A Simple Guide to Professional Short Bios (With Examples)
A short bio is practical whether you are a job seeker, a freelancer, or simply want to have a presence online. This will be the first impression a potential employer, client, or contact will have of you, so you need one that packs a punch and leaves a positive impression on your audience.
Your bio needs to be captivating for your profile to be worthwhile to recruiters. It's way easier than you might think. In this blog post, we’ll give you some tips and tricks to write a useful professional bio.
What is a short bio?
A short bio provides a quick overview of your identity and career goals to the outside world. It's all about showing your audience who you are, what you've done, and what you want to do. You can see them on social media, on resumes, on personal websites, and in company team directories. Think of a professional bio as the author's biography found on the back flap of a book. Simple, right?
What to include
Most social media platforms only allow one or two sentences, so the key is to be concise. Moreover, your bio should fit your resume’s header, and you know that a resume can’t exceed a single page. The basis for any short bio is
- Your name
- Your current job or education (if you’ve never had a job)
- Your personal and professional goals
- Your biggest achievement
Nevertheless, if you are planning on a resume, a personal website, or a job-seeking platform, you would also want to add the following information:
- Where you’re based right now
- Your skills and areas of expertise
- Your passions and hobbies
- Your availability
If you have no experience, just say it. Everyone has to start their career somewhere, and there is nothing wrong with that. In turn, include a sentence about yourself that might be intriguing and show determination. If you can outwit the “I’m passionate and stubborn” tribe and write something a bit more intriguing instead, you’ll catch the interest of an HR professional. It’s a given.
What you should consider for your short bio
If your bio draft is already short, to the point, and includes the bullets we outlined below, you’re on a good track. You should still pay attention to the following style suggestions:
1. Voice
Before you get into writing your bio, you need to find the voice that fits your needs the best. And by that, we mean first or third person. Are you going to talk as yourself, using “I” and “me”, or as someone else, using your name and pronouns? Your decision should be based completely on the purpose of your bio.
The best match for a somewhat informal bio is the first person. Talking as yourself is a great way to connect with your audience and makes you seem more approachable. It works wonders when you are trying to build a personal brand. Still, don’t overdo it. Don't start every sentence with “I”, It’ll make your writing look untidy. Using the third person is more effective in formal settings because it creates a distance between you and the reader. It’s more assertive and professional. This way, you are letting the facts speak for themselves.
If you’re overly formal, you write a résumé instead of a resume and want to address your potential employer with very specific etiquette, you can always talk about yourself without using pronouns. This is aligned with very ceremonious settings such as academia. If you’re writing to a Computer Science department in a European university, you could describe yourself as: “Programmer with six years of experience in embedded systems, large-language models and AI research. Doctor Honoris Causa at Oxford University,” and such. If you’re consistent, it won’t read weird. And it proves that you took the time to investigate their tone, which is very positive.
2. Writing style
The words you choose to use in your bio will also affect its professionalism. You can play with the style to your liking to make it more formal, friendly, or witty. Remember to use accessible language throughout, especially when talking about your achievements. If all types of readers get the message, you’ve got yourself a winner.
The bottom line is that you should adapt. For very high-traffic websites, you can use a succinct and broad message, leaving wits aside. Now, if you’re sending applications to startups with a reputation for being laid back, you can put together a resume that has a humorous bio instead. Since having plenty of resumes for different audiences takes time, you can always lean on AI to get it done faster.
3. Be concise
The rule of thumb for short bios is to keep them short and sweet. You only have about six sentences to work with, so be sharp. To determine what information will be useful, you must consider two important factors:
- Your target audience, and
- Your goal (we’ll get onto this later)
Are you looking for a programmer position? Then include what programming languages you are fluent in and your experiences in the field. In this example, your past life as an Account Manager seems almost superfluous; however, they might be intrigued by it if you’re seeking employment that involves dealing with clients.
