Many people are hesitant to write about themselves. It’s possible they think they’re not interesting enough. I’m no exception. One way to overcome this fear is to write a professional profile. Your goal should be to tell your story and let your personality shine.
Why do you need a professional profile?
I might be stating the obvious, but the world is now digital. Many prospective employers and customers surf the internet or social media to find out more about you. Don’t be a stranger. Make sure you have a presence. It can make or break whether someone wants to take the next step and build a working relationship with you.
Be conversational
Try and make your profile conversational and add some humour or a personal story. Leave your audience with something quirky or unique, this will ensure that they leave your website or social media page with a lasting pleasant impression of you.
Write the content for your profile using this framework:
- Introduce yourself and your story.
- Stick to around no more than 500 words.
- Write in the third person and a more active voice. This also helps Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
- Write a few paragraphs that sum up the work you do. Link it to examples of your product, company or services. Ensure that you highlight work that is impressive, relevant, tells your story and makes you proud.
- Mention your top achievements, awards, and certifications.
- Wrap up with personal details mentioning family, a hobby or interest outside of work.
- Don’t forget to share your contact information. This could be your email address, a link to your contact page, or a link to your LinkedIn account.
- Lastly, don’t forget to include anything quirky or unique. This will provide a point of difference from your competitors.
Grammar and spelling errors matter
When you’ve finished writing your profile, make sure to check the grammar and spelling. A profile scattered with grammatical or spelling errors is not a good look. Some useful tools within Microsoft and Google Business can help with this or editing tools like Grammarly or Hemingway. It can also be helpful to ask someone else to read it for a fresh perspective.
You need a bio for all your different profiles
It is important to have multiple versions of your bio. From an SEO perspective having unique content helps your profiles and websites rank better in search results. From a branding perspective, it’s helpful to have different versions of your bio at the ready for different platforms. For example, you only need a short bio for Twitter, while your profile can be longer on LinkedIn.
Capture your best features
To complement your profile, hire an experienced photographer to capture your best features. Make a real effort by getting your hair cut and styled and dress professionally.Â
If you’re feeling more adventurous, a video story would be another way to cut through the detail and present the real person. For some more tips on recording a video, head to this site.
For examples of profiles that I have written, check out Gwenda Harvey Photography and skin-deep Clinic.
If writing your profile is something you are struggling with, then get in touch.
I offer a free 30-minute discovery chat over coffee or zoom.