There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a general manager/director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $66.4 an hour? That's $138,115 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 150,600 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many general managers/director 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, leadership skills and communication skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a general manager/director, we found that a lot of resumes listed 8.0% of general managers/director included financial performance, while 6.5% of resumes included facility, and 5.8% of resumes included procedures. 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 general manager/director job title. But what industry to start with? Most general managers/director actually find jobs in the hospitality and retail industries.
If you're interested in becoming a general manager/director, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 52.5% of general managers/director have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 18.8% of general managers/director have master's degrees. Even though most general managers/director 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 general manager/director. When we researched the most common majors for a general manager/director, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on general manager/director resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a general manager/director. In fact, many general manager/director jobs require experience in a role such as general manager. Meanwhile, many general managers/director also have previous career experience in roles such as operations manager or director.
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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 general manager/director can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as vice president, progress to a title such as senior vice president and then eventually end up with the title senior vice president.
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Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
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 General Manager/Director. 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 General Manager/Director Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless General Manager/Director 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 InformationPhiladelphia, PA
Evanston, IL
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
University Park, PA
Austin, TX
Vestal, NY
Boston, MA
Waltham, MA
Bethlehem, PA
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, 8.0% of general managers/director listed financial performance on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and leadership skills are important as well.
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a general manager/director. The best states for people in this position are Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Hawaii. General managers/director make the most in Rhode Island with an average salary of $177,007. Whereas in New Jersey and Massachusetts, they would average $159,462 and $157,372, respectively. While general managers/director would only make an average of $155,553 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. Louisiana
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2. Mississippi
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3. Hawaii
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