Whether you need a professional bio for the about page on your website or at the request of a potential employer, crafting a quality biography sometimes feels overwhelming. There is so much information that needs to be included in a short piece. How do you know what to include and which pieces of information might be irrelevant?

If you want to learn how to write a professional bio, here are the six top tips that will jumpstart your creativity:

1. Be Thorough

A professional bio is your opportunity to share all of your relevant experience that sets you apart from your competition. It should contain all of your education, credentials, and relevant work experience.

If anything, you should err on the side of giving away too much information rather than not enough. In the scenario that your bio ends up being too long, consider what your most impressive professional accomplishments have been.

For an example of a really thorough biography, check out this professional bio for Alex Brown, a Maryland attorney.

2. Come Up with a Branding Statement

For those who really want to set their professional bio apart from the competition, you need to come up with a branding statement.

This statement can be short and sweet in just a couple of sentences. In essence, it is a statement about what you do and what makes your approach to a problem unique. Be as specific as possible about the services or products that you offer.

Indeed has come up with a list of 10 great examples of branding statements that you can use for inspiration when it comes to creating your own.

3. Include Your Values

Your clients want to connect with you as a person before they are willing to open their wallets to pay for your services. A great way to think about this is to consider this question: why do you do what you do? Why does your brand exist? Be as clear as possible about what ideals you uphold in your business practices.

This value statement may not be the best opening statement for a professional bio, but it should summarize the key aspects of why you do what you do before the end of the piece.

4. Show Your Personality

While it may not seem like the appropriate place for your hobbies and interests, you should give your audience a brief taste of who you are as a person.

Before wrapping up a professional bio, give a few of your interests or hobbies to make you seem like a more well-rounded person. Show them that there is more to you than just your professional accomplishments.

Not sure how to display your personality in a professional bio? Consider these top examples from branding professional Mark Levy, where he details his penchant for magic tricks and his love for baseball and ape films.

5. Include Measurable Results

Do you have tangible proof that the business or service you offer can work for your clients? A professional bio is a time to boast about your results.

In addition to listing what you do, you need to provide proof that you are effective. Include statistics about your achievements, such as helping a company boost their profits by a certain percentage or cutting down on waste.

Not only does this make it clear to clients that you get results, but it also cements the fact that you are an experienced professional worth hiring. Results prove your credibility and authority in any given field.

For a great example of how to incorporate your results, check out this professional bio from SEO content writer Chima Mmeje.

6. Don’t Forget the Basics

It’s easy to get caught up in all of the details of your professional accomplishments, but you must remember to include the basics:

• Your full name
• Your current position or title
• Current job responsibilities

These should be close to the beginning of your professional bio so that prospective clients or employers can see at a glance who you are in your field.

If something is vital to who you are or what you currently do, make sure to include it. While you can take some creative liberties with this section, it is often best to be as straightforward as possible.

You can get a good idea of how to share the basics in this example from Audra Simpson, a political anthropologist.

Get Started

The best way to get your professional bio on paper is to simply get started. Sit down and start to organize your thoughts about what you have accomplished and who you are as a person. Once you have the framework on the page, you can always go back through and edit it to make it more polished and professional.


Image Credits:

Image 1: Image by Marco Verch on Flickr