Bethany Brevard is the President and Founder of a recruiting company called Professional Outlook, Inc. She asked me to review her short bio to see if it represents her and her company in the most effective way. Let’s start by taking a look at Bethany’s current bio.
Original Version of Bethany’s Bio
Bethany Brevard is the President and Founder of Professional Outlook, Inc. (POI). Bethany has worked in the recruiting industry since 1989 and founded POI in 1991. Previously, she worked in the apparel manufacturing industry and retail sales management in California before relocating to the Chicago area, then finally Western Michigan to be closer to family. To contact Bethany…
Revised Version of Bethany’s Bio
Bethany Brevard is the President and Founder of Professional Outlook, the premier search firm in the United States specializing in the placement of technical and management professionals. Along with her staff of nine industry specialists, Bethany enjoys the challenge of finding just the right person for the job. With over 20 years experience in senior level recruiting, Bethany often draws upon her secret weapon: an unparalleled network of contacts and resources that can open doors like magic. To contact Bethany…
Suggestions for Bethany
When I first read Bethany’s bio, I got the impression that she was perhaps a solo professional or at most had one or two people working for her. I had no idea that her company was as big and established as it clearly is.
When I went to Bethany’s website, I realized that she was really underselling herself in her professional bio. I thought “Wow! She runs a really substantial recruiting company and I want that reflected in her bio.” That’s why I deleted the information about where she has lived over the years in favor of highlighting her company’s capacity along with her expertise.
A professional biography is essentially a piece of marketing material. The most effective way to create marketing material is to put yourself in your readers’ shoes. They are asking”what’s in it for me? why should I care?”
For readers of Bethany’s bio, their “what’s in it for me” question will be “can she get me the result I want?” Therefore, it’s important to make it clear that she’s really good at what she does., and she gets results. I did this by using these phrases:
- enjoys the challenge of finding just the right person
- over 20 years experience
- her secret weapon
- unparalleled network of contacts
[Debbie’s niche is] “Finding that needle in a haystack” for her clients. “Even with all of the modern technology available, I still love utilizing the phone to seek and find those special candidates for my clients. There is great enjoyment as well as satisfaction in connecting a wonderful future employee – seldom out there on a job board – with a fabulous company and everyone wins.”
Using a quotation in the subject’s own words can be a very effective selling tool in a professional bio. It’s also a great way to personalize a bio that’s written in third person.
A final point: You may have noticed that I deleted the “Inc.” after Bethany’s company name. This is simply for readability. Even if your company’s legal name includes “Inc.” or “LLC” you don’t necessarily have to include it in non-legal documents. For example, Microsoft, Apple and JCPenny are all corporations but they don’t always include the Inc. or LLC designation after their names.