When was the last time you updated your bio? Your professional bio is often a first introduction when a potential employer or industry connection comes across you, particularly online.
Your short bio, which serves as a summary of you and your professional experience, is one piece of writing you’ll reuse over and over again in several different contexts. For example, you’ll need a short bio for conferences you attend or speak at, your LinkedIn profile, your association’s “About Us” page, your portfolio or website, or for webinars you host or attend.
It can feel difficult to sum up yourself and your professional experiences in just a few paragraphs. You’ve spent years, or even decades, developing your skills, network, and career. So how do you distill everything down in a way that is an accurate and concise representation of you?
That’s where a professional bio generator can help. Following one of the examples or templates below, you can create a bio that effectively summarizes your experience without having to write it from scratch.
In this post, we’ll cover:
- Purpose of professional bios
- Best practices for crafting a bio
- Professional Bio Templates and Examples
- Long and short bios
- Workplace bios
What is the purpose of a professional bio?
Your bio should share some top level important information to act as an introduction. Usually, your professional bios will name who you are, what your role is and some top level accomplishments.
Bios can be used when you’re speaking at an event, on your association website, LinkedIn bio or anything else.
Best Practices for Creating a Professional Bio
Before you dig into building your own professional bio, here are some tips for creating a successful bio for any use case:
- Start with your full name. Avoid using nicknames when putting together your bio. Keep usage consistent across all professional contexts with your full name.
- Describe your job title or position. Give a high-level overview of the responsibilities of your position. It provides context to your role, as well as some added legitimacy and credibility.
- Consider your bio as an intro to your “personal brand.” Your professional bio often serves as an initial intro for anyone who isn’t familiar with you. How would you like to present your personal brand? Consider this when writing your bio.
- Add a personal touch. As we demonstrated in our creative bio example, you don’t have to write a stiff and formal profile for yourself. Don’t be afraid to include humor or a touch of personality.
- Consider offering ways people can connect with you. While your bio is an introduction, it doesn’t have to remain a one-way conversation. Offer people a way to get in touch with you by including a link to your Twitter profile or LinkedIn profile.
Professional Bio Templates and Examples
As previously mentioned, you may need a professional bio for multiple contexts (or you might need several versions). That’s why we’ve compiled a handful of templates with coordinating examples to make this process easier for you.
Basic Professional Bio Template
Our first professional bio template is a solid foundation. You can scale this version up or down, using it as a building block for other versions of your professional bio.
The basic professional bio template just includes the cursory details like your name, career path, and details about your current role:
[Full name] has worked in [industry] for going on [amount of years]. [Pronoun] is/are the [job title] of [company name], [explain what the company does], and has [include metric of how you’ve helped your company].
As part of [working in the industry], [First name] has worked hard to [support professional platform] and [support / serve] [industry groups]. [Pronoun] [live(s) in location] [with family / and enjoys XYZ].
Example
Mark Sedgley has worked in the technology and association space for 15 years. He is the CEO and President of MemberClicks, an all-in-one membership management software company, and has helped them grow from just under 300 customers in 2004 to 3,000 today across North America.
As part of leading MemberClicks, Mark has worked hard to drive a culture of innovation to Small Staff Associations across the country, including participating actively in ASAE and serving on their Small Staff Association Committee. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Dorota and their three children.
Short workplace bio template for remote teams
At work, you will use short bios for your Slack, Teams, Zoom or Skype profiles.
These bios are a little different because your coworkers already know where you work. The purpose of these bios — especially with remote work — are to help coworkers identify what you’re responsible for so they can make sure they’re contacting the right person with questions. Reading workplace profile bios help other feel confident they’re reaching out to the right person with the right questions.
Things to note about workplace bios:
- Usually short and sweet
- Since they’re internal, they can be professional but informal
- Space is usually limited so one – two sentences are best.
- Your name is usually in your profile so no need to restate it.
Here’s a template you can use for short workplace professional bios.
[Role] in the [department] team. I support [example 1, example 2, example 3].
Example
Membership Manager for the Marketing team. I support onboarding new members, member communication and members’ only event planning.
Short Professional Bio Template
You may need a shorter iteration of your bio for:
- Social media sites
- Hosting a webinar
- Speaking at a conference
A short professional bio template should briefly encapsulate your career experience. If you have the space, you can also include some personal details about yourself.
[Full name] has worked in [industry] for [amount of years], and is currently the [job title] of [company name]. [Pronoun] [live(s) in location] [with family / and enjoys XYZ].
Example
Mark Sedgley has worked in the technology and association sector for 15 years and is currently the CEO and President of the membership management software company MemberClicks. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Dorota and their three children.
Long Professional Bio Template
Some scenarios may require an expanded version of your professional bio. This longer-form iteration could be used for:
- Conference websites
- Keynote speaker bios
- Introduction to a new team
- When speaking at any events
The long professional bio template should include details about your career experiences, your time in your specific industry, highlight any specific accomplishments, and some details about your personal life.
[Full name] has worked in [industry] for going on [amount of years]. [Pronoun] is/are the [job title] of [company name], [explain what the company does], and has [include metric of how you’ve helped your company].
As part of [working in the industry], [First name] has worked hard to [support professional platform] and [support / serve] [industry groups]. [Pronoun] has earned multiple accolades and awards, including [detail awards and/or noteworthy accomplishments].
[Pronoun] [live(s) in location] [with family]. When [First name] isn’t working hard at [company], you’ll find [Pronoun] [enjoys XYZ].
Example
Mark Sedgley has worked in the technology and association space for more than 15 years now. He is the CEO and President of MemberClicks, an all-in-one membership management software company, and has helped them grow from just under 300 customers in 2004 to 3,000 today across North America.
As part of leading MemberClicks, Mark has worked hard to drive a culture of innovation to Small Staff Associations across the country, including participating actively in ASAE and serving on their Small Staff Association Committee. He has also earned multiple awards during the course of his career, including the 2019 Peggy Seigler Corporate Member Award.
He resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Dorota and their three children. When he isn’t spending time with his family or helping grow MemberClicks, you’ll find him on his favorite golf course.
Creative Professional Bio Template
If you work in a creative industry, you can be more lighthearted when writing your professional bio. While you should still include details about your career experience, you can showcase more of your unique personality.
[Full name] has hustled in [industry] for [amount of years]. [Pronoun] is/are the [job title] of [company name], [explain what the company does], and has [include metric of how you’ve helped your company].
When [Pronoun] isn’t [job activity], you can find [Pronoun] doing [hobby #1], [hobby #2], or [hobby #3].
Example
Lindsey Peacock is writer, editor, and devoted bookworm based in Atlanta, Georgia. While she currently is the Senior Editor for content marketing agency Animalz, she’s been slinging copy in various forms for more than a decade.
When she isn’t typing furiously on her ancient Macbook, you’ll find her cruising around town with her beloved ginger husky Charlie.
Get Started With Our Professional bio Generator
Writing an accurate, brief, and compelling bio is one of the best ways to promote yourself at events, within your industry, and on social media to begin establishing your personal brand.
One of the most common uses for a professional bio is for a LinkedIn profile. If you need help with this growing platform beyond using our professional bio generator, learn more with our guide to LinkedIn for your association.
Now that you’re empowered with the right templates and best practices, you’re ready to create your own professional bio. With the right tools, you have everything you need to write a bio that is an effective representation of you regardless of your needs.
