Bios (short for “biography”) are one of those odd professional documents that people never think they’ll be called on to write … until they are. Whether it’s for a blurb in an Open House bulletin or a longer “About Me” page on the school website, professional and engaging bios appear more often than you think—and are often your prospective audience’s first impression of you and your work.
That said, bios can be extremely difficult to write. You know yourself and your accomplishments better than anyone, making you the best person to write the bio, but “tooting your own horn” can feel intrinsically uncomfortable. Fear not! There are tricks for pushing through your initial unease. So let’s take a look at how to write the three most common bios you’ll be called on to provide.
What a Bio Should Achieve
Before we talk about the three types of bios, however, we need to talk about what a bio is supposed to do. A good bio should accomplish two main things:
- Introduce you as a person, striking the tone and attitude you want to convey; and
- Offer your credentials, establishing professional credibility and background.
So no matter what type of bio you’re asked to write—whether for a social media page, an author snippet, or an “about me” piece—your bio should achieve those two points.
For a foolproof way to start an awesome bio, you should answer the question, “What is my professional mission?” (If your school has a mission, then you should, too!)
1. The “Short” Social Media Bio
One of the first (and lowest-pressure) places which ask for a biography are on your personal social media accounts. Social media bios are a great place to start when learning to write a bio for two reasons: space limitations and informality.
When it comes to the first advantage, it’s important to remember that the various social media websites often limit how many characters the bio can have. Twitter, for instance, only gives you 160 characters in which to introduce yourself to your online audience. Thus, you’ll have to craft your professional bio with fewer frills, which typically enforces stronger writing that will form the “core” from which the longer bios will grow.
Plus, social media sites encourage a less formal, more spur-of-the-moment style of writing. The websites exist to encourage conversation, after all, and whoever heard of an engaging scripted conversation outside of a theater or call center? Social media bios can take advantage of this informality, as readers are less judgmental of lighter fare on these sites.
So social media bios are short and “light,” but that only offers the broadest schematic from which to start our composition. Social media bios should also:
- Be written in the first-person (“I”), as it’s understood that you’re the one writing everything on the profile (including the bio!);
- Include a greater proportion of personal details to professional credentials, even if you only use the account for school-related purposes;
- Use industry-specific words and hashtags (like #privateschool, #edchat, or #ISMINC) to boost your profile’s appearance in search results and contextualize your “activity feed” for your targeted audience while avoiding jargon; and
- Accurately describe what you do and have accomplished in plain speech. While social media often encourages “cute” and “funny” descriptions, stick to regular speaking if you’re not 100% confident in your ability to pull off a joke in writing. (It’s definitely harder than it looks!)
2. The “Medium” Author Bio
This particular type of bio is most recognizable in a more “formal” publication settings as a paragraph after an article you may have written or on the dustjacket of a book, which is why we call it the “author bio.” Still, this medium sized, longer-than-a-social-media-blurb-but-shorter-than-an-about-me-page bio can appear in other contexts, too, serving as a speaker’s bio in an event program or on a school community brochure.
Aside from length, this type of bio is generally used in more formal or “professional” contexts, and so should be approached with more caution than the irreverent social media bio. The author bio should:
- Be written in third-person (“he” or “she”), as these bios are usually published on your behalf by a third party;
- Focus on accomplishments over job titles;
- Include accreditations and other academic credentials if they’re relevant to the publication and your audience would appreciate their inclusion; and
- Reveal relevant personal details that “show your human side” without derailing the professional focus.
3. The “Long” About-Me Bio
At this point, you’re ready to tackle the multiple-paragraph granddaddy of bios: the about me bio.
These types of bios are found most often on website pages like “About Me” sections of blogs or staff directories, where there’s no page or character limit to inhibit your writing. Just because you can write as much as you want, however, doesn’t necessarily mean you should.
The key to this type of bio is using your newfound space judiciously. This is the time to contextualize those accomplishments that you’re so proud of, or to tell that story that explains why you do what you do and why you love your school. This bio should make people want to get to know you and listen to what you have to say, and people love a story.
With that in mind, an about-me bio should:
- Be written in either first- (“I”) or third-person (“he” or “she”), depending on the tone you’d like to strike;
- “Tell your professional story,” whether through appropriate anecdotes that illustrate your job and approach, or through explanations of the parts of your job that keep you coming back to the office every day;
- Continue to focus on accomplishments over job titles and offer only those academic honors and certifications that the readership would appreciate;
- Keep the tone professional but “warm,” as though you were having a conversation with a potential parent, donor, or coworker; and
- Share your professional and personal values.
Writing your own bio can be difficult, whether it’s for a social media page or your school’s staff directory. If you find you’re having trouble finding the “good” qualities to say about yourself, sit down with a trusted colleague and ask him or her why it’s enjoyable to work with you and what he or she thinks makes you great at your job. You’ll find a few great nuggets in how others value your contributions to the school that will make starting your bio easy—and maybe even fun!
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for Private School News Vol. 14 No. 4 LinkedIn for Administrators, Part One: Spruce Up Your Profile
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 35 No. 1 Faculty and Staff Use of Social Media: Sample Policy
