CEO Resume Sample, Job Description & Writing Guide for 2024
There are tons of benefits to being part of leadership at a company, but you still need the right CEO resume to end up in this desirable executive position. It’s essential to show the hiring manager that you can handle the rigors of the role with ease. This can be done by sharing your extensive experience, impressive education, and marketable skills.
CEO is a top-level position so your resume has to show nothing can hold you back. You need a specific and strategic resume that really shows off your best self. After all, having a strategic mindset is part of what makes someone an excellent leader. It’s important to channel the needs of the organization while making selling points about yourself.
Whether the resigning CEO, a board of directors, or a selection committee is choosing who will be hired, you need to prove that you have what it takes to go above and beyond. Being aware of the values of the company is a good place to start. Living that mindset is an important aspect of creating the ultimate CEO resume.
Throughout this resume writing guide (and in the CEO resume example), we’ll be sharing all the information you need to get this right the first time. You’ll learn how to write a CEO resume, what sections are the most important to focus your attention on, and how to tie things up with a bow using a professional and attractive design. Let’s get started!
CEO resume writing guide: Where to start?
If you’re applying to a job posting as a potential new CEO, you need to show you can communicate with the board, make excellent decisions, and create new policies and strategies to ensure success. This is a lot of responsibility and your resume needs to reflect that. Taking a look at CEO resume examples from 2022 or 2023 is a good way to get started. Below, we’ll share our two-phase system for building a great CEO resume.
Master chief executive officer resume
Job seekers who hope to land a CEO role need to provide a lot of information. Everything from your resume objective statement to your work experience and educational background is going to be looked at by executives at the organization. Since there’s so much you want to cover, making a master resume is all but mandatory to start the writing process.
Your master resume is a document that you use to compile information about your professional life. It’s going to be a lot more challenging to remember all the facts and state your achievements if you don’t have an easily accessible document to help you. As such, create a document and start taking down your information about employment, skills, and education.
Even jobs that might not seem relevant to this specific position should be included in your master resume. If it isn’t included in your job-specific resume, it might be useful for another one in the future. It’s better to have all the information available and only use some of it than to need to dig to find details for an impressive CEO resume.
Some of you might already have a master resume ready and waiting for you. If so, you’re ahead of the curve. However, you do have one task to complete at this point. Make sure your resume is totally updated before you move on to the creation of a job-specific resume. It’s better to do it now and have all the information you need available.
Job-specific CEO resume templates
When you google a sample CEO resume, what you’re going to see are job-specific documents. This is a well-designed resume that shares specific information for a particular role at a company. Especially those who want to get a high-level position should always customize this document based on what they know about the organization and what’s included in the job description.
You can use a CEO resume template and Word to craft a resume that you feel good about sending off. You’ll want to focus on the things the employer is asking for and then pull items from your master resume that match those. This shows that you want this specific job rather than simply wanting any role that is tagged as executive level.
Create sections in the resume and make sure to format them the way other CEO resumes do. Use professional language and incorporate your wins throughout the document. You should always be focused on sharing how you can do the job better than others rather than simply explaining that you have experience to bring to a company.
As you word the different sections, use keywords from the job ad. You also want to align your resume with the values of the organization. These things can set your resume apart and make it more likely that you’re called to move on to other steps in the hiring process. Every little bit of effort can make it more likely that you end up with an interview.
CEO resume example
You may have seen a few founder and CEO resume samples in the past, but we want to give you another one to use as you craft your own. Our CEO executive resume samples are all designed to make an impact and provide needed information to whoever is doing the hiring. You can see that the work experience, skills, and resume objective are customized around a specific position and full of useful details.
What to include in a resume for a CEO position? Writing tips and examples
Potential employers want to know that you have experience working with a board of directors and will be capable of increasing company revenue if you are hired. You show them this across a series of CEO resume sections. All of them are important in their own way, but we want to focus on the most integral and how to build them to ensure success. Take a look at a few tips for these sections below.
