BUSINESS WRITING
Harvard Business Review
What Your Professional Bio Needs to Get Noticed
Meredith Fineman
MARCH 2, 2015
A professional bio is something that everyone needs, but not everyone bothers to write one. Or they write one once, and then never update it. Or they wait until a conference organizer asks them to send one in, and just jot down the first few things that occur to them.
That’s a pretty big missed opportunity. Your bio is a strategic play and should be treated as such. A bio can help you get hired, gain visibility, and win you serious respect. That’s why when I work with my clients, the first thing we work on is their bio.
Here are some of the main mistakes I see.
A lack of consistency. The biggest issue I see when working with client’s bios is a lack of consistency. If a journalist or recruiter cannot figure out who you are in under 30 seconds (because you have six different bios in six different places), you’ve lost your chance. You want to communicate who you are and what you do in a way that spans multiple websites. This means that all bios — from your personal website to your LinkedIn profile to your company’s site — need to be the same. You need to tell people who you are and drive the point home.
Everyone needs a long, short, and two-line bio. A long bio can be a full page, and can go on your personal website. A short bio is about a paragraph — probably the first paragraph of your long bio — and can serve as your default bio. A two-line bio can go under your byline or in a quick panel description. How do you decide what to cut for the shorter versions? Think of it as trying to give your bio as an elevator pitch. What summarizes you? Philanthropist? Serial entrepreneur? Connector? Try to describe yourself in 15 seconds. What you get across in there should be in your short bio.
The information is stale. Updating your bio regularly is very important. (This also means updating the short bio and two-line bio as well.) Every six months you should be revisiting your bio to see what has changed and what other experience you have accrued. Set a recurring calendar remind to do it. Have someone else read over it too — it’s hard to write about yourself, and you might be leaving a few things out.
There are no links. It drives me crazy to see accomplished people using bios that do not link to their work. Unless your bio is printed out on paper, such as in a pamphlet for a panel, link to your work. If you discuss running a campaign for a new product, show the outcome. Link to pieces you’ve written, press releases about an award, or your personal website. Your bio is a tool to showcase you and your work — and you need to make that as easy as possible for the reader. Don’t assume that someone will read your bio, alight on something you’ve done, open a browser tab, Google that accomplishment, search through the results, and then read about it. That’s too much work. You need to present it all, and hope that they will click on it. (You can also use bit.ly, which will allow you to track the number of clicks each link gets.)
Weak verbs. A cardinal sin is using the passive voice. When someone has used the passive voice in their bio, it always feels to me like they’re trying to downplay their achievements. The point of your bio is to emphasize your achievements. You are a person who has done things, so you need to write it that way — like you are proud and you mean it. Another type of downplaying is using verbs that suggest you are ”trying to” or “attempting” to do something, be that change an industry or work with an idea. That makes it sound like you’ve already failed. Remove it. You are not attempting to do it, you are doing it.
It’s just a list. A bio isn’t just a list of jobs followed by your degrees. A bio is a chance to sing your own praises about prizes, things you’ve written, positions you have held. Discuss an exciting project that received exposure and praise. It can contain information on passion projects, upcoming projects, or hobbies. Be careful to not be too casual or say things like, “In her spare time you can find Alice trying out the latest in microbrews.” This is a professional bio, so while you can include your hobbies, choose carefully and be straightforward rather than coy. Professional bios are not, in my experience, the place to be playful.
However, don’t throw in the kitchen sink. Every accomplishment you include should be there for a reason. And certain skills — like knowing how to use Photoshop or Excel — are such common skills you don’t need to list them. When it comes to your academic accomplishments, feel free to list your undergraduate or graduate degrees, but draw the line there. You don’t need to go into details (or high school).
The person refers to herself by her first name. ”William is an expert in iambic pentameter and revenge plots” does not sound as professional as saying that “Shakespeare” is an expert in those things. Not only is using your last name more professional, it’s also more memorable, since last names tend to be rarer than first names. What about referring to yourself as a “ninja” or “rockstar”? Drop it. While that might work in technology or the start-up world, it won’t read as professionally in more traditional industries. You want your bio to be something that travels across industries.
There are no calls to action. Your bio as a marketing tool for your business and for your career. If you speak, link to how to book you. If you offer an online course, link to that too. It would be a waste to have someone read your bio and not become a potential customer. That being said, any more than two calls to action reads as a hard sell, which isn’t the point of your bio. You want to save the calls to action for the most important clicks.
Tighten, strengthen, and regularly update your bio. When used correctly, it’s a tool that can help you stand out.
Meredith Fineman is the founder of FinePoint, a company that empowers leadership through public relations tactics. Her latest program is a bootcamp called Do You (But Better), a primer for personal brand and professional confidence via PR practices. You can read more of her writing here.
