Principal Resume Example & Writing Guide
- What should your principal resume include?
- How can you create a professional summary?
- How should you describe your work experience as a principal?
- Include a fitting principal resume education and certifications section
- Which key skills are relevant for a principal resume?
- How to select the most impactful principal resume template
- Copyable principal resume example
- Key takeaways for writing a principal resume
Principals make a difference in students’ lives, shape a school’s direction, and build relationships with teachers, students, and parents. To land a job performing these vital functions, you need an eye-catching resume.
With this resume sample and writing guide, you’ll be able to craft a fantastic resume that will get you noticed by your desired school. Here’s what we’ll learn:
What should a principal resume include
Advice on each section of your resume (summary, work history, education)
Adding relevant key skills to your resume
Choosing the right resume template for a principal
What should your principal resume include?
To effectively lead a school community, a principal needs to have many leadership qualities. Problem-solving and decision-making skills will also need to shine throughout the sections of your resume. You will need to show your expertise in the education industry in every section of your resume. Principals need to be adaptable, able to manage a crisis, and capable of effectively collaborating. You’ll need to show these skills on your resume as well as your ability to communicate with teachers, parents, students, and community leaders.
Your principal resume should contain the following elements:
The resume header with your contact information
The resume summary
The employment history section
The resume skills section
The education section
How can you create a professional summary?
Your professional summary is the first place you have to show your expertise as a principal. You should start by stating your years of experience in education and any leadership roles you’ve held. This is also the perfect place to mention your leadership style and how you approach leading a school community.
Another important item to include in the professional summary is your educational philosophy and belief system. You should also touch on some of your greatest achievements as an educator as well as how you collaborate with your team and make decisions.
See our adaptable principal resume summary below.
Passionate Principal with a history of challenging status quo and inspiring continuous improvement in academic settings.
16 years of visionary operational, professional, and pedagogical leadership resulting in high student engagement, enhanced teacher accountability, and optimal resource alignment.
Educational pioneer launching instructional initiatives, ground-breaking sports and fitness drives, and new professional development courses.
Effective leader utilizing a facilitative style focused on overcoming obstacles and building relationships; emphasize innovation over management and people over systems.
How should you describe your work experience as a principal?
In the work experience section, you have the opportunity to showcase your leadership achievements, administrative responsibilities, and the impact you’ve made on students. With each position you’ve held, start with the position title and school name. You also need to include the dates of employment.
Next, you will move on to a brief overview of your role as principal. Highlight the size of your school as well as the type, what grade levels you served, and any unique qualities about the school community. You should also touch on the administrative responsibilities you held in each role. Use the bullet point section to list all of your key achievements. Pay special attention to the improvements you made to the school, the programs you started, and the school culture you created.
For example:
Mentored over 20 teachers and vice principals, resulting in increased student test scores of 60%.
Whenever possible, you should quantify your achievements. This type of information allows a school to see how you will bring changes to its community of teachers, parents, and students if you are hired as principal.
Take a look at the adaptable principal resume employment history section below.
Principal at Southern Gateway Public Schools, Hidden Creek, Alberta 2014 - Present
Oversee academic and administrative operations.
Manage and adjust $2.5M budget to provide for state-of-the-art learning, literacy interventions, staff development, school supplies and equipment, and optimal physical facility appearance and safety.
Coordinate positive and proactive communications between staff, faculty/school and families, and internal/external stakeholders.
Develop and facilitate achievement of annual goals in alignment with strategic initiatives, including monitoring instructional practices.
Address personnel matters, student behavior issues, parent concerns, and community affairs.
Established Numeracy Committee, which improved mathematics results by 30%.
Integrated “Program of Study” protocols into professional development initiatives.
School Support Officer at ABC District School Board, Mississauga, Ontario 2013 - 2014
Provided oversight for all school discipline and legal matters, providing advanced knowledge to principals and superintendents.
Supported and guided 240 elementary and secondary school principals.
Led crisis management team to proactively address security and safety.
Consulted on student guidance and family/parent relationships.
Presented a Cultural Proficiency program for all district administrators.
Mentored over 20 teachers and vice-principals for leadership.
Taught Principal’s Qualification Program, Ontario Principal’s Council.
Principal at Highland Secondary School, ABC District School Board, Mississauga, Ontario 2008 - 2013
Offered curricular and instructional leadership for a staff of 180 and student body of 2200 for the District’s largest and most complex school.
Administered four learning streams in Vocational, Applied, Academic, and International Baccalaureate (IB), including offerings in Extended French and Vocational and International IB.
Developed strong, authentic stakeholder relationships, maintaining high visibility and a hands-on approach to understanding students individually and as a student body.
Achieved a 94% success rate guiding 800 IB students to the full IB Diploma.
Created Thursday night drop-in sessions for parents.
Include a fitting principal resume education and certifications section
The education and certifications section is critical for a principal, so you will need to add all relevant information in this section. That includes any degrees you have as well as any certifications that will help you as an effective school leader. Here are some additional tips to help you with this part of your resume:
Be thorough. While including your high school on your resume isn’t necessary, each degree you hold from a college or university should be included.