How to write a personal profile on a CEO resume
The CEO profile sample (also known as a CEO resume description or objective) is the most important part of your document. You need to show that you can meet both short- and long-term objectives for the organization that has an open position. This section should be no more than four sentences long but provide a great deal of information about your accomplishments.
This is the first part of the resume that a company is going to look at when considering you for a CEO position. They expect to see that you are well-educated, experienced, and capable of the skills associated with high-level executives. All of these things can be touched on while you write your personal profile.
As you choose accomplishments to focus on, make sure they fit the job description. Use numbers and powerful verbs to make your writing stand out. Since this is a highly competitive position, adding anything that makes you unique is also a good idea if it shows you’d be a good fit for the role.
This section is essentially an elevator pitch that you write instead of speak. Really focus on the best things about yourself as they relate to the position you want. You’ll have the rest of the resume to share smaller details that might not be as impactful to a team who is hiring a new CEO.
Tips for listing work experience on a CEO resume
Any real CEO resume is going to have a large focus on work experience. You want to share a track record for excellence and the ability to take a company to the next level. You need to talk about the actions you’ve taken and assure the employer that you can deliver results. Simply listing out past job duties is likely not going to cut it.
Before we delve into how to customize your experience, let’s talk about the basic details that are expected to be on a CEO resume. For each position, make a header and include the job title, dates you worked there, and the company you worked for. These are required but aren’t going to have as much impact as what you do next.
Underneath each of the job title headings is where you really show off your skills and experiences. You can use a set of bullet points to establish how you stood out in every position you’ve held in the past. This is where you give details about what you did and what impact it had. A set of three to six bullet points is reasonable for positions depending on how much you want to share.
That said, not all job listings you add to a CEO resume have to be that involved. You can include extra bullet points for more recent positions and fewer for those that are farther in the past. Just remember that the focus is on achievement, not basic duties. A CEO is expected to play a huge part in an organization and should be adaptable.
Adding education to a CEO resume
The last section we want to focus on is education. Any CEO will be expected to have an education and express what it is on their resume. In most cases, the people doing the hiring will expect candidates to have a degree, although there are exceptions to the rule. Whatever degrees you have from a university should be listed.
Assuming you have gone to college, there’s no need to include your high school diploma on a CEO resume. It’s assumed that you have it since you went on to higher education. As you list education entries, make sure you include the degree and the institution you attended. It’s also a good idea to list the date you graduated.
This section is a bit more straightforward than others. List your degrees in reverse chronological order. If you would like, you can add additional details about your education. For instance, special achievements, honors, and scholastic awards may help you stand out. You can use your best judgment on whether you need to include this information.
Keep in mind that you don’t need to have gone to a top school or majored in business administration to move forward. About one in three CEOs has an engineering degree and only 11% have MBAs. In addition, only one in 10 graduated from an Ivy League school.
With these tricks about how to create great CEO resume sections, all you need is a nice design to pull things together. At CVMaker, we make that a cinch. You can take a look at our wide selection of CEO resume templates and select one to really make your document sing. Choose the color you like for total customization. It’s sure to set your document apart.
Key takeaways on building the best CEO resumes
You have the information you now need to craft a CEO resume that shows off your executive experience and skills. If you want to make it even simpler, use a resume builder to finish your resume and make sure it looks perfect. At this point, you can follow the tips below and then turn in your application. Good luck!
Additional CEO resume tips:
You have most of the basic information you need to create a CEO CV that opens doors for you. We want to share a few short tips to finish the document while showing you would offer visionary leadership to any business. Use these to complete the process and reach the point of submitting your application.
· Always take a moment to read over your resume once it has been completed. Fix any typos or misspellings that may be there. A tool like Grammarly can help you with the process.
· Remember that a resume is not the only document you need to submit with an application. You should also have a well-written cover letter to go with it. Use it to expand on why you’re the best person for the job.
· Go through your work experience and ensure you’ve included your top accomplishments. Duties should be expanded to show what kind of results you got as you did your work.