Your goal is getting hired, right? Most times, yes. Now, at a certain stage of your career, you might not be looking for a new job. You might want to be invited to conferences instead and build a name as a speaker, to give an example. Well, this case demands a different bio where you can flex your experience.
4. Use figures
AI resume builders got this one right. When you participate in a company, you’re part of a wider team. So if the company grew by 20% in revenue and landed an IPO while you actively worked there, you can very confidently say: “Helped a YC company grow 20% in revenue YoY thanks to our team’s scalable SaaS deployment.” You’re keeping it slightly veiled deliberately in case there’s an NDA in between. Don’t assign yourself merit if you didn’t do that, though. HR professionals are experts at spotting overinflated claims.
5. Add keywords
On social media networks and job boards, recruiters will search through keywords. Add words that are relevant to the job/role you are looking for, like “software developer”, “software engineer,” or the names of the programming languages you are fluent in. If you have a keyword-rich bio, you are one step closer to a new interview call.
6. Be authentic and don’t overthink it
To properly connect with your reader, your bio should humanize you. Mentioning some of your passions or hobbies will make your bio more relatable, and it will shine a light on your personality. In other words, be authentic, don't oversell yourself, and have fun with it. Don’t worry about trying to sound fancy or overqualified.
Real-life examples of successful bios
Our first example comes from one of the top software engineering startups in 2023, Panorama Education’s chief technology officer, Daniel Johnson.
“Danny Johnson loves to build organizations that deliver great software. He’s developed and led large product management and engineering teams at PeopleSoft, Oracle, Workday, and Ridgeline. In addition, he’s built organizations from the ground up across multiple functions and geographies.
He has 25+ years of experience delivering enterprise-class solutions to help customers achieve their business objectives with technology-forward solutions. Proven expertise from a disruptive startup to a global industry leader. Hands-on passion for building a lasting culture through hard work, leadership, and a focus on people.”
Notice how, even though he benefits from the professionalism of the third person, he uses the nickname, making the bio more welcoming. He accentuates his passion for software engineering and his accomplishments throughout his career. Saying he has worked on a “disruptive startup” emphasizes he’s always on the edge. In only six sentences, he shows us both his skills and his personality.
If you’re super successful, you can be very frank and go for something minimalist that still tells a story. Like Greg Brockman here, President and Co-Founder at OpenAI:
“I love to build.”
However, I wouldn't recommend doing that if you're still a rookie.
Awais Kamran’s example is great for a LinkedIn summary; unfortunately, it's too long. This will make it difficult to adapt it to other mediums, like resumes or social media. We are trying to build a professional short bio you can use and reuse in multiple settings.
Examples of short bios
“Jennifer Hartman has a decade of expertise using the Java programming language and database development with SQL. Hartman is fluent in English, Spanish, and French and is enthusiastic about working with teams from abroad. She is detail-oriented and wants to strengthen her skills through on-the-job learning and coaching. Currently, she is searching for a remote job in software development.”
“Hi! My name is Paul, and I'm a professional software engineer with fifteen years of experience in the information technology and services industries. I've spent my career refining my talents in machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, IoT, real-time analytics, and AI solution design. My favorite project was the smart solar panel farm we developed in CO to power 20,000 homes in the U.S. — I’d be delighted to chat about it."
Both examples are keyword-rich and highlight achievements and experiences rather than roles. They show glimpses of their personalities by mentioning what they are passionate about and what they are looking for in the future. See the difference between writing in the first and third person? The first example is much more aloof and businesslike, while the second is more friendly and approachable, and includes a “call to action”: let’s chat.
Understanding company culture to write a specific bio
Now you know how easy it is to make a positive first impression. Now just remember to update it as you grow and learn. And if you make it to the interview, you should practice for typical questions like “Why do you want to work here?” and “What are your greatest weaknesses?” We’re offering company reviews that allow you to glimpse into company culture. And by understanding company culture, you might predict what kind of bio will have them intrigued. So check testimonials before you send your application their way. Good luck!
