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A CFO is in charge of the most important financial aspects of a company. How can you write a resume that helps you attain this position?
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A Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is one of the most prominent roles in any given company. The Chief Financial Officer is in charge of an organizations’ financial moves, which naturally has an impact on company success. If you’re applying for this job, you need to show off experiences and skills that demonstrate to recruiters that you have the right stuff to help an organization. Here’s what you need to know about creating a great resume as a CFO.
The Chief Financial Officer is part of the C-level or C-suite of jobs, a group of people on the executive level of any given company. That means it’s a good idea to include elements that prove you’re ready for senior management. This may include past experience in a management team, certifications that showcase your skills, and a general understanding of business management. A CFO resume example will take all of these elements and combine them into a seamless structure.
Build my resumeYour resume structure will depend on the resume format you use. The three typical formats are chronological, functional, and combination, and how appropriate each is for you depends on your skills and job experience. Because a CFO is such a high-level job, you’ll typically go for the chronological format when writing your resume, as it stresses your previous experiences and career highlights. Here’s how you should structure your resume.
First is your resume header. This header showcases your full name, phone number, and professional portfolio links such as your LinkedIn profile.
Next is your resume summary or resume objective. This is a two to three-sentence paragraph at the top of your resume where you explain your best skills and career experiences. Think of this section as your “elevator pitch” in which you explain to a board of directors why you’re the right person for the job.
There are a wide variety of skills you can highlight on your resume; here are some of the most prominent skills to showcase for a CFO budget.
Note that this list includes both hard skills and soft skills in this list – both types of skills are crucial for an executive position like CFO.
Your work experience section should showcase positions that show career growth and progress. You’ll typically want to include at least the last 10 years in the field you’re applying to, with key achievements listed under each previous job. List your professional experience in reverse chronological order, with the most recent job title first.
List your top education credential (e.g., Master of Business Administration (MBA)), along with any related certifications (e.g., Certified Public Accountant (CPA)).
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Yes. If you’re interested in getting the job, you need a cover letter. A letter can help provide more context to your career achievements and top skills, give you the opportunity to explain the ways you can benefit the company you want to work for and serve as an important connection to the hiring manager. Use the ResumeHelp cover letter builder to help create your letter and put your best foot forward.
CFO positions need lots of experience. However, that experience doesn’t have to have been as a CFO in another company. Showcase the highest-level experience that you can, even if it’s not as a CFO, then use the descriptions for each job to show how your experience will transfer into being a CFO. If you held a vice president position, for example, that can be relevant to your resume, as you’ll be making many of the same decisions.
A great way to make sure your CFO resume is tailored to each individual job is to make sure you’re keeping resume keywords in mind. These are phrases in the job description tied to major skill and experience requirements (e.g., “project management” or “handling annual and capital budgets”) that help you understand what a recruiter is looking for in a candidate, which you can then use to reflect that image back at the recruiter. When you combine that with the efficacy of a resume builder, it’s easier to make sure a recruiter looks at your application more than once.
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