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Contents
What Matters Most
Why This Company Secretary Resume Works
How to Write a Company Secretary Resume That Gets Interviews
What to Include in a Company Secretary Resume
Company Secretary Resume Summary Examples
Company Secretary Work Experience Examples
Top Company Secretary Skills
Key Certifications & Licences for a Company Secretary
Common Company Secretary Resume Mistakes
Company Secretary Resume FAQs
Summary
Chartered company secretary with fourteen years in corporate governance, the last seven as company secretary for a listed group in Birmingham. Advises the board on governance, statutory compliance and directors' duties, manages board and committee meetings end to end, and keeps the company on the right side of the Companies Act and listing rules. Led the governance workstream of a stock-exchange listing, getting the board and its committees fully compliant. Maintains statutory registers and filings, drafts board papers and minutes, runs the AGM, and acts as the trusted bridge between the board, executives, shareholders and regulators. Discreet, meticulous and calm with sensitive matters. Looking for a company-secretary or head-of-governance role with a listed or large private company that takes governance seriously.
Work Experience
Company Secretary
Midlands Industrial Group plc, Birmingham, UK
Apr 2018 – Present
- Advise the whole board on governance, statutory compliance, directors' duties and the full listing rules.
- Led the governance workstream of a stock-exchange listing, getting the board and committees fully compliant.
- Manage board and committee meetings end to end, from agendas and papers to minutes and actions.
- Maintain the statutory registers, the filings and the company's full compliance with the Companies Act.
- Run the AGM and act as the bridge between the board, executives, shareholders and regulators.
- Handle all the sensitive board and shareholder matters with genuine discretion and accuracy throughout.
Assistant Company Secretary
Birmingham Corporate Services, Birmingham, UK
Aug 2012 – Mar 2018
- Supported the company secretary across the board meetings, minutes and filings.
- Maintained the statutory registers and helped manage all the key compliance deadlines.
- Drafted the board papers and coordinated all of the committee meeting logistics.
- Gained the chartered status and then earned a full company-secretary appointment.
Governance / Legal Administrator
Birmingham Corporate Services, Birmingham, UK
Jun 2010 – Jul 2012
- Provided the governance and legal administrative support to a busy corporate team.
- Maintained the records, the filings and the meeting documentation for the business.
- Learned the company secretarial practice and the compliance properly on the job.
- Then earned the move into a full assistant company-secretary role from there.
Education
LLB (Hons) Law, Law
University of Birmingham
Sep 2005 – Jun 2008
- Law degree covering company law, contract and corporate governance, the legal grounding behind the role. It built the understanding of directors' duties and compliance. Led directly into chartered governance qualification.
Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme (CGI), Corporate Governance
Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland
Sep 2009 – Jun 2012
- Chartered governance qualification covering company secretarial practice, governance and compliance. It is the professional benchmark for the role. Applied directly to board support and statutory compliance work.
Highlights
Listing governance lead
- Led the governance workstream of a stock-exchange listing, getting the board and its committees fully compliant. A clean governance footing is essential to taking a company public successfully.
Trusted by the board
- Acts as the discreet, reliable adviser the board turns to on governance and sensitive matters. That trust is the heart of an effective company-secretary role.
Certifications
Chartered Governance Professional (CGI)
Chartered Governance Institute
Jul 2012 – Present
- Chartered governance qualification covering company secretarial practice, governance and compliance. It is the professional benchmark for the role. Applied directly to board support and statutory compliance work.
Corporate Law & Listing Rules
Chartered Governance Institute
Apr 2019 – Present
- Certification in corporate law and stock-exchange listing rules. It supports the directors'-duties advice and the listing-compliance work delivered to the board and its committees.
Key Initiatives
Board Portal Implementation
Jan 2019 – Aug 2019
- Implemented a board-portal system for papers, minutes and approvals, moving the board off email and paper so meetings ran from one secure, auditable place each time.
Governance Framework Review
Jan 2020 – Jun 2020
- Led a review and refresh of the governance framework, updating the matters-reserved, committee terms and policies so the board's structure met current regulatory expectations.
Languages
- English (UK) — Native or Bilingual Proficiency
- French — Limited Working Proficiency
Technical Skills
- Corporate Governance
- Board Support
- Statutory Compliance
- Companies Act
- Listing Rules
- Minute Taking
- Statutory Registers & Filings
- AGM Management
- Directors' Duties
- Shareholder Relations
Personal Skills
- Discretion
- Attention to Detail
- Integrity
- Composure
- Communication
Activities & Interests
- Snow Boarding
- Wash car
- Music
- Online Shop
- Photography
What Matters Most
Before the detail, here is what decides a strong company secretary résumé:
- Lead with the governance you own, not the meetings you book: board and committee support, statutory compliance, directors'-duties advice, and the Companies Act / listing-rule work that keeps the company safe.