· Be aware of your tone as you write your CEO resume. You want to sound professional and turn in a formal document. Try to avoid jargon and slang as much as possible.
· The layout and format of your resume have an impact on the person who reads it. You should put time into building a good design or select a template that highlights your more important details.
· Once the resume is complete, make sure you convert it to a PDF. This is the best file type for sending in a CEO resume. It will look the same on tablets, computers, and phones.
Next steps?
As someone who wants a position in executive leadership, your resume needs to look good and include the right information. If you’re concerned you can’t craft a top resume, you might need a little help to show off your talents and experience. CVMaker is here to help show you’re competitive for the position you want. We offer a Resume Writing Service that pairs you with an expert who helps you build a great CEO resume.
FAQ
What should a CEO put on a resume?
Looking at a chief executive officer resume sample, you’ll notice many sections are included. Some of these are largely required while others may be added only if you want to share something specific. Mandatory sections include skills, education, experience, a resume objective, and contact information.
Some of the other sections you might wish to include are foreign languages, professional memberships, personal achievements, hobbies and interests, awards, and certifications. Adding additional sections is a good way to stand out from other executives applying for the same position. Choosing an appropriate template for your CEO resume is another step you can take to ensure your document is noticed.
What does a CEO resume look like?
A resume for executive positions is going to look very professional and clean if you have crafted it well. You need to have some white space between sections and incorporate bullet lists to avoid huge blocks of text (except for the resume objective). Two fonts and two colors can be utilized but it’s best not to add more than that.
Reverse chronological is the most common format for a CEO resume. This means you place your most recent positions first and then go back in time. The same applies to education and any other sections that are designed with dates associated with them.
How long should a CEO resume be?
A modern CEO resume is typically going to be somewhere between one and four pages long. The important thing to remember here is that it should be as lengthy as necessary to communicate your experience, qualifications, and value proposition. CEO resumes are often longer than other types of resumes since your career history may have more depth to it.
However, it’s okay to go shorter if you’re able to be concise and include everything important. Those with more experience are going to have a longer document while those who are newer to the position might not need as much space. Use the space wisely and make sure you are sharing relevant information with a potential employer.
Where should I include CEO responsibilities on a resume?
If you’ve looked at a few examples of CEO resumes, you have probably seen that professional experience is highlighted. It’s usually directly under the contact information and resume objective and takes up a large amount of the page (or multiple pages). Many of these examples will have a short list of responsibilities associated with them.
Sharing the tasks you’ve done is fine but try to incorporate accomplishments into the details you provide. It looks far more impressive than a list of duties that you were responsible for. Quantify what impact you had doing what task to show that you understand what being a great CEO is all about.
What is the professional summary of a CEO?
A professional summary is also sometimes called a CEO resume summary or resume objective. It’s used to share the most impressive accomplishments you have had throughout your career and as one of a team of C-level executives. This section of the resume is short at two to four sentences but super critical to include.
Share the biggest achievements you’ve had using action verbs and numbers to indicate the impact you’ve had at past companies. You can also include information about your education, skills, and experience to give a short idea of who you are. Keep it brief but make sure you demand attention with the words you use.
What attributes make a good CEO?
Adding CEO skills to a resume is a great way to show you can handle the position. This ranges from hard skills to soft skills and leadership skills to technical skills. The attributes you share should be related to the job description and what the company is looking for. For instance, one position might prioritize interpersonal skills over critical thinking skills and vice versa.
When it comes to management skills, you want to show that you can truly lead people and make them excited about a business. Problem-solving skills and broader executive skills can be a good choice for this section of a CEO resume.
You should use the job description to decide which skills to focus on. However, below are a few sample traits that you can use that generally fit most CEO job requirements. Add about five to 10 skills for the best results.
· Public relations
· Financial management
· Business development
· Business plans
· Process improvement
· Risk management
· Operations management
You have the skills needed to step up and be the head executive, but does your resume make people take a second look? This is a prestigious position and employers want someone who stands out while being totally professional. Design your resume using one of our resume templates to ensure your resume gives the right impression.