CIO Resume

A chief information officer leads an organization’s information technology and computer systems department.

They’re responsible for understanding both current and future trends in the IT industry and must be able to provide strategic decision-making for their organization.

The role has evolved over the years, and successful CIOs today must possess business acumen in addition to their technical skills.

Plus, the advent of remote work has seen the rise of what’s being called the contract CIO — thanks to remote work schedules and shorter commutes, some CIOs are taking on second executive positions as “gig” CIOs.

So whether you’re looking for a full-time CIO position or are exploring your options as a part-time CIO, you can use our expert writing tips to craft an engaging CIO resume that is sure to help you land interviews.

1. Highlight your CIO resume skills

To get your CIO resume in front of the decision-makers, it’s imperative that your skills section is up-to-date and only showcases skills that are relevant to the chief information officer job description.

Because this is a highly technical position, most of your skills should be hard skills, like the databases, languages, and tools you use, to showcase your technical expertise.

However, as a C-level executive, you’ll also be responsible for managing people and making decisions, so you should also list soft skills like emotional intelligence and strategic thinking, to demonstrate that you can lead teams through the ever-changing technological landscape.

Here are more hard skills:

• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Visio)
• Apple iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote)
• Microsoft Sharepoint 
• SCRUM (CSM, CSPO)
• Kanban
• Scaled Agile
• RUP
• UML
• SQL
• BPL
• XML HTML
• Visual Paradigm
• IBM Analyst Studio
• VMware
• OpenStack
• Apple
• IBM
• Windows
• Oracle
• MySQL
• Change Data Capture

And some soft skills to add to your resume skills section:

• Senior Leadership Skills
• Strategic Thinking & Foresight
• Emotional Intelligence
• Employee Development
• C-Suite Communication and Presentation Skills
• Change Management Skills
• Decision Making
• Delegation
• Mentorship

2. Include information technology-related keywords in your resume

If you’re looking for a CIO position in 2023, it’s more important now than ever to include industry-specific keywords on your resume.

That’s because most companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to filter out resumes that don’t meet the requirements of the job posting.

Plus, by sprinkling keywords specific to the field of information technology throughout your resume, it will seem like you’re the perfect fit for the role, making it an easy decision for hiring managers to put your resume in the “interview” pile.

When you make a resume, you should also look at the job description of the opening you’re applying for and pick out keywords to use from that posting.

To pass through ATS and impress hiring managers, try using some of the keywords listed below throughout your skills section and work experience section:

Here are some keywords for a CIO resume:

• IT management
• IT service management
• SQL
• IT strategy
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
• Information technology
• Operating systems
• ITIL
• Business intelligence
• CIOs
• Cloud computing
• COBIT
• Software development
• Project management

3. Demonstrate your achievements with hard numbers

If you’re applying for a CIO position, it’s imperative that your achievements are easily discernible from a quick scan of your CIO resume.

One of the best ways to do this is by quantifying your achievements on your resume.

Here’s a compelling example of a resume work experience bullet that provides a specific number:

Created enterprise software suite to assist business process flows, event flows, and GUI frames with over $110 million in revenue.

This works because using a discrete number like $110 million allows decision-makers to understand what you can achieve in concrete terms and shows that you’re results-oriented.