your brand name at the beginning of your bio. 

If you’re writing a bio for your workplace’s company website, mention your job title. You can also include the name of a company you work for on a bio for your own website or social media profiles if it’s important to your professional accomplishments. 

• Explain Your Professional Role

Then, briefly explain your current position. This can be similar to the description you use on your resume. Not everyone will know what exactly you do based on your job title alone, so a brief explanation could give readers a better understanding of who you are professionally. 

• Highlight Your Professional Achievements

Now it’s time for the highlight reel of your professional experience. Go ahead, brag a little. This could include accomplishments like: 

• Awards
• Certifications
• Contributions to notable projects
• Quotes from client testimonials
• Press coverage
• New ideas or approaches
• Areas of expertise

• Emphasize Your Passions and Values

A professional biography isn’t just a dry list of what you’ve done. It’s also about why you do it and what keeps you doing it. This part of your bio is your own personal mission statement. Whether your raison d'être is serving a particular population, filling an unmet need in society, learning about particular subjects, or making people feel less alone, defining the driving force behind what you do can help readers understand what matters to you. 

• Mention your personal interests

No matter how much you love your job, it’s probably not the only important thing in your life. If it is, I’m worried about you. You don’t have to bare your soul to potential employers or customers, but mentioning your life outside of work shows readers that you’re, well, a person. You could talk about: 

• Your family
• Your hometown
• Your hobbies
• Side hustles you’re working on

Professional Bio Best Practices

Keep it Concise

Your professional bio should give readers a good idea of who you are professionally, but it should also hold readers’ attention.  Keep each part of your bio 1-2 sentences long. 

Consider Your Audience

Just as you talk to your friends differently than you talk to your boss, your target audience should influence how you write your bio. If this bio will mainly be read by recruiters and potential employers, you’ll want to use a serious, professional tone. If you’re writing an Instagram bio, a casual, conversational tone would be more fun.  

Add Humor

When appropriate, using humor in your bio will make it memorable and give readers a deeper connection to your personal brand. 

Link to Your Website

When your bio goes anywhere besides your professional or personal website, remember to include a link to your website. Not only will this give you a self-promotion boost, but it will give you an air of authority. 

Adapt for Different Platforms

You’ll most likely need to adapt the length and writing style of your biography to suit different platforms. For example, you may place a longer bio on your website’s About page and a shorter one on your LinkedIn profile. In these cases, use the same main principles for writing a bio while scaling down the most important elements.

Avoid Jargon and Buzzwords

When you spend nearly a third of your life at work, it’s easy to forget that the rest of the world doesn’t speak your industry’s (or company’s) language. Use your bio to share facts and impact in terms everyone will understand.

Use Your Own Voice

Write about what you know best and write the way that you talk. If your bio readers ever meet you in person, they should feel as if they already know you.

Update it Regularly 

Your bio should evolve as you do. If you start looking for jobs in different industries, have a new and exciting accomplishment to note, or just feel ready for a refresh, go for it. Now that you’ve got this draft down, it’ll be easy to rework your professional bio.

Professional Bio Examples

• Bristol Guitar Making School
• Amanda Shields Interiors
• Mark Levy
• Wonbo Woo
• Lisa Quine
• Nancy Twine
• Trinity Mouzon
• Ann Handley

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