The growth and success of a company—whether it’s a startup or an established one—lies in its personnel working together as one. It requires a good foundation and a workable management system run by reliable and competent business owners and C-level professionals. If you’re aiming to be part of the core group of a company as a chief operating officer, you need a COO resume that can highlight your qualifications.
Being able to be a step closer to your career goal is indeed fulfilling. For some professionals, it’s a leap of faith. However, if you have the necessary skills combined with your extensive relevant experience, you can land one of the highest executive positions, such as chief operating officer, of your target company.
Not to mention, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an 8% employment increase for top executives from 2022 to 2030. Add to that, the increasing median annual pay of $179,520 in May 2021. With this, the competition has become more competitive. Thus, you need to make sure that you have a job-winning COO resume. Dive in to know more about the post and how to write an effective job search document.
What is a Chief Operating Officer?
As mentioned earlier, the chief operating officer is one of the C-level executives in a company. They work hand in hand with other executives, such as the CEO, CFO, CTO, and other management officers. A COO is tasked with overseeing daily functions to ensure that operations go smoothly and successfully. That said, they create and implement business strategies and make sure that business goals are met.
What are the Duties of a Chief Operating Officer?
Aside from being accountable for the day-to-day operations, COOs have other responsibilities to attain the core function. Their duties may vary depending on the company and industry. Nonetheless, here are some common tasks a COO is expected to perform.
- Designing and implementing business strategies and processes
- Defining goals for performance growth
- Researching for effective business functions
- Informing CEO on important details and events
- Ensuring corporate goals are met
- Promoting company’s positive culture
- Communicating and implementing company policies
- Monitoring performance and establishing corrective measures when needed
How Do You Become a Chief Operating Officer?
Just like other positions, a chief operating officer requires preparation and necessary credentials. If you want to land this job, you need to pass these COO qualifications.
- Bachelor’s degree in business, or related field
- 5+ years experience in C-level positions
- Having a master’s degree is a plus
- Relevant professional certifications
- Understanding of advanced business planning and regulatory issues
- Excellent communication and leadership skills
- Adept in data analysis and performance metrics
- Exceptional problem-solving skills
What to Include on Your COO Resume
Securing one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization isn’t as easy as A-B-C. It requires extensive relevant work experience, a balance of soft and hard skills, expertise in the field, and the ability to meet the demands of the position.
That being said, if you need to outline your career highlights. How? Start with your job search tools. You need to make sure that your resume reflects why you’re the best fit for the post. Hence, here are some important details you need to include in your tool.
Updated Contact Information
First on the list is your contact information. You need to make sure that your details are correct. Write your complete name, complete postal address with ZIP code, phone number, and email address at the top of your resume. You may also add your LinkedIn profile URL, if you have one. In addition, placing your certification beside your name could interest hiring managers.
Specific Target Job
This is also called the “career tag.” Here, you write the position you’re applying for. Doing so helps your application from getting mixed up with other applicants.
Qualifications Profile / Summary of Qualifications
A well-written resume summary section can help you get the attention of hiring managers and recruiters. Plus, this is your ticket to highlight what makes you stand out. Make sure that your resume can pass the six-second test. Thus, keep your COO resume concise yet striking.
Expert Tip:
When writing your summary, steer away from the resume objective-type statement. Instead, use compelling titles and headlines to attract the hiring manager’s attention.
List of Chief Operating Officer Skills
As a COO, there’s no denying that you have a number of soft and hard skills and abilities gained throughout your tenure. For instance, since chief operating officers manage and ensure that business processes are effectively carried out, it’s imperative to have managerial, leadership, communication, and high-level organizational skills, to name a few. Identify the skills that are relevant to the job and showcase what you’re capable of.
That’s why identifying and choosing what skills you should put on your resume is critical to winning your job search. We have compiled a list of skills you can highlight in your COO resume below.
Work Experience
This is one of the most important pieces of information on a COO resume. Leverage this section by making sure that you put your best foot forward by listing your work experience that is relevant to the position. Your career highlights can give your resume the spotlight it needs as long as accomplishments are quantified.
In this section, you should list your professional work experience in reverse-chronological order, which includes the company names and their locations, specific job titles, and employment dates. Then enumerate job descriptions, accomplishments, and contributions.
Education
Another important factor hiring managers look for is your academic background. The COO position doesn’t just require managerial experience; it’s also vital to have great understanding and knowledge of management, business planning, operational and financial procedures. Therefore, include your complete degree and course title, the school name and its location, and the dates of your graduation.
Training, Certifications, and Licenses
If you want to rise above other qualified job candidates, you need to take a step ahead by earning professional certifications and licenses. Include all training programs and seminars you’ve attended, as well as certifications you’ve obtained.
Other Possible Sections to Include on Your COO Resume
Professional affiliations, activities or community involvement, technical skills, and projects handled are important and impressive details that can spice up your resume. If they are available, outline them in your job search document. Doing so can boost your chances of getting noticed by hiring managers.
How to Write Your COO Resume
Now that you know the important details that you need to include in your resume, it’s time to get your resume writing started. Here are some writing tips to help you write a job-winning COO resume.
1. Use simple yet attractive design and layout.
An effective, attention-grabbing resume is a simple resume. This means you don’t need fancy font styles, decorative designs, or borders. What you need is a simple yet engaging resume layout.
2. Choose the best resume format.
Your resume is like your business card; it helps you market what you can bring to the table—your qualifications, skills, and relevant experience. In order to effectively highlight these, you need to use the most appropriate COO resume format for you.
3. Showcase your COO skills.
As previously mentioned, a COO post requires skills to be able to thrive in this type of job. If you’re into it, you have to emphasize your skills and abilities.
4. Include resume keywords.
For you to get an interview invite, your resume needs to pass through the applicant tracking system that screens qualified candidates. Sounds easy? Not so fast. To beat the bot needs you to have a keyword-optimized COO resume. Use keywords not just under the skills section of your resume but throughout your job search tool.
Expert Tip:
Resume keywords are words related to the job and industry you’re eyeing. Make sure that your COO resume matches the job ad.
5. Use concrete data and examples.
Don’t just list your work experience and accomplishments. Instead, quantify them. Doing so gives recruiters a glimpse of whether you’re worth giving a shot.
6. Proofread your COO resume.
This is very important. You need to make sure that your COO resume is error-free. Before submitting your resume, proofread it and check if all the information is correct and there are no grammar, spelling, or spelling mistakes.
Expert Tip:
After proofreading your document, use our free resume review to check if your COO resume can pass the ATS and the eyes of hiring managers.
COO Resume Example
Let’s get right to the point: Here’s a Chief Operating Officer resume to help you out. See how our skilled resume writers outline career highlights and build a successful resume.
Note: Check out other resume samples written by top professional resume writers for more ideas.
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