- Name the chartered qualification early. CGI (formerly ICSA) chartered status is the professional benchmark recruiters screen for, and a law degree or LLB reinforces it.
- State the company type and scale plainly: listed plc versus large private, number of entities, group structure. Listed-company governance and private-company governance are different jobs.
- Show board-level reach. Recruiters want evidence you advise directors and chairs, not just minute their decisions, so frame yourself as the board's trusted governance counsel.
- Quantify governance work the way insiders do: entities administered, board and committee meetings run per year, filing-deadline accuracy, registers maintained, AGMs and listings delivered.
- Signal discretion and judgement explicitly. Handling sensitive board, shareholder and conflict-of-interest matters cleanly is the quiet differentiator at this level.
Why This Company Secretary Resume Works
This sample reads as a board-level governance professional, not an administrator, and every structural choice earns that read:
- The summary opens with chartered status and years in corporate governance, then immediately names the listed-group context, so a recruiter places the seniority and sector within the first line.
- It leads with what is advised, not what is arranged: governance, statutory compliance and directors' duties come before meeting logistics, which is the order a governance hire is judged on.
- The standout achievement, leading the governance workstream of a stock-exchange listing, is the most listing-relevant credential a company secretary can show, and it sits high rather than buried in a project list.
- The career arc is legible: governance/legal administrator, to assistant company secretary, to company secretary, with chartered status earned along the way, which signals a real governance practitioner rather than a lateral mover.
- Concrete governance artefacts, statutory registers, board papers, minutes, AGM, regulator liaison, show the full remit instead of a vague 'supported the board' line.
- Discretion with sensitive board and shareholder matters is stated as a working competency, not a personality claim, which is exactly how trust reads at board level.
How to Write a Company Secretary Resume That Gets Interviews
Write to the brief a chair, general counsel or nominations committee actually reviews. Each move below maps to something they screen for:
Open with chartered status, governance years and company type
Your first sentence should fix three things: CGI-chartered (or qualifying), how long in corporate governance, and whether your experience is listed plc, AIM, or large private. For example, 'Chartered company secretary with twelve years in listed-company governance' tells a recruiter more in nine words than a paragraph of duties.
Frame yourself as the board's adviser, not its administrator
Lead the experience with judgement work: advising on directors' duties, matters reserved, conflicts of interest and listing obligations. Push minute-taking and meeting logistics underneath it. A line like 'Advise the board and audit committee on governance and Companies Act compliance' outranks 'Took minutes at board meetings.'
Quantify the governance estate
Numbers prove scale even when the work is qualitative. State entities administered, board and committee meetings run per year, statutory filings made on time, and shareholders or registrars liaised with. 'Administered 14 group entities and ran 30+ board and committee meetings a year' is concrete where 'managed governance' is not.
Make compliance and listing work the headline
AGMs delivered, statutory deadlines hit, a listing or M&A governance workstream, a code-compliance or governance-framework review: put these where a recruiter sees them first. For listed roles, name the listing rules, the UK Corporate Governance Code and the disclosure obligations you work to.
Show the tools and the law you work to
Name your governance platform (Diligent Boards, GEMS, Blueprint OneWorld, Computershare) and the legislation and codes you apply, the Companies Act 2006, the Listing Rules, the Corporate Governance Code. This separates a practitioner from someone describing the role from the outside.
Close every senior role on trust and discretion
End your top role with the sensitive-matters work: board disputes, shareholder issues, regulatory engagement, director conflicts handled cleanly. State it as competency ('manage sensitive board and shareholder matters with discretion'), never as an adjective about yourself. With those governance credentials mapped, you can start from a governance-ready template and drop your own entities, filings and committees straight in.
What to Include in a Company Secretary Resume
Beyond the standard sections, a company secretary résumé is judged on a specific set of governance credentials. Make sure these are present and easy to find:
Chartered status: CGI / ICSA membership (ACG, FCG) or qualifying-programme progress, plus any law degree or LLB.
Company type and scale: listed plc, AIM, or large private, with group structure and number of entities administered.
Governance remit: board and committee support, matters reserved, terms of reference, AGM/EGM management.
Statutory compliance: registers, confirmation statements, annual filings, beneficial-ownership (PSC) records.
Regulatory framework: Companies Act 2006, Listing Rules, UK Corporate Governance Code, disclosure and transparency rules.
Stakeholder reach: board and chair, shareholders, registrar, auditors and regulators.
Governance technology: board portals and entity-management software you have run (Diligent, GEMS, Blueprint OneWorld).
Signature deliverables: a listing, an M&A governance workstream, an AGM, or a governance-framework review you led.
