Chief Operating Officer (COO) Resume Examples and Templates for 2023

Jacob Meade Headshot

Jacob Meade

Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW, ACRW)

Jacob Meade is a resume writer and editor with nearly a decade of experience. His writing method centers on understanding and then expressing each person’s unique work history and strengths toward their career goal. Jacob has enjoyed working with jobseekers of all ages and career levels, finding that a clear and focused resume can help people from any walk of life. He is an Academy Certified Resume Writer (ACRW) with the Resume Writing Academy, and a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) with the Professional Association of Resume Writers & Career Coaches.

Create a professional resume in minutes for free.

Build Resume

Downloadable Resume Examples

Example #1
Chief-Operating-Officer-COO_Example-1.pdf

Example #1

Example #2
Chief-Operating-Officer-COO_Example-2.pdf

Example #2

Example #3
Chief-Operating-Officer-COO_Example-3.pdf

Example #3

Chief Operating Officer (COO) Text-Only Resume Examples

Years of Experience
  • Example #1 #1
  • Example #2 #2
  • Example #3 #3

Amar Singh
123 Santa Maria, San Francisco, CA 12345 | (123) 456-7890 | [email protected]

Profile

Chief Operating Officer (COO) with 10+ years of advancement and excellence. Draw on deep knowledge of Six Sigma, continuous improvement, and resource allocation principles.

Career Highlights

Chief Operating Officer (COO), RZA Corp., San Francisco, CA | October 2017 to Present

  • Assessed business needs in order to determine new operations department goals
  • Renewed organization’s focus on customer service and continuous operational improvement
  • Devised new process streamlining protocol that resulted in 20%+ greater productivity

Operations Director, LFA Inc., San Francisco, CA | August 2012 to September 2017

  • Oversaw development of new standard processes that increased team efficiency by 25%
  • Restored team’s focus on core mission, values, and long-range objectives

Prior Experience

  • Advanced steadily through a series of progressive operations roles at ABC Corp.

Education

Bachelor of Science (BS)
University Of California, Berkeley, CA

Key Skills

  • Business Needs Assessment
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Cost Reduction & Elimination
  • Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Organizational Alignment
  • Policy & Procedure Development
  • Process Redesign & Improvement
  • Productivity & Efficiency Gains
  • Profit & Loss (P&L) Management
  • Six Sigma Methodology
  • Talent Acquisition
  • Targeted Resource Allocation

Allison Rosenberg, MBA
123 Convoy St, San Diego, CA 12345 | (123) 456-7890 | [email protected]

Profile

Senior Operations Executive with 10+ years of advancement and experience. Skilled at guiding large-scale organizations to new levels of efficiency and performance in competitive markets. Adapt readily to new workforce challenges and industry conditions. Bilingual: Fluent in English and Spanish.

Career Highlights

Chief Operating Officer (COO), YCW Corp., San Diego, CA | October 2017 to Present

  • Guided a cost reduction initiative that raised the company’s bottom line by $700K in 6 months
  • Built productive partnerships with senior leaders of five major departments
  • Drove five successful change initiatives to create a more inventive and collaborative work culture

Director of Operations, MFW Advertising, San Diego, CA | August 2012 to September 2017

  • Collaborated with HR on a hiring initiative to place 15 new operations managers
  • Established a cross-department communication structure that increased efficiency by 25%

Prior Experience

  • Advanced steadily through a series of progressive operations roles at TKQ Manufacturing.

Education

University of California, San Diego, CA

  • Master of Business Administration (MBA)
  • Bachelor of Science (BS)

Language

  • Fluency in Spanish

Key Skills

  • Business Needs Assessment
  • Change Leadership
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Cost Reduction & Elimination
  • Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Organizational Alignment
  • Policy & Procedure Development
  • Process Redesign & Improvement
  • Productivity & Efficiency Gains
  • Profit & Loss (P&L) Management
  • Six Sigma Methodology
  • Strategic Business Planning
  • Talent Acquisition
  • Targeted Resource Allocation

Cameron Malfara, MBA
123 Windermere Rd., Seattle, WA 12345 | (123) 456-7890 | [email protected]

Profile

Chief Operating Officer (COO) with 10+ years of advancement and excellence at large healthcare organizations.

Career Highlights

Chief Operating Officer (COO), DTI Medical Center, Seattle, WA | October 2017 to Present

  • Oversaw all operations department functions while managing a $15M budget
  • Guide development of clinical workflows to ensure consistent operational excellence
  • Defined and translated enterprise goals into a new short- and long-term strategic plan
  • Led a team to refine various policies and procedures toward more patient-centered care and better clinical outcomes

Operations Director, NYP Hospital, Seattle, WA | August 2012 to September 2017
[Large regional hospital with 450 beds.]

