An autobiography should be a part of your job search toolkit. Management professionals use an autobiography in their portfolios more today than ever before, especially those in higher-end positions. Career changers and business owners use an autobiography in their portfolio to show why they are making the transition in their career or to detail the path that led to their current entrepreneurial success.
Benefits of Autobiographies
Autobiographies have tons of benefits to a job seeker these days. For one, not many people use them, making them unexpected and of special interest to employers. Also, your autobiography will help you be remembered faster and longer and will be read more in-depth than your resume. An autobiography is a better way of presenting yourself to an employer than solely through a resume.
How to Compose an Autobiography
When composing an autobiography, you want to highlight your unique and important life experiences and summarize them in one or two pages. An autobiography is usually written in the first person, while a biography is written in the third person and written by you or someone else. While crafting your paper, make sure you don’t include any negative details. Think of the readers’ perception of what you’ve done.
Introduction
Grab the reader’s attention right from your introduction. Start by telling the reader where you were born and raised, how you came to the city you currently call home and then get into your schooling. Make sure to include your areas of study when talking about the college you attended. To make a great impression, end your introduction with a strong statement about your career goal.
Middle Paragraphs
Next, write one or two paragraphs about your previous training and employment history. Depending on your experience, the first paragraph may go into a deeper description of your schooling history. The second paragraph should go into detail about your job history and what your strengths are. Be sure to include your present and future goals and any accomplishments you have made.
Final Paragraph
The final paragraph should include your unique selling points and what makes you stand out as an individual and job candidate. You can hit on your personal philosophy toward your career and restate your career goals and how you plan on making a difference in your field.
As a final note, remember that this autobiography is yet another marketing tool to sell you as a professional. Make every word and sentence count, being careful not to ramble – make your statements precise. Utilize white space, as this has been proven to keep a reader’s attention longer. By creating short paragraphs of 3-4 sentences, you will create white space. This leads the reader’s eyes downward so that they read the whole autobiography.
Have you used an autobiography before? Comment and share your experience below! If you need additional help, reach out to Candace for assistance!