Have you been forced to retire? Or are you simply thinking of using your retirement to pursue another career?

It’s that encore moment and you ask yourself how might I re-define myself in my bio?

I started to look at a series of bios on line on websites for information.  I also pulled out a copy of the book Be Your Own brand by David McNally and Karl Speak.

Here are some quick tips and tricks for helping you create or update your bio.

Rules about bios

Bios are written in complete English sentences in the third person, unlike a resume, which is written in an abbreviated first-person style (on a resume, “managed company” stands for “I managed the company”). Bios tend to be written more tightly than a resume. They often comprise only a single page and emphasize selected roles and achievements rather than offering an inventory of your entire career.

Well-written bios have a “voice.” As pitch-pieces, they make a targeted, persuasive argument about what to think about you. This is a departure from conventional resumes, which should come across as dispassionate factual recitations that allow readers to draw their own (hopefully inescapable) conclusion.

A biography repeats your name throughout, making readers feel they know you on a first-name basis. By its very nature, this document can get away with using more stirring language than is appropriate for a resume. As Carleen McKay, a consultant with Right Management Consultants in Atlanta, notes, “A good biography is a factual document, a great bio is a factual and creative document and an exceptional bio is a factual, creative and memorable document.”

That said, the tone of your bio shouldn’t cross the line from being confident and positive to inflated puffery, unsupported self-praise or a wowie-zowie sales pitch. It should never compromise your image of professionalism merely to grab a reader’s attention.

Some questions you can ask yourself to begin to outline your bio….

Some questions you might want to think about include:

1. What makes you as a person special or interesting?
2. What kind of effect have you had on the world? other people?
3. What are the adjectives you would most use to describe yourself as a person?
4. What examples from your business or personal life illustrate those qualities?
5. What events shaped or changed your life?
6. Have you overcome obstacles? Taken risks? Gotten lucky?
7. Would the world/the business/the charity be better or worse if you had not lived/worked/participated? How and why?

I would be interested to see if others have some interesting approaches to setting the foundation for a bio and what questions they felt were insightful.

Tricia Ryan