The Chief Of Staff, generally working under a C-level executive, is in charge of planning, analyzing, and maintaining almost all financial and operational activities. Other responsibilities include defining a budget for various projects and company strategies, crafting annual business plans, and increasing overall productivity.
Aside from all of that, the Chief also cooperates and reports to other people in higher positions, such as stakeholders and the CEO, reports on customer insight, reviews and manages the company's key strategic goals, and conducts research and analysis of the many gears of the machine that is the organization.
A person hoping to work as a Chief of Staff will generally need to have a Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, or a similar field. A large number of employers might also ask for a Master's degree in Business. It is also important that a Chief of Staff has several years of experience, at least, and a proficiency in strategic planning, operations management, and verbal and written communication.
Chief Of Staff Overview
Working as a Chief Of Staff
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a chief of staff. For example, did you know that they make an average of $64.19 an hour? That's $133,511 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 150,600 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Chief Of Staff Do
There are certain skills that many chiefs of staff have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed leadership skills, management skills and communication skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a chief of staff, we found that a lot of resumes listed 9.3% of chiefs of staff included ensure compliance, while 8.8% of resumes included project management, and 7.4% of resumes included oversight. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the chief of staff job title. But what industry to start with? Most chiefs of staff actually find jobs in the technology and finance industries.
How To Become a Chief Of Staff
If you're interested in becoming a chief of staff, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 39.7% of chiefs of staff have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 36.3% of chiefs of staff have master's degrees. Even though most chiefs of staff have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a chief of staff. When we researched the most common majors for a chief of staff, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on chief of staff resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a chief of staff. In fact, many chief of staff jobs require experience in a role such as director. Meanwhile, many chiefs of staff also have previous career experience in roles such as internship or operations officer.
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Chief Of Staff Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a chief of staff can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as president, progress to a title such as president & chief operating officer and then eventually end up with the title president & chief operating officer.
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Average Salary for a Chief Of Staff
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
University of Florida Chief of Staff-Office of The Dean, College of Medicine Chief of Staff-Office of The Dean, College of Medicine | University of Florida University of Florida | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $95,00001/29/2021 $95,000 |
Oakland County Michigan Board of Commissioners Chief of Staff-Closing/21 Board of Commissioners Chief of Staff-Closing/21 | Oakland County Michigan Oakland County Michigan | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $131,54001/28/2021 $131,540 |
Robert Half Chief of Staff Chief of Staff | Robert Half Robert Half | 01/05/2021 01/05/2021 | $100,00001/05/2021 $100,000 |
TTEC Chief of Staff Chief of Staff | TTEC TTEC | 12/27/2020 12/27/2020 | $140,00012/27/2020 $140,000 |
County of El Paso Tx Senior Chief of Staff Senior Chief of Staff | County of El Paso Tx County of El Paso Tx | 12/25/2020 12/25/2020 | $79,96812/25/2020 $79,968 |
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Chief Of Staff Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Chief Of Staff. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Chief Of Staff Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Chief Of Staff resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Chief Of Staffs
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Public
5. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Public
6. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
7. Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA • Private
8. George Washington University, The
Washington, DC • Private
9. New York University
New York, NY • Private
10. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
Top Skills For a Chief Of Staff
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 9.3% of chiefs of staff listed ensure compliance on their resume, but soft skills such as leadership skills and management skills are important as well.
- Ensure Compliance, 9.3%
- Project Management, 8.8%
- Oversight, 7.4%
- Direct Reports, 6.7%
- Strategic Initiatives, 6.7%
- Other Skills, 61.1% See All Chief Of Staff Skills
Best States For a Chief Of Staff
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a chief of staff. The best states for people in this position are Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Delaware. Chiefs of staff make the most in Rhode Island with an average salary of $180,114. Whereas in Massachusetts and Michigan, they would average $170,544 and $153,151, respectively. While chiefs of staff would only make an average of $152,939 in Delaware, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Massachusetts
$170,544
Avg. Salary
2. Rhode Island
$180,115
Avg. Salary
3. Vermont
$151,855
Avg. Salary
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