Executive Resume Branding™

Differentiate and strategically position your unique ROI for today's executive job search.

By

How to Write An Executive Biography and Where to Use It

My c-suite and senior-level executive clients often ask me why they need an executive biography and how to use it.

A career brand biography is a storytelling tool that breathes life into an otherwise flat rehash of your resume. For job search and career management, a bio affords the opportunity to reinforce your brand through storytelling, in a way that’s more difficult to accomplish in a resume.

What a Career Brand Biography Does Better Than a Resume

  • Showcase your leadership and management acumen through softer skills and “good fit” attributes, and link them to your value proposition.
  • Personalize your C-A-Rs stories and use them to reinforce your brand attributes and key strengths.
  • Generate chemistry around how you use your key personal attributes, passions, strengths, and motivated skills to benefit employers.
  • Help employers connect with you and envision you on the job, having a positive impact.

To get an idea, take a look at a fictionalized biography I created for an actual client — a CEO, Global Operations.

When I create LinkedIn and Google+ profiles for clients, I use pieces from both their resumes and bios, mixing it up a bit to distinguish profiles from each other, and provide additional info in each. If you look at my LinkedIn and Google+ profiles, you’ll see that the content is not duplicated.

What You Can Do With Your Executive Biography

Here are 7 ways to use your bio, including 3 suggested in my post,  8 Ways to Use Your Executive Biography.

  1. Pull paragraphs, or brand bites, from your bio to use in email messages when you send your resume to recruiters and hiring decision makers at your target employers.
  2. Your entire bio can become your Google+ profile, which is a great way to showcase a different perspective of your brand story online. As of this writing, Google does not limit the amount of information you can include on your profile “About” page.
  3. Bios are essential introductions for speaking engagements. When making a presentation or giving a speech, give your bio ahead of time to whomever will be introducing you.
  4. Provide your bio for corporate board or association work, to give those assessing you a more personal 360 of your value.
  5. Use your bio for the About page on your employer’s website, or your own personal website.
  6. When you’re revving up your network(s) to help you reach your career goals in job search, provide them with your bio, instead of your resume. It will generate chemistry for your candidacy better than a resume.
  7. And, of course, add your bio document to your executive portfolio of career marketing communications.

Related posts:

Why Is It So Hard to Write My Own C-level Career Brand Biography?

How to Write a C-level Executive Career Brand Biography

8 Ways to Use Your Executive Biography