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As a Chief Financial Officer (CFO), you'll play a critical role in shaping the financial health of a company. Your resume should emphasize your strategic financial acumen and ability to drive growth and profitability. Recent industry trends point towards the importance of technology and data-driven decision-making in the CFO role, so showcasing your experience in these areas is essential.
When crafting your CFO resume, keep in mind that hiring managers will be scrutinizing your ability to manage financial risks, optimize capital structures, and contribute to overall business strategy. Make sure you highlight your accomplishments in these areas and demonstrate how you've made a significant impact at previous companies.
In your resume, emphasize your financial leadership skills, such as budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis, as well as your ability to build strong relationships with stakeholders and develop high-performing finance teams.
Demonstrate your expertise in leveraging technology and data to drive financial decisions and improve business performance. Mention any specific tools or software you've used, such as ERP systems or data analytics platforms, and share examples of successful projects or initiatives you've led.
If you’re applying for CFO positions, you’ll need to demonstrate skills in financial analysis and reporting, forecasting, portfolio management, and mergers and acquisitions. You should also emphasize a strong background in auditing or accounting, including a business or finance degree and often a professional finance or accounting qualification like Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Management Accountant (CIMA), or Certified Management Accountant (CMA) accreditation.
When it comes to your resume, first impressions count — and that goes for your bullet points, too. Start your accomplishments out on the strongest note by using action verbs at the start of each bullet point. Starting your sentences with words like “drove,” “maximized,” and “orchestrated” highlights the specific role you played in each of your achievements.
If you’re applying for a CFO position, your skills section needs to include hard finance skills including auditing, forecasting, and private equity. Don’t be tempted to clutter it with unrelated skills, no matter how impressive they are — keeping your skills list short and sweet keeps the focus on what you can bring to this job in particular.
The CFO is the top finance position in major companies and the most senior leadership position in the financial industry. As a CFO, you’ll be responsible for your company’s financial actions, including cash flow, financial planning, taxation, and new business ventures. You’ll also be tasked with providing cost-benefit analysis of initiatives across different departments, meaning your resume needs to highlight soft skills like strategic communication alongside technical skills.
To land an executive-level role, you’ll need to demonstrate steady career progression. You can show promotions on your resume in two ways — by listing the job titles separately under one company heading, or by emphasizing higher responsibilities in your bullet points. Even without a formal promotion, you can use your accomplishments to demonstrate career growth.
With a long enough career under your belt, your past roles may include some outside the finance or business leadership sector. While it can be tempting to include everything, your resume doesn’t need to be a comprehensive overview of your entire job history. Focus on your roles specific to finance, or those demonstrating transferable skills if you’re a career changer.
We spoke with hiring managers and recruiters at top companies like Deloitte, PwC, and EY to gather their best resume tips for Chief Financial Officer (CFO) roles. Here are the key things they look for when hiring a CFO, with examples of how to showcase your skills and experience effectively.
CFOs play a crucial role in guiding a company's financial strategy. Showcase specific examples of how you made strategic decisions that positively impacted the company's bottom line.
A resume summary for a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is optional but can be a strategic way to provide additional context about your career journey, especially if you're making a career change or have an extensive work history. While your resume already serves as a summary of your skills and experience, a well-written summary can help you stand out to hiring managers and showcase your unique value proposition. However, it's crucial to avoid using an objective statement, as they are outdated and focus on what you want rather than what you can offer the company.
When crafting your CFO resume summary, focus on highlighting your most relevant skills, experiences, and achievements that align with the job description. Avoid repeating information that's already included in other sections of your resume. Instead, use the summary to provide a high-level overview of your career and the value you bring to the table.
As a CFO, your work experience section is the heart of your resume. It's where you showcase your ability to drive financial strategy, manage risk, and optimize business performance. Highlight your most relevant and impactful experiences that demonstrate your leadership, technical expertise, and business acumen.
Focus on your achievements and the value you've delivered in each role. Quantify your impact with metrics and data wherever possible. Use industry-specific keywords and highlight your experience with relevant tools and technologies.
When describing your work experience, use strong action verbs that convey your leadership, strategic thinking, and financial acumen. Weak, vague verbs can undermine your achievements and make your resume less impactful. For example:
Instead, use powerful action verbs that convey your ownership and impact:
Other strong financial action verbs to consider: forecasted, budgeted, reconciled, leveraged, maximized, yielded, optimized, captured
The education section of your Chief Financial Officer resume should highlight your academic achievements and qualifications. It's a crucial component that hiring managers and recruiters use to assess your suitability for the role. Here are some tips to help you craft a compelling education section:
Your skills section is one of the most important parts of your CFO resume. It's where you highlight your top abilities and qualifications that make you the perfect fit for the role. Here are some tips to help you write a compelling skills section that will catch the attention of hiring managers and recruiters.
Here are examples of popular skills from Chief Financial Officer (CFO) - 1 job descriptions that you can include on your resume.
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Chief Financial Officer (CFO) - 1 job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more likely you should include it in your resume.
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