An executive officer is responsible for effectively running an organization, with the exact duties depending on the nature of the establishment they manage. Executive officers may operate in different contexts from the army to various business, administrative, governmental, legal, or manufacturing enterprises.
Although ranking high on the corporate ladder, an executive is responsible for overseeing daily activities to make sure operations run smoothly, leaving the overall business goals and strategic planning to his or her superiors.
Salaries also vary depending on many factors, such as the industry you work for, the size of your company, and the range of responsibilities falling on you. But whatever the exact amount may be, as an executive officer you will be among the highest-earning personnel in the company.
Executive Officer Overview
Working as an Executive Officer
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an executive officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $47.13 an hour? That's $98,028 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 an Executive Officer Do
There are certain skills that many executive 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 communication skills, leadership skills and management skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be an executive officer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 11.5% of executive officers included procedures, while 10.6% of resumes included military personnel, and 10.0% of resumes included logistics. 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 executive officer job title. But what industry to start with? Most executive officers actually find jobs in the finance and non profits industries.
How To Become an Executive Officer
If you're interested in becoming an executive officer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 45.8% of executive officers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 38.8% of executive officers have master's degrees. Even though most executive 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 an executive officer. When we researched the most common majors for an executive officer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on executive officer resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an executive officer. In fact, many executive officer jobs require experience in a role such as platoon leader. Meanwhile, many executive officers also have previous career experience in roles such as operations officer or officer.
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Executive Officer 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, an executive officer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as director, progress to a title such as chief of staff and then eventually end up with the title chief of staff.
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Average Salary for an Executive Officer
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Department of Defense Executive Officer Executive Officer | Department of Defense Department of Defense | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $146,30901/28/2021 $146,309 |
Iowa Department of Administrative Services Executive Officer 2 Executive Officer 2 | Iowa Department of Administrative Services Iowa Department of Administrative Services | 12/29/2020 12/29/2020 | $62,10912/29/2020 $62,109 |
Maryland Government Jobs Executive Officer Executive Officer | Maryland Government Jobs Maryland Government Jobs | 12/10/2020 12/10/2020 | $60,51412/10/2020 $60,514 |
Iowa Department of Transportation Executive Officer 2 Executive Officer 2 | Iowa Department of Transportation Iowa Department of Transportation | 11/22/2020 11/22/2020 | $62,10911/22/2020 $62,109 |
Iowa Department of Administrative Services Executive Officer 2 Executive Officer 2 | Iowa Department of Administrative Services Iowa Department of Administrative Services | 11/20/2020 11/20/2020 | $62,10911/20/2020 $62,109 |
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Executive 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 an Executive 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 an Executive Officer Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Executive 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 Executive 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 an Executive 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, 11.5% of executive officers listed procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and leadership skills are important as well.
- Procedures, 11.5%
- Military Personnel, 10.6%
- Logistics, 10.0%
- Clearance, 6.9%
- Oversight, 6.4%
- Other Skills, 54.6% See All Executive Officer Skills
Best States For an Executive Officer
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an executive officer. The best states for people in this position are Rhode Island, New York, California, and Hawaii. Executive officers make the most in Rhode Island with an average salary of $153,378. Whereas in New York and California, they would average $150,039 and $143,206, respectively. While executive officers would only make an average of $134,223 in Hawaii, 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
$153,378
Avg. Salary
2. New Jersey
$131,684
Avg. Salary
3. New York
$150,040
Avg. Salary
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