A survey on the careers of Italian CEOS can help whoever wants to develop their career or change direction so as to take the right steps to achieve their objective. A SDA Bocconi study highlights that the job market for corporation chiefs in Italy remains conservative for the moment. When it comes to appointing the head of a company, shareholders tend to choose fifty-year-old men who have had a stable career without too many jumps, showing loyalty to the previous employers. With very few exceptions, women do not appear on the scene.

The professional sectors leading to the top are sales, financial and operations; and traditional careers as well, where the paths of strategy and technology are still little represented. Experience in strategic consulting is confirmed as a career accelerator. Experience in managing a business abroad is now an integral part of the path of more than half of Italian CEOs, many of whom have operated in different countries and in various regions of the world.