So, you’re ready to become a school principal? Or, maybe it’s just time to switch schools. Either way, creating a strong principal resume is key to realizing your career goals.
I’ve reviewed hundreds of principal candidate resumes. I’ve also submitted many of my own – with a 90% success rate. Here are some tips on what will get your resume noticed – or rejected.
After you’ve read through the information on resumes, check out these other administration career articles:
- Interview Tips for Teachers and Principals
- 200+ Principal Interview Questions to Help You Prepare
- Assistant Principal Interview Questions and Answers
Format Matters – But Not As Much As Content
If you Google “Principal Resume” most of the results you get will be resume templates. Some are free, others will attempt to sell you their amazing template.
I’ve worked with eager new principal candidates who will spend hours upon hours of time trying to design the appearance of their resume.
Stop. It’s not worth your time and money. If you nail the content and keep your format simple, it will do far better than any fancy paid template.
I’ve intentionally not grounded these tips in a specific template. If you need a template, grab a free one or use the ones embedded in most software. Trust me, they’ll be fine.
Here is what actually matters to most reviewers:
White Space
No one wants to read a wall of text. Make sure you space out sections and use generous margins.
Don’t try to cram everything on one page. That advice makes me crazy. Two pages is okay if you have the content to fill it. It’s much better to space out two pages worth of professional content than try to force it on one page.
Flow
Have your sections flow in a logical, readable order. Think about what a reviewer wants to know about you, and create it in that way.
I like to follow this order –
- Contact information
- Education
- Education Leadership Experience
- Teaching Experience
- Other Professional (or Leadership) Experience
- References (if requested in application)
Why? This order tells them exactly what they need to know as they want to know it.
They learn your name, then a quick list of your education tells them you have the appropriate degrees and are minimally qualified for the job. Next, they immediately see you have leadership experience and move to your excellent qualifications as a teacher. Once they know you’re a well-respected educator, they see that you have a broad range of experiences that give you perspective. Finally, they learn people who are willing to vouch for your qualifications.
You’ve laid out a story for them in a simple to consume order. Our brains like stories.
That’s literally all that matters about resume format. Feel free to use a special clean font if you like. Don’t clutter up the story with unnecessary details, colors, or fancy design.
Use Active, Intentional Phrases
Yes, the advice to use active rather than passive words is resume 101. That’s because it’s foundational. I want you to be even more intentional than that.
Under each of the jobs you list, include short (remember white space!) bulleted points about what you accomplished in that job. Do not just list a bunch of skills acquired or boxes you checked.
Instead – continue telling your resume story with phrases that paint you as the active and passionate future leader that you are.
Active – not passive. Read the phrase – if it could be accomplished by someone sitting in a chair and not speaking, change it.
Be intentional in the wording you use, it will tell the story.
Examples:
Participated on school improvement team
becomes
Engaged stakeholders to implement plans for school improvement
Participated is boring and passive. Engaging stakeholders is active and inclusive, and you’re implementing change.
Evaluated 22 teachers
should be
Supported 22 teachers to improve performance with timely, relevant feedback
No one likes to be “evaluated.” Everyone loves to be supported.
Focus on Student Outcomes
Remember that our whole profession exists for student learning. A leadership resume should include as much as possible about how you impacted student results. If your action is adult-centric the description should still be outcome oriented. Again, don’t just describe what you did, but why it mattered.
A few examples of this:
Taught 3rd grade reading
becomes
Improved reading results for 3rd grade students by an average of 1.5 years
You didn’t just throw reading instruction out there – it had an impact!
Provided professional development to teachers on classroom management
Becomes
Instructed 45 teachers on classroom management strategies that led to a decrease in student referrals
We’ve all had lots of professional development. But wow – you worked with 45 teachers and gave them actionable information that kept students learning more!
Think Big Picture
This is an especially important piece of advice for teachers looking to move into administration.
You are applying to lead a whole school. You will be responsible for impacting systems.
Your resume needs to show that you’ve been part of that work. A resume reviewer who is open to hiring someone with limited experience is okay that you haven’t done the job before. They’re not okay with someone who can’t even realistically conceive of the job.
Even if you’ve never held an administrative position, you can show administrative activities.
List schoolwide committee work, participate in district activities, be active in the community. Engage stakeholders. Then list those things.
Include Relevant Non-Education Career Information
There is a school of thought that one should include only specifically career-related experience. I believe this is wrong. Activities outside education show you have perspective. Perspective enriches and improves decision-making.
This is especially true if you can link it to leadership or the community you will serve.
So, while “juggled for beer” at college is not something you’d want to list, most other job experience can be valuable.
You did some bookkeeping? Great – you’ll be good at tracking assessment results and managing budgets.
You were in the military? Excellent leadership and service experience.
Community organizing? You can work effectively with parents to support the school.
Don’t spend a ton of time or space on this on your resume, but a quick list of other experience shows you have perspective and may spark conversation once you get the interview.
Be Strategic With References
Whether one should include references on a resume is a point of debate. Most modern guidance says otherwise. It’s fine to leave them off, unless they’re specifically requested.
If you have space on your resume (and can still leave plenty of white space!) it doesn’t hurt to include them.
Just do not do this:
REFERENCES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
Thanks for letting me know! You just told me you have information that you aren’t providing me. That’s annoying, not helpful.
If you do include references, be intentional. Choose 3 (unless more are requested) and pick your best three.
Those three should, of course, give you a solid reference. More importantly, they should tell the reviewer (again – you’re telling a story!) something about you.
Do not include a fellow teacher. Sure, they’ll give you a good reference. But, as one HR manager said to me “How hard is it to get a friend to say good things?”
If at all possible, get a superintendent or high-level district official. That shows the systems-level work I mentioned earlier.
Include your current supervisor unless there is something toxic there. If there is, be ready to address that. Your current supervisor will be contacted before you are hired – trust me.
Finally, consider another administrator or a powerful community member with whom you’ve interacted. I just reviewed a resume of an otherwise inexperienced applicant who had the mayor on her resume. Turns out, they’d partnered on a massive community project.
If your references are weak, leave them off. Then get to work on building stronger ones.
Summary – Crafting a Powerful Principal Resume
A resume is an important first step in most hiring processes. Crafting a resume that stands out isn’t easy. It takes powerful, intentional content not a fancy template.
Pay attention to the following things and then start preparing for the principal interview.
- Format Matters
- White space
- Flow – Tell a Story
- Use Active Intentional Phrases
- Focus on Student Outcomes
- Think Big Picture
- Include Relevant Non-Education Career Experience
- Be Strategic With References
Do these things and you’ll almost certainly get an interview! Then, check out these resources to prepare for the next phase:
- Interview Tips for Teachers and Principals
- 200+ Principal Interview Questions to Help You Prepare
- Assistant Principal Interview Questions and Answers
Good luck! We need great administrators.