How To Write a Blurb About Yourself: 13 Blurb Writing Tips
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What Is A Tip For Writing A Blurb About Yourself?
To help you write a good blurb about yourself, we asked CEOs and CHROs this question for their best advice.
From creating a hook to being straight-forward, there are several recommendations that may help you write effective blurbs to showcase your professional background.
Here Are 13 Tips For Writing Blurbs About Yourself:
- Create a Hook
- Include Goals and Aspirations
- Show Off Your Achievements
- Impress With Correct Grammar
- Keep The Blurb Simple and Engaging
- Make Your Introduction Connect With People
- Leave Your Audience Wanting More
- Highlight a Bit of Personal Flairs
- Be Conversational and Authentic
- Write in The Third Person
- Show Modesty
- Be Straight-forward
- Highlight Your Passion
Create a Hook
People want to know that you’re credible, but most would rather skip a long-winded resume reading. Be it a bio for an article or an intro for a speech, keep the blurb brief, accurate, and enticing enough to leave them wanting more. Your work can and should do the heaving lifting.
For example, I often use the following: Tim Toterhi is not your usual HR guy. The CHRO, coach, and author are passionate about rethinking old thinking. Ever the contrarian, Tim approaches his practice with a playful smile and an eyebrow up.
With this technique, my audience knows what they are in for, in about 12 seconds.
Include Goals and Aspirations
Although it is easy to treat a blurb as a mini biography about your background and accomplishments, it is just as important to include hopes and goals.
Those who read your blurb, especially those associated with businesses, and find your background interesting, will be compelled to know more about who you are and what you wish to pursue, thus providing them this information will encourage further engagement.
Whether it's skill acquisition, professional aspirations, or personal growth goals, including benchmarks that you wish to pursue, will provide a better indication of the person you are, as well as who you would like to become.
By including these goals, you can create a connection to your audience on a human level and will go far beyond just general credentials and accomplishments.
Show Off Your Achievements
Many individuals find it difficult to write an effective blurb about themselves. This is often because they have a hard time writing about themselves without feeling boastful. Now is the time to take pride in what you have accomplished and how far you have come.
Write about all the achievements you have acquired and skills that make you a valuable asset. If you are feeling uncomfortable, then more than likely you are on the right track towards building a blurb that properly shows off how incredible you are.
Impress With Correct Grammar
It is surprising how many people, when writing a blurb about themselves, pay little attention to their grammar, and why you should proofread your work before posting.
In our new world of texts and emails, truncated speech, slang, and emojis have caused many of us to get sloppy or careless when it comes to using proper grammar, and having those mistakes appear in a blurb about yourself can give a very unprofessional first impression.
Therefore, make sure to scour your blurb for misspelled words, correct punctuation, check for run-on sentences and look for proper capitalization.
By performing this simple check, your audience will not be distracted by elementary mistakes, and instead, focus on your content, providing them the positive impression you desire.
Keep The Blurb Simple and Engaging
Lead with something unexpected and memorable without being self-important when writing a blurb about yourself. Avoid unnecessary adjectives and sharing irrelevant details that generally don’t matter to the audience you’re speaking to.
People don’t need to hear your name-drop or memberships you hold, but they may be interested to learn your career started as a restaurant mascot or you were voted most likely to invent a new ice cream flavor.
Instead of talking about the stack of papers you’ve published, briefly mention you’re published in a specific resource that is relevant, followed by who you are passionate about serving and what problem you work to solve.
Keep it simple, specific, and reasonably down to earth so your audience won’t read your blurb as condescending.
Make Your Introduction Connect With People
One foolproof tip I have always used when writing a blurb about myself is opening dynamically.
The first sentence is always the hardest, so why not break the ice with something humorous if appropriate?
Take a light-hearted approach for your introduction no matter what because that is where connecting with the audience is most crucial. Be authentic and the words will come.
Leave Your Audience Wanting More
When I have to write a blurb about myself, I try to think like the audience who will read it.
What will they find exciting, inspirational, and compelling?
Once I figure that out, I write the blurb in a way that will engage the audience but still keep them on the edge of their seats so they will go to my website and social media to learn more about me.
I will make sure they have my contact information so they can ask their questions and stay connected with my business.
Most of the time it takes several touchpoints to turn the audience into customers or clients so each blurb should excite them enough to make those touchpoints sooner than later.
Highlight a Bit of Personal Flairs
When writing a blurb about yourself, consider including a bit of personal flair alongside your professionalism and poise. This is a great way to not only communicate who you really are but also to inspire others to do the same.
For example, consider including a sentence or two regarding your interests and hobbies, what you’re known for among your friends, some of your favorite foods, books, or even guilty pleasures.
Oftentimes, when we’re putting together our professional bios, our LinkedIn summaries, or other similar blurbs about ourselves, it can be easy to try to come off as serious and as dry as possible, as this is what most of us have been taught professionalism really is.
However, to include a bit of your personality in addition to the classic professional information is to reiterate the idea that we are people first and professionals second—or third, or fourth, for some of us.
Be Conversational and Authentic
Be true to your voice, and conversational. Don’t use flowery words because you think they sound better. The idea is for people to get to know you.
If you’re funny, be funny. If you’re serious, be serious. If you write in any way different from the way you speak, the blurb will feel disingenuous. Pretend you’re talking to a friend at a coffee shop and share a brief history of what makes you, you!
Write in The Third Person
Pretend you are someone else who is writing about your professional experiences. Creating distance between yourself and your background makes it easier to formulate a strong bio from the third person.
Your blurb should cover the most notable aspects of your career, so think of how you describe your achievements to someone in an elevator. Blurbs should be concise, written in the third person, and contain only the most relevant information.
Show Modesty
A little modesty goes a long way. There’s an unspoken rule for conferences and panels – those with real success don’t need to brag in their bios.
They let the simple facts carry their reputation for them. Some great things to include are positions held and awards won, though they should not be more than a handful of sentences.
And never refer to your own work as “incredible,” “impressive,” or any other over-the-top modifiers, as others might recognize that you wrote the blurb yourself.
Be Straight-forward
Be truthful and transparent. Be clear about who you are, what your strengths are, where your weaknesses lie, and how you can help the company that hires you to succeed, which is something many people fail to mention or talk about. If there's anything in particular they want or need from their employees, be sure to include it too!
Highlight Your Passion
Along with writing all the relevant and necessary information about yourself that needs to be included, the most important thing is highlighting your passion.
Talk about your passion or mission that drives you and acts as your motivation.
You can also include a meaningful phrase that left an impression on you. This gives the reader a peek into your life outside of a professional setting while emphasizing your level of commitment.
