A vice president of a company keeps watch over all of the internal operations. They work to build strong customer relationships while also staying focused on the financial goals at hand.
The average vice president spends a lot of time at work. I mean, we're talking, a lot of time, like upwards of 65-80 hours a week. Since the majority of the company falls into your hands, you'll likely spend a lot of that time making sure everything is running as efficiently as it can.
As a vice president, it's easy to assume you've have a lot of experience in your field. In addition to experience, it's likely you have also earned at least a bachelor's degree, if not a master's degree as well.
How to Become a Vice President
What is a Vice President
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Vice President. For example, did you know that they make an average of $85.93 an hour? That's $178,728 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 Vice President Do
There are certain skills that many Vice Presidents 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 Problem-solving skills.
How To Become a Vice President
If you're interested in becoming a Vice President, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 72.0% of Vice Presidents have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 14.6% of Vice Presidents have master's degrees. Even though most Vice Presidents 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 Vice President. When we researched the most common majors for a Vice President, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Master's Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Vice President resumes include Associate Degree degrees or Doctoral Degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Vice President. In fact, many Vice President jobs require experience in a role such as Internship. Meanwhile, many Vice Presidents also have previous career experience in roles such as Assistant Vice President or Director.
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Vice President 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 Chief Finance Officer you might progress to a role such as Chief Finance And Operating Officer eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title Chief Finance And Operating Officer.
Vice President
Chief Finance And Operating Officer
14 Years
Senior Vice President, Sales
14 Years
Group Vice President
9 Years
Senior Vice President Of Marketing
13 Years
Vice President Operation Manager
10 Years
Supply Chain Vice President
17 Years
Show More
Vice President Jobs You Might Like
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Vice President
Vice Presidents in America make an average salary of $178,728 per year or $86 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $271,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $117,000 per year.
Average Salary
$178,728
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12 Vice President Resume Examples
Build a professional vice president resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 12+ resume templates to create your vice president resume.
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Denise Bell Vice President |
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Russell Perry Vice President Experience Vice President2019 - Present WILD Flavors•Pittsburgh, PA
General Manager2017 - 2019 McDonald's•Pittsburgh, PA
Marketing Manager2015 - 2017 Dick's Sporting Goods•Pittsburgh, PA
Product Manager2006 - 2008 Abbott•Columbus, OH
Skills Sales GoalsROIPerformance ReviewsPaid SearchFacilityDaily OperationsContent DevelopmentOnlineQACustomer Relations Education Master's Degree Economics2008 - 2009 University of Pittsburgh•Pittsburgh, PA Bachelor's Degree Economics1997 - 2000 Ohio State University•Columbus, OH |
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Learn How To Write a Vice President Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Vice President resumes and compiled some information about how to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Vice President Resume Examples And TemplatesAnd if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Choose From 10+ Customizable Vice President Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Vice President templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Vice President resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
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Vice President Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Vice President Jobs - $271K and Up
- Work From Home Vice President Jobs
- Entry Level Vice President Jobs
- Part Time Vice President Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Vice President Jobs
Top Colleges for Vice Presidents
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
4. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Private
In-State Tuition
$10,610
Enrollment
40,329
5. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$9,808
Enrollment
13,990
6. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,522
Enrollment
13,760
7. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$49,880
Enrollment
4,177
8. George Washington University, The
Washington, DC • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,230
Enrollment
12,161
9. Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$52,930
Enrollment
5,030
10. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$18,454
Enrollment
40,108
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Vice President Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Vice President Jobs - $271K and Up
- Work From Home Vice President Jobs
- Entry Level Vice President Jobs
- Part Time Vice President Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Vice President Jobs
Online Courses For Vice President That You May Like
Strategic Planning Basics for Human Resources
Learn to collaborate with your organizational leaders on the development and implementation of a strategic plan...
Audit - Financial Statement
Learn the audit process from planning to audit report form a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)...
Certification Course in Human Resource Management
Curriculum commensurate to Top B Schools Management Program: with downloadable resources, quiz, assessments & exercise...
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Part Time
Internship
Temporary
Top Skills For a Vice President
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, 9.7% of Vice Presidents listed Healthcare on their resume, but soft skills such as Leadership skills and Management skills are important as well.
Best States For a Vice President
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a Vice President. The best states for people in this position are New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington. Vice Presidents make the most in New York with an average salary of $190,934. Whereas in New Jersey and Connecticut, they would average $189,470 and $188,907, respectively. While Vice Presidents would only make an average of $188,798 in Washington, 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. New York
Total Vice President Jobs:
4,389
Highest 10% Earn:
$262,000
Location Quotient:
2.42
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$190,934
Avg. Salary
2. Connecticut
Total Vice President Jobs:
614
Highest 10% Earn:
$260,000
Location Quotient:
1.31
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$188,907
Avg. Salary
3. New Jersey
Total Vice President Jobs:
1,743
Highest 10% Earn:
$261,000
Location Quotient:
1.55
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$189,470
Avg. Salary
How Do Vice President Rate Their Jobs?
Top Vice President Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ Vice Presidents and discovered their number of Vice President opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Bank of America was the best, especially with an average salary of $126,534. Morgan Stanley follows up with an average salary of $184,927, and then comes JPMorgan Chase & Co. with an average of $159,855. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a Vice President. The employers include HSBC North America Holdings, MUFG Americas Holdings, and Mastercard
Vice President Videos
Joe Biden answers What does a Vice President do?""
Becoming a Vice President FAQs
How long does it take to become a Vice President?
It takes 6 years of professional experience to become a vice president. That is the time it takes to learn specific vice president skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 9 to 11 years years to become a vice president.
Can you become a VP without a degree?
Yes, you can become a VP without a degree. However, there is a low probability of becoming a vice president of a company without a degree unless you were involved in the founding of the organization.
A vice president typically has a bachelor's degree or higher in business administration or an industry-related field. Only 2-3% of vice presidents of successful companies have only a high school degree or GED.
The vice president oversees a large range of activities and should have a proven track record in management to qualify for the job. In addition to a degree, vice presidents work through lower management roles and may be hired internally.
Depending on the size of a company, there may be several people with VP in their title (executive vice president, senior vice president, regional vice president, etc.)
The role involves a significant amount of authority and organization. Learning the latest in business management, strategy, and technology through a degree is extremely beneficial. Also, networking opportunities through University can also be valuable.
The vice president position requires experience in budgeting, planning, decision making, public speaking, writing, and executing successful campaign strategies.
The VP oversees smooth internal operations and plays a direct role in the organization's decision-making. Therefore, Standing out as a team member and gaining the right attention through departmental success can help you move higher to the level of vice president.
Is a general manager higher than a VP?
No, a general manager is not higher than a VP. Although companies can structure their management hierarchy in a variety of ways, general managers have a focus on the day-to-day operations of a division of a company or stand-alone branch.
General managers will report to upper management, which in turn set the GM's goals and targets. Vice presidents often work with general managers of divisions within the company to ensure that the overall goals of the company are being met.
It is also the role of a vice president to appoint division general managers if necessary and make sure that the larger company goals are reflected in the decisions made by general managers for their individual divisions.
Have more questions? See all answers to common executive management questions.
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