Chief Operating Officer (COO) Resume—Examples & Writing Tips

Hiring a COO can make or break the company. 

Choose the wrong person, and the company may never fully recover from bad financial decisions and poor performance management. 

Pick well, and the company will enter a real golden age. 

Time to write a COO resume that proves to the board you’re the right choice. 

In this guide:

• A COO resume sample that gets jobs.
• How to ace your COO job description on a resume.
• How to write a resume for a COO that gets the interview.
• Expert tips and examples on how to fill your COO resume template with job-winning achievements and skills.

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Considering other management positions? Take a look at our dedicated guides:

• Business Manager Resume
• Business Owner Resume
• Business Resume
• CEO Resume
• CFO Resume
• Executive Resume
• General Manager Resume
• Management Consultant Resume
• Manager Resume
• Operations Manager Resume
• Product Manager Resume
• Best Resumes for Every Job

COO Resume Example

The COO (Chief Operating Officer or Chief Operations Officer) is responsible for business growth, flawless operations, and managing the performance of the business. The purpose of your COO resume is to highlight your leadership accomplishments and broad knowledge of business development. 

Here’s how to write a COO resume:

1. Apply the Right Format to Your COO Resume Template

You know the importance of sticking to tried-and-tested processes and templates. It makes everyone’s job easier if everything’s clear from the get-go.

In the same way, applying standard formatting to your resume will make it immediately readable to the recruiter and the board. You don’t want them to work for it—they should see your value immediately. Here’s how to get it right. 

• Choose the reverse-chronological resume format to highlight your most recent accomplishments. This means listing your most recent experience first and working your way back through previous roles. 
• Use an easy-to-read resume font, like Arial or Helvetica. Nothing too fancy—essentially, you don’t want the font to draw any attention to itself at all. 
• Set the margins of your resume to one inch on all sides of the page. 
• Consider what would be the right length for your resume. For most roles, a one-page resume works best—but as an executive, you may need more space than that to show off everything you have to offer. Don’t be afraid to make your resume two pages or even longer, but do make sure that everything you include is directly relevant to the role. Cut, cut, and cut again, until you’re left with an impactful resume that’s a fluff-free showcase of your best achievements. 
• Divide your resume into sections: Header, Summary, Experience, Education, Skills, and Additional.

Unless instructed otherwise, always save your resume as a PDF file to preserve your resume layout and make sure it works well on every device. This also helps to make your resume readable by ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems)—software that’ll likely assess your application before it even reaches the recruiter. 

2. Write an Engaging COO Resume Summary

The stakes are high, but you need to make an excellent first impression. 

How?

By introducing yourself with a resume profile! This 3–5-stentence paragraph at the top of your resume is your chance to grab the reader’s attention and immediately show the value you could bring to the company. 

As an experienced candidate, opt for the resume summary.

Use:

1. Anadjective (dynamic, efficient, hard-working)
2. Job title (COO)
3. Years of experience (10+, 11+)
4. How you’ll do (increase the ROI by identifying new growth opportunities)
5. Most impressive 2–3 achievements (decrease clients churn by reorganizing the sales department)

Expert Hint: Keeping the recruiter hooked right from the beginning is not easy. To make writing the resume profile more manageable, write once you’re done with your resume and have all skills and accomplishments listed. 

3. Add the Perfect COO Job Description and Skills Sections

Now it’s time to show you have what it takes to be the company’s next COO. Your experience is your greatest asset, so let’s get to work on making your work history section shine. 

Here are the basics of how to write a job description for a COO resume:

1. Analyze the job advertisement carefully. 
2. Make a list of skills and requirements it mentions. They will serve as your resume keywords. 
3. Think of times you’ve used those skills to impress the CEO, the board, or other stakeholders. 
4. Write resume bullet points that describe those situations. Quantify them when possible, and use action words to add impact to your statements. 

As you’ve probably already noticed, the key here is to focus on your best professional accomplishments—not on listing each of your day-to-day duties. And since each COO job will come with its own set of perks and challenges, it’s important to choose those of your accomplishments that best match the role at hand and adapt them by weaving in those resume keywords. 

This way, you’ll target your resume to each specific job you apply for, significantly boosting your chances of getting an interview. Recruiters aren’t just looking for a good COO—they’re looking for the best COO for their company. 

Speaking of tailoring your resume, there’s one more section that depends heavily on keywords: your COO resume skills section!

You’ll need to pick around 10 of your most important skills to list on your resume. The best way to do this is to focus on skills mentioned in the job ad—this way, you’ll show the reader you’re the perfect fit. Remember to include a mix of soft skills and hard skills. 

Here’s a list of ideas: 

COO Skills—Resume Examples

• Budgeting
• Financial Management
• Product Development
• Contract Negotiation
• Business Strategy
• Quantitative Analysis
• Performance Management
• Negotiation Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Leadership Skills
• Communication Skills
• Computer Skills
• Technical Skills
• Marketing Skills
• Conflict Resolution Skills
• Critical Thinking Skills
• Conceptual Skills
• Creative Thinking Skills
• Time Management Skills

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4. Turn Your Education into Another Reason to Hire You

As you’re bound to already know, executives typically need at least a bachelor’s or a master’s degree to be considered for the role (alongside from tons of experience, of course). This means it’s essential that you list your education on your resume: you don’t want to give the reader the impression that you’re lacking an appropriate degree. 

Luckily, this is pretty straightforward. Under a new heading (Education), list your highest obtained degree, the awarding institution, and the years of attendance. If you have a master’s or above, you can include your second-highest degree if you think it’s relevant enough to give you an edge. 

5. Include Extra Sections on Your COO Resume

Time to make your application more human and your resume more memorable. 

Add one or two extra sections: 

• Certifications
• Foreign Languages
• Awards
• Publications
• Memberships in professional associations
• Conferences
• Volunteering

And one last thing—you should write an executive cover letter to accompany your resume. It’s your chance to showcase your communication skills, highlight your motivation, and explain what makes you the right fit for the job. 

Expert hint: While hobbies and interests are okay on resumes for most other roles, you shouldn’t mention them on an executive-level job application unless they’re deeply relevant to the role. 

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Key Points

For a COO resume that gets interviews:

• Use a modern COO resume template that’s easy to follow and highlights the most important pieces of information. 
• Mention the COO's accomplishments in the resume summary, job description, and education sections. Focus on achievements relevant to the particular job ad. 
• Choose the right COO skills. Target the skills section to the specific position you’re after. 
• Add extra sections to make your application stand out.
• Attach a cover letter to your COO resume to state your case. 

Thanks for reading! Do you have any questions about writing a COO resume? Leave a comment below, we’d love to exchange expertise!