Company Secretary Resume Summary Examples
Use the summary to fix seniority, company type and governance specialty in the first two lines. These add angles around the sample rather than repeating it:
Entry-level resume summary example
Assistant company secretary and CGI qualifying-programme finalist with four years supporting governance in a large private group. Maintains the statutory registers and confirmation statements across nine subsidiaries, prepares board and committee packs on a board portal, and drafts first-cut minutes and action logs for review. Coordinates the annual AGM logistics and supports filings to Companies House ahead of every statutory deadline, with a clean on-time record across two reporting cycles. Keeps directors' details, PSC records and shareholder data accurate and audit-ready. Comfortable working to the Companies Act 2006 and the company's governance framework, and trusted with confidential board material. Seeking a step up to assistant or deputy company secretary in a governance-led organisation where the chartered qualification can be completed and put to work.
Mid-level resume summary example
Chartered company secretary (ACG) with eight years in corporate governance across a listed group and its subsidiaries. Runs the full board and committee cycle end to end, agendas, papers, minutes and action tracking for the board, audit and remuneration committees, and advises directors on Companies Act duties, conflicts and the Listing Rules. Administers 12 group entities, files confirmation statements and annual accounts on time, and maintains the statutory registers and PSC records without exception. Delivered three AGMs and rolled out a board portal that moved approvals off email into one auditable system. Acts as the day-to-day governance point of contact for the board, registrar and auditors. Looking for a company-secretary role with a listed or large private company that treats governance as a board-level function, not an afterthought.
Senior-level resume summary example
Group company secretary and FCG with sixteen years in listed-company governance, the last six leading the secretariat for a FTSE-listed group. Advises the board, chair and nominations committee on governance strategy, directors' duties, succession and regulatory disclosure, and owns compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code and the Listing Rules. Built and ran the governance function across 20-plus entities, delivered a main-market listing governance workstream, and led two governance-framework reviews that refreshed matters reserved, committee terms of reference and the board's policy suite. Manages shareholder and registrar relations, the AGM and market disclosures, and handles sensitive board and conflict-of-interest matters with the discretion the role demands. Seeking a group company secretary or head-of-governance mandate with a listed group operating to the highest governance standards.
Company Secretary Work Experience Examples
Strong bullets pair a governance responsibility with scale and an outcome a board would recognise. These sets show how the lines shift by seniority and company type, distinct from the sample:
Compressing board-level governance into a single page, without underselling the judgement behind each entry, is genuinely difficult. If your statutory record is not landing with the weight it deserves, a professional resume writing service can frame it for a listed-company board.
Assistant / deputy company secretary
- Maintained statutory registers and PSC records across nine group entities and filed every confirmation statement and annual return to Companies House on time across two full reporting cycles.
- Prepared board and committee packs for six meetings a quarter on a Diligent board portal, drafting agendas and first-cut minutes that the company secretary reviewed with minimal redrafting.
- Coordinated AGM logistics end to end, from notice drafting and proxy handling to registrar and venue liaison, supporting a meeting attended by more than 200 shareholders without a single procedural slip.
- Tracked directors' duties, conflicts and gifts-and-hospitality declarations, keeping the conflicts register current and flagging disclosure points to the company secretary ahead of each board meeting.
Company secretary, listed group
- Advised the board and audit committee on Companies Act duties, Listing Rules and Corporate Governance Code compliance, supporting a clean annual governance statement with no reportable breaches across three years.
- Ran the full board and committee cycle for the board, audit and remuneration committees, more than 30 meetings a year, owning agendas, papers, minutes and the action log end to end.
- Led the governance workstream of a stock-exchange listing, getting the board and committees compliant on terms of reference, matters reserved and disclosure controls ahead of admission.
- Administered 14 group entities and delivered every statutory filing, annual account and confirmation statement on time, maintaining a clean Companies House record across the full reporting period.
- Implemented a board portal that moved papers, minutes and approvals off email into one secure, auditable system, cutting pack-distribution time and giving directors a full audit trail.
Group company secretary / head of governance
- Led the group secretariat across 22 entities and four board committees, owning the governance framework, the policy suite and compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code and Listing Rules.
- Advised the chair and nominations committee on board composition, succession and director induction, supporting two non-executive appointments and a refreshed board-effectiveness review.
- Directed the governance workstream for a main-market listing, aligning matters reserved, committee terms of reference and disclosure controls so the board met admission requirements on schedule.
- Managed market disclosures and shareholder communications through the AGM and results cycle, liaising with the registrar, brokers and regulators on inside information and disclosure obligations.
- Led two governance-framework reviews that updated terms of reference, matters reserved and conflict-of-interest policy, keeping the board's structure ahead of evolving regulatory expectations.
