When we look at big companies like Apple, we almost always wonder how is it possible that a chief executive officer (CEO) can manage so many decisions within a day? By using the concept of delegation, a chief executive officer (CEO) can prioritize and shift project responsibilities to different sub-leaders for efficient completion. The role of a chief operating officer (COO) is a sub-leader that is analogous to a queen in a chess game.
A chief operating officer is involved in managing day-to-day operations in line with the business strategies set by the chief executive officer. Their tasks, daily, entail managing vendor relationships, implementing business processes, developing internal financial controls, and facilitating market expansion.
The requirements of becoming a chief operating officer by an employer can be quite vague, given the high-level cross-functional skillsets involved. However, you can land this position if you can demonstrate a few years of experience in managing operations of a medium scale project successfully. To get this role, you can study for a business degree or even a science-related degree. They earn on average $86 per hour and usually work more than 40 hours per week.
Chief Operating Officer Overview
Working as a Chief Operating Officer
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a chief operating officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $73.58 an hour? That's $153,056 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 Operating Officer Do
There are certain skills that many chief operating officers 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 analytical skills, detail oriented and math skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a chief operating officer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 12.6% of chief operating officers included procedures, while 8.0% of resumes included healthcare, and 6.8% of resumes included facility. 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 operating officer job title. But what industry to start with? Most chief operating officers actually find jobs in the health care and technology industries.
How To Become a Chief Operating Officer
If you're interested in becoming a chief operating officer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 43.5% of chief operating officers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 35.1% of chief operating officers have master's degrees. Even though most chief operating officers 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 operating officer. When we researched the most common majors for a chief operating officer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on chief operating officer resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a chief operating officer. In fact, many chief operating officer jobs require experience in a role such as vice president. Meanwhile, many chief operating officers also have previous career experience in roles such as general manager or director.
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Chief Operating Officer Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of president & chief operating officer you might progress to a role such as president & chief operating officer eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title president & chief operating officer.
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Average Salary for a Chief Operating Officer
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Unitedhealth Group Inc. Chief Operating Officer, Off-Benefit Healthcare Services/Optumrx Chief Operating Officer, Off-Benefit Healthcare Services/Optumrx | Unitedhealth Group Inc. Unitedhealth Group Inc. | 01/23/2021 01/23/2021 | $169,50001/23/2021 $169,500 |
International City Management Deputy City Manager/Chief Operating Officer Deputy City Manager/Chief Operating Officer | International City Management International City Management | 01/23/2021 01/23/2021 | $151,10001/23/2021 $151,100 |
International City Management Chief Operations Officer-Water Utilities Chief Operations Officer-Water Utilities | International City Management International City Management | 01/23/2021 01/23/2021 | $148,79701/23/2021 $148,797 |
Unitedhealth Group Chief Operating Officer, Off-Benefit Healthcare Services/Optumrx Chief Operating Officer, Off-Benefit Healthcare Services/Optumrx | Unitedhealth Group Unitedhealth Group | 01/23/2021 01/23/2021 | $169,50001/23/2021 $169,500 |
Robert Half COO-Chief Operating Officer-Title Company Background COO-Chief Operating Officer-Title Company Background | Robert Half Robert Half | 01/20/2021 01/20/2021 | $80,00001/20/2021 $80,000 |
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Chief Operating Officer 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 Operating Officer. 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 Operating Officer Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Chief Operating Officer 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 Operating Officers
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. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
8. George Washington University, The
Washington, DC • Private
9. Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA • Private
10. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Public
Top Skills For a Chief Operating Officer
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, 12.6% of chief operating officers listed procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and detail oriented are important as well.
- Procedures, 12.6%
- Healthcare, 8.0%
- Facility, 6.8%
- Customer Service, 6.2%
- Oversight, 5.2%
- Other Skills, 61.2% See All Chief Operating Officer Skills
Best States For a Chief Operating Officer
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a chief operating officer. The best states for people in this position are Hawaii, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Kansas. Chief operating officers make the most in Hawaii with an average salary of $194,980. Whereas in Rhode Island and New Jersey, they would average $168,252 and $155,172, respectively. While chief operating officers would only make an average of $153,969 in Kansas, 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. Rhode Island
$168,252
Avg. Salary
2. Hawaii
$194,980
Avg. Salary
3. Kansas
$153,970
Avg. Salary
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