  • Coordinated all operations department functions
  • Made weekly meetings more relevant and productive by creating a formal procedure for groups to determine and assign next steps on each incomplete project

Career Note

  • Extensive prior experience in medical billing management.

Education

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

  • Master of Business Administration (MBA)
  • Bachelor of Science (BS) – Healthcare Administration

Key Skills

  • Business Needs Assessment
  • Clinical Workflow Development
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Cost Reduction & Elimination
  • Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Hospital Administration
  • Policy & Procedure Development
  • Process Redesign & Improvement
  • Productivity & Efficiency Gains
  • Profit & Loss (P&L) Management
  • Six Sigma
  • Strategic Business Planning
  • Talent Acquisition
  • Targeted Resource Allocation

Tips for Writing a Better Chief Operating Officer (COO) Resume

1. Keep your format simple

For executives, a conservative resume format is usually best. Use color sparingly, if at all. Don’t use more than one or two different font styles. Avoid fancier Microsoft Word format options like Tables, SmartArt, and Text Effects. This more conservative approach is well-suited to your career level. It’s often the best way to frame a more complex or convoluted work history. As Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

2. Categorize your career details

C-level leaders often have an extensive work history. How do you gather and organize all those job details on your resume without going crazy? The trick is to set “global” format rules that govern the entire document. For example, virtually all the text on your resume should fall into one of just four categories:

Section headings (like “Career Highlights” or “Education”)

Organization names (like “Exxon Mobil” or “University of Washington”)

Personal titles (like “COO,” “Bachelor of Science,” or your name)

Main/body text (everything else)

Leave the main/body text as is but choose one or more unique format settings for the other three categories, such as bold, italic, or UPPERCASE. You can then apply the settings to all text in that category across the document (to that end, try Microsoft Word’s nifty Format Painter tool). Following this method allows you to set your career details off from each other in a clear and consistent way, no matter how many jobs or sections you include.

3. Consider this font style

When choosing a font style for your resume, try Arial Narrow. This style often works great for C-level job seekers because it lets you fit more information on each page while keeping your format clean and professional. Sidenote: If you use this font, consider using Arial Black for your subject headings or job titles – the two fonts complement each other perfectly.

4. Strike a forthright tone

For nearly any piece of regular writing, it’s important to choose language that sets a clear tone or “voice.” That advice also applies to resumes. When writing your resume, aim for a formal, forthright tone (as opposed to the more casual style of a LinkedIn profile and the eager, confident voice of a cover letter).

To achieve a forthright voice on your resume, use simple sentences and straightforward descriptions of your experience. Have this advice in mind, especially when writing your Profile section, since you may be tempted (or think you need) to use overly “promotional” terms like “Brilliant” or “Outstanding at.” A more straightforward phrase like “Skilled at” is almost always better.

Example


Senior Operations Executive with 10+ years of advancement and experience. Skilled at guiding large-scale organizations to new levels of efficiency and performance in competitive markets. Adapt readily to new workforce challenges and industry conditions. Bilingual: Fluent in English and Spanish.

Key Skills Hiring Managers Look for on Chief Operating Officer (COO) Resumes

For a better COO resume, include a “Key Skills” section that gives a quick overview of the expertise and value you offer. Consider including any of the terms below:

Key Skills and Proficiencies
Business Needs Assessment Change Leadership
Workflow Development Continuous Improvement
Cost Reduction & Elimination Cross-Functional Leadership
Organizational Alignment Policy & Procedure Development
Process Redesign & Improvement Productivity & Efficiency Gains
Profit & Loss (P&L) Management Six Sigma
Strategic Business Planning Talent Acquisition
Targeted Resource Allocation Workflow Development

Common Action Verbs for Chief Operating Officer (COO) Resumes

It’s easy to get stuck when writing the Experience section of your resume. You may find yourself running out of action verbs to describe your work. To help you over the hump, we put together this list of strong resume verbs for a COO:

Action Verbs
Align Coordinate
Create Devise
Eliminate Enhance
Guide Improve
Innovate Introduce
Launch Lead
Plan Redesign
Reduce Renew
Revitalize Strategize
Streamline Unify

How to Align Your Chief Operating Officer (COO) Resume With a Job Posting

For each job in your Experience section, consider adding a company description. You can place this description in brackets right next to or below the company name. It also helps to match formatting. For instance, if you’ve italicized the company name, italicize the company description too. (See resume #3 above for an example.)

Company descriptions let you show any similarities between your past employers and the employer you’re now pursuing. For instance, maybe you’ve worked for companies of a similar size or in the same industry. Or perhaps you’ve worked at organizations with a similar core mission or leadership philosophy. By working these details into your descriptions, you can make your resume more relevant to the job at hand.

More Resume & Cover Letter Resources

Resume samples

Cover letter samples

Advice on your job search