How To Become A Chief Communications Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a chief communications officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Communication is a vital part of any organization. The chief communications officer is in charge of ensuring effective and open lines of communication within the company, as well as communication between other businesses and the general public.

To do this, a chief communications officer evaluates current communication practices within the organization, identifies areas for improvement, and devises strategies that can help improve in-house and business-to-business communications. They also find tools that can help achieve the company's goals and select resource material that can be used for communications training.

If you want to become a chief communications officer, you would likely need to have a degree in communication, business, or something else relevant. And since this is a management role, extensive industry experience is also a must. Of course, a chief communications officer also needs to have excellent communication skills, interpersonal skills, and leadership skills.

Due to the critical nature of this job to a company's success, it comes as no surprise that the average salary for a chief communications officer is a whopping $157,000 a year.

ScoreChief Communications OfficerUS Average

Salary

8.0

Avg. Salary $115,086

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.7

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.42%

Asian 5.13%

Black or African American 6.00%

Hispanic or Latino 9.15%

Unknown 4.67%

White 74.64%

Gender

female 40.52%

male 59.48%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

8.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.4

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a chief communications officer

Explore chief communications officer education requirements

Most common chief communications officer degrees

Bachelor's

73.5 %

Master's

15.8 %

Associate

6.7 %

Start to develop specific chief communications officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Crisis Communications	8.76%
External Communications	8.06%
CCO	5.99%
Press Releases	5.53%
Community Relations	5.27%

Complete relevant chief communications officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New chief communications officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a chief communications officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real chief communications officer resumes.

Research chief communications officer duties and responsibilities

Develop editorial content, seek concept and content clearance, and manage editorial calendar for an e-publication research by a subcontractor.
Create original content resulting in extensive media coverage and several million views through native Facebook video and YouTube.
Serve as representative to senior management team during community events and company spokesperson for division, including to nonprofit sector clients.
Direct internal communications tactics including newsletters, Intranet, domestic and international executive meetings, and special events.

Get chief communications officer experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a chief communications officer. The most common roles before becoming a chief communications officer include communications director, vice president team lead and director.

Prepare your chief communications officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your chief communications officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a chief communications officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable chief communications officer resume templates

Build a professional chief communications officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your chief communications officer resume.