List your education in reverse order with the highest degree first. When they apply, you should include your area of study as well as any rewards or graduation honors you received.
List certifications you’ve completed. Some of the best certifications a principal can have are specialized principal certifications, supervisory certifications, and special education certificates.
Master of Science at the University of Toronto
Bachelor of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo
Bachelor of Education at the University of Western Ontario
Which key skills are relevant for a principal resume?
When hiring a principal, a school board will look for a candidate who has the specific set of skills required to be an effective leader. A principal needs to have a strong understanding of educational administration principles, school organization, regulations, and legal issues.
To ensure you have all the necessary skills on your resume, examine the job description. You’ll find several skills listed there that you can include. It is important to incorporate some of these skills because having them on your resume can help with your ATS ranking. School boards will likely use software to scan your resume for these skills so they know you are a qualified candidate. (To learn more about how ATS works, check out our article Resume ATS optimization.)
In our template, you will find many skills relevant for a principal, and you are welcome to include those in your skill section. However, it is also a good idea to include some of those keywords throughout the remainder of your resume to further draw attention to them. Here are a few critical skills you may consider:
Budget administration
Staff development
Technology implementation
Curriculum development
Instructional leadership
Strategic planning
Crisis management
Operations Structures
Budget Administration
Community Relations
Project Start-Up
Staff Development
Technology Implementation
Sports Coaching & Training
Cultural Proficiency
How to select the most impactful principal resume template
A principal’s resume needs to be professional, clear, and well-organized, which are all great qualities for a principal. It should also be an easy-to-read design that streamlines the information.
For a principal resume, it isn’t necessary to keep the information to one page. However, you should keep things condensed and easy to read. Remember, you’ll need to catch a school board’s attention quickly if you are to stand out from the other applicants. Choosing the best template can help with that.
We have many resume templates to explore in our resume builder, and you should choose a resume layout that you can customize to best showcase your experience. Draw inspiration from the over 100 resume examples we have available.
Copyable principal resume example
Summary example
Passionate Principal with a history of challenging status quo and inspiring continuous improvement in academic settings.
16 years of visionary operational, professional, and pedagogical leadership resulting in high student engagement, enhanced teacher accountability, and optimal resource alignment.
Educational pioneer launching instructional initiatives, ground-breaking sports and fitness drives, and new professional development courses.
Effective leader utilizing a facilitative style focused on overcoming obstacles and building relationships; emphasize innovation over management and people over systems.
Employment history example
Principal at Southern Gateway Public Schools, Hidden Creek, Alberta 2014 - Present
Oversee academic and administrative operations.
Manage and adjust $2.5M budget to provide for state-of-the-art learning, literacy interventions, staff development, school supplies and equipment, and optimal physical facility appearance and safety.
Coordinate positive and proactive communications between staff, faculty/school and families, and internal/external stakeholders.
Develop and facilitate achievement of annual goals in alignment with strategic initiatives, including monitoring instructional practices.
Address personnel matters, student behavior issues, parent concerns, and community affairs.
Established Numeracy Committee, which improved mathematics results by 30%.
Integrated “Program of Study” protocols into professional development initiatives.
School Support Officer at ABC District School Board, Mississauga, Ontario 2013 - 2014
Provided oversight for all school discipline and legal matters, providing advanced knowledge to principals and superintendents.
Supported and guided 240 elementary and secondary school principals.
Led crisis management team to proactively address security and safety.
Consulted on student guidance and family/parent relationships.
Presented a Cultural Proficiency program for all district administrators.
Mentored over 20 teachers and vice-principals for leadership.
Taught Principal’s Qualification Program, Ontario Principal’s Council.
Principal at Highland Secondary School, ABC District School Board, Mississauga, Ontario 2008 - 2013
Offered curricular and instructional leadership for a staff of 180 and student body of 2200 for the District’s largest and most complex school.
Administered four learning streams in Vocational, Applied, Academic, and International Baccalaureate (IB), including offerings in Extended French and Vocational and International IB.
Developed strong, authentic stakeholder relationships, maintaining high visibility and a hands-on approach to understanding students individually and as a student body.
Achieved a 94% success rate guiding 800 IB students to the full IB Diploma.
Created Thursday night drop-in sessions for parents.
Education example
Master of Science at the University of Toronto
Bachelor of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo
Bachelor of Education at the University of Western Ontario
Skills example
Operations Structures
Budget Administration
Community Relations
Project Start-Up
Staff Development
Technology Implementation
Sports Coaching & Training
Cultural Proficiency
Key takeaways for writing a principal resume
Being a principal is perfect for those who enjoy making a difference in student’s lives and shaping a school’s direction.
With your resume, your goal is to show you have the experience needed to be an effective school leader.
Review the job description to determine which skills are most needed as a principal, but focus on adding educational administration, budgeting, and curriculum development as keywords throughout the document.
With our online resume builder, you can use adaptable templates and AI-powered content to craft the perfect principal resume. Make your life easier and the job application process faster!
