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.

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.

Learn more about what a Vice President does

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.

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Vice President Job Description

Vice presidents are typically an organization's second-in-command, whose primary duties include taking over for the president should the president become unavailable and overseeing any unit or department assigned to them. They share their insights and thoughts on key policies, legislation, executive orders, company decisions, and other high-level processes.

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Vice President Career Paths

Average Salary for a Vice President

Vice Presidents in America make an average salary of $158,637 per year or $76 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $235,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $107,000 per year.
Average Vice President Salary
$158,637 Yearly
$76.27 hourly

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Roles and Types of Vice President

The role of a vice president includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general vice president responsibilities:

  • Full ownership of the accounting and financial reporting functions of certain private equity funds, including the coordination
  • Should have a minimum of 20 years of successful consulting experience with energy clients
  • Leading independent oversight of information security first line of defense

There are several types of vice president, including:

Operations Vice President

Role:

The duties of an operations vice president centers around supervising business activities and ensuring workers sequence of operational productivity through assessment. You are expected to deliver tactical strategies that will push the company into accomplishing its vision and missions.

As an operations vice president, in obedience to the company's principles and procedures, you have the authority to employ and coach beginners and enact correctional measures when mandatory. Furthermore, you also have the volition to examine and authorize reports in diverse phases such as economic and new protocols as well as monitoring all shipping and analysis and developing strategies and protocols. Besides doing this, you are required to bargain with shippers and ensure a firm adherence to the client's requirement.

To fit into the role of an operations Vice President, you must possess a bachelor's degree or a master's degree, depending on the employer. You must also have good leadership, analytical, communication, organizational and problem-solving skills. You should as well be detail-oriented. You will earn an average yearly salary of $152,700, or $73.41 per hour. It ranges between $97,000 to $238,000.

  • Average Salary: $163,076
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Vice President And Manager

Role:

If you've an eye on the executive suite and desire to be in the thick of an organization's day-to-day operations, then the role of a vice president and manager might work for you. In general, a vice president or a VP is the leader of a company or department who servers under the president, CEO, or chairperson. Becoming a vice president and manager is one of the most prestigious, sustainable, and profitable roles, which offers you an opportunity to communicate your ideas clearly and present new concepts or directions for your company's growth. Following behind the president and CEO, you'll be in charge of all business operations, decisions, and ventures. Vice president is a role that requires you to use your leadership and decision-making skills to develop and implement successful business strategies, provide management, oversight, and demonstrate a commitment to excellence all the time. Working as a VP, you'll usually be second or third in command and collaborate with the senior leadership of your company by overseeing the internal operations, but may step in the president's place when he/she is unavailable.

Unlike other positions, this role isn't something that one can attain simply with a degree or diploma. The minimum requirement to become a vice president is a bachelor's degree in business management or a related field. However, having an MBA or master's degree in the relevant field and extensive experience in supervisory and managerial roles may boost your chances of becoming a vice president. Mostly, employers look for an independent team-player with strong analytical and team-building skills for the vice president position. He/She must have a strategic vision and a willingness to take responsibility to ascertain the company's goals.

Being a vice president, typically you'll work full-time, based in an office, but may do moderate travel from time to time to meet the new business clients. You may work in a company of any size, in any industry, including manufacturing, hospitality, government, healthcare, or education. Your wages as a vice president vary widely depending on your company, industry, experience, and location. However, being a VP of a growing leadership team, you can expect to earn a generous amount of $157,531 in a year, along with compensation packages and other health benefits. Not only that, but the career advancement chances are genuinely positive. With advanced knowledge, skills, and experience, you can take the role of a top-level manager, senior vice president, executive, or president of your company. So if you aspire to move into a senior-level or executive-level position, vice president might be a perfect start for you!

  • Average Salary: $142,496
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Finance Vice President

Role:

A finance vice president is responsible for directing all aspects of accounting operations, overseeing all transactions related to the general ledger, receivables, payables, payroll, and financial reporting. They analyze the company's financial results with respect to profits, trends, costs, and compliance with budgets. They issue regular status and ad hoc reports to senior management and provide strategic guidance around capital financing options to support company growth needs.

Further duties include developing and coordinating all relationships with lending/financial institutions, developing and maintaining all necessary accounting policies and systems, including general ledger and financial reporting, assisting senior management in financial planning and result management. Skills required for this position are strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and prioritizing and meeting deadlines.

They should also be able to multitask in a fast-paced environment with fluctuating priorities and deadlines, have the ability to work without direct supervision, and efficiently manage tasks and time. They need a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, or business, but a master's degree would be preferred. They earn a whopping $159,272 a year, that's $76.57 an hour. This career is expected to grow by 16% and produce 104,700 new jobs by 2028.

  • Average Salary: $147,603
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Vice President Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active vice president jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where vice presidents earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Vice President Jobs By State

Vice President Education

Vice President Majors

27.8 %
9.9 %

Vice President Degrees

Bachelors

72.0 %

Masters

14.6 %

Associate

6.8 %

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

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, 10.5% of vice presidents listed healthcare on their resume, but soft skills such as leadership skills and management skills are important as well.

  • Healthcare, 10.5%
  • Oversight, 7.4%
  • Project Management, 6.1%
  • Customer Service, 6.1%
  • Risk Management, 5.6%
  • Other Skills, 64.3%

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 diversity

Vice President Gender Distribution

Male
Male
66%
Female
Female
34%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among vice presidents, 34.2% of them are women, while 65.8% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among vice presidents is White, which makes up 76.7% of all vice presidents.

  • The most common foreign language among vice presidents is Spanish at 39.6%.

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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 $174,367. Whereas in New Jersey and Connecticut, they would average $172,269 and $170,727, respectively. While vice presidents would only make an average of $170,607 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:
$244,000
Location Quotient:
2.42

2. New Jersey

Total Vice President Jobs: 1,743
Highest 10% Earn:
$242,000
Location Quotient:
1.55

3. Washington

Total Vice President Jobs: 1,043
Highest 10% Earn:
$244,000
Location Quotient:
1.01
Full List Of Best States For Vice Presidents

How Do Vice Presidents Rate Their Jobs?

4/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Vice President Reviews

4.0
Jun 2022
Pros

Independence in decision making

Cons

I am responsible for everything be it any side of the business


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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 $128,757. Morgan Stanley follows up with an average salary of $155,978, and then comes Goldman Sachs with an average of $150,307. 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 Goldman Sachs, VMware, and Veeva Systems

Most Common Employers For Vice President

Vice President Videos

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.

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.

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