Top Company Secretary Skills
List the governance and compliance skills a chair, general counsel or nominations committee screens for, and fold in the platforms you have actually run:
Hard skills
- Corporate governance
- Board & committee support
- Minute-taking & board packs
- Statutory filings & registers
- Companies Act 2006 compliance
- Listing-rule compliance
- UK Corporate Governance Code
- AGM & EGM management
- Directors' duties advisory
- Entity management
- Conflict-of-interest & disclosures
- Shareholder & registrar liaison
- PSC & beneficial-ownership records
- Company law
- Regulatory & disclosure compliance
- Matters reserved & terms of reference
- Governance software (Diligent / GEMS)
- Board-effectiveness reviews
Soft skills:
- Discretion
- Sound judgement
- Composure under pressure
- Integrity
- Board-level communication
- Attention to detail
Key Certifications & Licences for a Company Secretary
For a company secretary, one credential does most of the work: chartered status through the Chartered Governance Institute is the benchmark listed and large-private employers screen for, so treat it as effectively required and list the rest as reinforcements:
-
CGI Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme
— The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (CGI, formerly ICSA) Effectively required. This is the recognised route to chartered company-secretary status in the UK and Ireland; most listed and large-private employers expect it or clear, active progress through the programme.
-
ACG / FCG chartered membership
— The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (CGI, formerly ICSA) The post-nominals recruiters scan for: ACG on qualifying, FCG (Fellow) after senior governance experience. Put the grade in your summary, not the bottom of an education list.
-
CGIUS chartered qualification
— The Chartered Governance Institute (global federation) Optional and jurisdiction-specific. Relevant if you work corporate-secretary or governance roles for US or cross-border entities, where the US institute of the same chartered body is the local benchmark.
Extra tips
The body rebranded from ICSA to CGI in 2019, but job ads and ATS keyword filters still use both.
Put 'CGI (formerly ICSA)' once so either search term matches you.
Common Company Secretary Resume Mistakes
These are the errors that get a company secretary résumé screened out by a board-level reviewer:
- Reading like an administrative secretary. Diary management, travel booking and PA duties signal the wrong role; lead with governance, compliance and board advisory instead.
- Burying the chartered qualification. CGI/ICSA chartered status (ACG/FCG) is the first thing a governance recruiter checks, so it belongs in the summary, not the bottom of an education list.
- Omitting company type and scale. 'Company secretary' for a one-entity startup and a FTSE group are different jobs; state listed versus private, entity count and group structure.
- Listing duties with no numbers. 'Managed board meetings' says nothing; entities administered, meetings run per year and on-time filing records show real scale.
- Ignoring the regulatory framework. Not naming the Companies Act, Listing Rules or Corporate Governance Code reads as someone describing the role from the outside.
- Treating discretion as an adjective. 'Trustworthy and discreet' is empty; show it through the sensitive board, shareholder and conflict-of-interest matters you have handled.
Company Secretary Resume FAQs
The questions candidates most often search when writing a company secretary résumé:
A company secretary is a governance officer who advises the board on directors' duties, statutory compliance and the Companies Act, not an administrative or personal assistant. Frame the role around governance, board and committee support, statutory filings and regulatory compliance, and keep diary or office-admin duties off the résumé entirely so recruiters read it as a board-level role.
Chartered status through the Chartered Governance Institute (CGI, formerly ICSA) is the recognised professional benchmark and most employers expect it or active progress toward it. Show your grade (ACG or FCG) or qualifying-programme stage in the summary; a law degree, LLB or legal background strengthens it but does not replace the chartered qualification.
Lead with corporate governance, board and committee support, statutory compliance, Companies Act and listing-rule knowledge, and minute-taking and board packs. Add entity management, AGM management, directors'-duties advisory, shareholder liaison and the governance software you have run (Diligent, GEMS), then a short set of soft skills such as discretion and sound judgement.
For a listed company, foreground Listing Rules, the UK Corporate Governance Code, market disclosures and AGM and shareholder management; for a private company, foreground entity management, statutory filings, group structure and Companies Act compliance. Name the company type explicitly so the recruiter sees the governance environment matches their role.
Describe what you advise on, not just what you arrange: directors' duties, matters reserved, conflicts and regulatory obligations, plus the committees you support (audit, remuneration, nominations). Quantify the board and committee meetings you run per year and any board-effectiveness reviews, listings or governance-framework work you led to prove genuine board-level reach.
Two pages is standard for an experienced company secretary; a single page works only early in a governance career. Use the space to cover the regulatory framework, entity scale and signature deliverables (a listing, an AGM, a framework review), and keep older administrative roles to a brief line so the governance work stays prominent.
Open with chartered status, years in corporate governance and the company type (listed plc or large private), then a concrete governance strength and one quantified achievement such as a listing delivered or entities administered. Close on the trust dimension, handling sensitive board and shareholder matters, since that judgement is what separates senior company secretaries. If pitching a group- or listed-company summary at exactly the right level feels high-stakes, you can have an expert writer craft it with you.
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