If you're applying for a promotion or even a lateral move, you're probably going to be asked to present your military bio in addition to a standard resume. So what goes in a bio?
A bio is a brief summary of your training and accomplishments, as well as career goals. Normally it's required when attempting to get a promotion or move into a different branch of the military.
What goes in your professional bio? Even though you do have a certain amount of leeway when writing your bio, there are still some basic guidelines that you should follow:
Be brief. A bio should be roughly no more than 300 words when written and no longer than 60 seconds in length when read aloud.
Although you do have a certain amount of leeway when writing a bio, there are still some basic conventions. Write in third person but use first person when reading it aloud. Third person would be like this: "Jane Smith trained with", while first person would be like this: "I trained with.
Cover professional and personal experience. The purpose of writing a bio is to show the board why you are the best person for the job.
Focus on your military history in chronological order from basic training to the present. Summarize the training and duties you have completed, as well as your deployment history and status.
Focus on the positives. Don't feel that you have to include everything. Your bio is like a little advertisement for you, so focus on your most impressive achievements.
It's worth noting that you can include additional information in your bio. Topics that can help you score extra points are things like your family history, awards and accomplishments that you've received in the past, as well as the details of how you rose in the ranks.
If you focus on training, duties and responsibilities, goals, and major accomplishments you'll have a great military bio. Best of luck to you!
A bio is a brief summary of your training and accomplishments, as well as career goals. Normally it's required when attempting to get a promotion or move into a different branch of the military.
What goes in your professional bio? Even though you do have a certain amount of leeway when writing your bio, there are still some basic guidelines that you should follow:
Be brief. A bio should be roughly no more than 300 words when written and no longer than 60 seconds in length when read aloud.
Although you do have a certain amount of leeway when writing a bio, there are still some basic conventions. Write in third person but use first person when reading it aloud. Third person would be like this: "Jane Smith trained with", while first person would be like this: "I trained with.
Cover professional and personal experience. The purpose of writing a bio is to show the board why you are the best person for the job.
Focus on your military history in chronological order from basic training to the present. Summarize the training and duties you have completed, as well as your deployment history and status.
Focus on the positives. Don't feel that you have to include everything. Your bio is like a little advertisement for you, so focus on your most impressive achievements.
It's worth noting that you can include additional information in your bio. Topics that can help you score extra points are things like your family history, awards and accomplishments that you've received in the past, as well as the details of how you rose in the ranks.
If you focus on training, duties and responsibilities, goals, and major accomplishments you'll have a great military bio. Best of luck to you!
About the Author:
Barbra Sundquist's site How To Write a Bio provides fill-in-the-blanks bio templates including military advancement and speaker bio templates.