As the old saying goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover. But when it comes to resumes, you’d better believe that people do. It’s not just about the content—it’s about how you present that content. It’s about making your resume stand out in the crowd.
That’s why we’ve put together this guide: to help you make sure your resume has what it takes to get noticed by hiring managers and administrators at schools across America.
Methodology
The goal of this guide is to give you real data what the “must haves” of assistant principal resumes are.
To do that, we compiled and analyzed data from assistant principal resumes and 51 assistant principal job listings to get the data used for this our assistant principal resume guide.
In addition to assistant principal-specific resume data, we built a database of nearly 1 million resumes and job listings, and we use a propriety machine learning model to understand the anatomy of the best resumes in general.
Quick note: using the data below can help you build a competitive resume, but it’s always important to be creative, unique, and personal to stand out.
If you want more info on our methodology, you can check it out here.
Assistant principal resume objective data + assistant principal objective examples
Pop quiz: do assistant principal’s really need to use an objective?
In general, whether or not you need an objective or professional summary can depend a lot on your personal career level (check out our article on resume objectives), but this is what our analysis found for assistant principal’s specifically:
- 33% of assistant principal’s included an objective section
- 26% of assistant principal’s included a professional summary
- 48% of assistant principal’s included neither an objective nor a summary
Assistant principal objective examples
A highly motivated assistant principal who aims to make use of their interpersonal skills to achieve goals of a company that focuses on customer satisfaction and customer experience.
Seeking a challenging Assistant Principal role in a school where I can utilize my strong organizational and communication skills to foster a culture of excellence and support the professional development of teachers.
To obtain a position as an Assistant Principal where I can contribute my expertise in curriculum development and classroom instruction to enhance the educational experience of students and support the school’s mission.
Aspiring to become an Assistant Principal in a school district where I can utilize my passion for education and experience in school administration to promote student success and support the school community.
Skills for assistant principal resumes
These are the skills that occurred most frequently in in assistant principal resumes, which means they tend to be core competencies or highly desired skills.
Of course, you should only list skills that you actually have, and you should prioritze skills most relevant to the job you're applying for. But these are good core skills to include on your resume.
To get more detail on building a powerful skills section, take a peek at our article on resume skills.
*Note: to find skills our machine learning model basically looks for common words, so take these with a grain of salt and use your best judgment.
Most common assistant principal resume skills
Most common hard skills for assistant principal resumes: management skills, time management, parent relations, school & education improvement, and student discipline.
Most common soft skills for assistant principal resumes: communication skills, customer-service skills, interpersonal skills, listening skills, and patience.
Other good assistant principal resume skills
- Attendance policy enforcement
- Class scheduling
- Strategic planning
- Student conflict resolution
- Student counseling & support
- Teacher evaluation
- Curriculum planning
- Teacher development
- Security procedures & policies
- Administrative skills
- Organizational skills
- Public speaking
- Presentation skills
- Interpersonal
- Collaboration
- Communication
Assistant principal skills section examples
Note: these examples are formatted the same here just because it’s simple, but we have more detailed formatting advice (and examples) in our guide to resume formatting.
Assistant principal skills example 1
Attendance policy enforcement | time management | strategic planning | student conflict resolution | school & education improvement | student discipline | student counseling & support
Assistant principal skills example 2
Class scheduling | communication skills | teacher evaluation | customer-service skills | curriculum planning | interpersonal skills | teacher development
Assistant principal skills example 3
Interpersonal | security procedures & policies | patience | listening skills | organizational skills | customer-service skills | public speaking
Work experience for assistant principal resumes
Your work experience section is almost always the most important part of your resume. Because it’s difficult to pull trends from this kind of section, this section is mostly just examples.
For some advanced strategies for writing about work experience on a resume, refer to our article on building a strong work experience resume section. We also have a guide on writing a resume with no experience if you’re just starting your career.
For now, it’s good to remember that the most important experience for any assistant principal resume is the most relevant experience.
A couple examples for you:
Assistant principal work experience examples
WORK EXPERIENCE
Sr. Associate Assistant Principal
Sanguine Services, 2021-2022
Responsibilities
- Monitor financial markets and the performance of individual securities
- Contact prospective clients to present information and explain available services
- Manage the finances of the facility, such as patient fees and billing
- Oversee the maintenance and repair of machinery, equipment, and electrical and mechanical systems
- Address complaints regarding food quality or service
WORK EXPERIENCE
Associate Assistant Principal
The Helping Hands, 2016-2022
Responsibilities
- Repair or replace malfunctioning components, parts, and other mechanical or electrical equipment
- Bathe animals, trim nails, clip hair, and attend to other grooming needs
- Acted as liaison for students, families, communities as well as other staff members to create a learning partnership
- Created school master schedules, students Certificates for whole school
- Prepared various reports and forms in order to help facilitate school needs
WORK EXPERIENCE
Assistant Principal Intern
Moxie Group, 2008-2012
Responsibilities
- Produced online weekly event schedules
- Managed graduate student documents in school’s data management system
- Data Entering, worked in Excel, Microsoft Word, Print Shop, Power Point
- Prepared and managed teacher’s evaluations in order to ensure students’ success
- Prepared code of conduct book and, parent/student hand books to help maintain school rules
Education for assistant principal resumes
For most positions, work experience is more important than education, although it can be important for new grads or for fields in which specific classes are industry-standard.
So it’s not a big section, but it’s still important, and often, assistant principal job postings list a minimum education requirement.
Check out our blueprint for education on resumes for our full playbook on education sections.
Data from our sample of 933 assistant principal resumes
- 9% assistant principal resumes listed an associate’s degree
- 59% assistant principal resumes listed a bachelor’s degree
- 27% assistant principal resumes included a masters degree
- 1% assistant principal resumes mentioned a doctoral degree
Assistant principal resume education examples
EDUCATION
Master of Arts
Alliance Medical and Health Sciences College, 2021
Awards & Honors
- Summa Cum Laude
- AP Scholar
- The Honor Society
EDUCATION
Associate of Arts
Piedmont Community College, 2016
Certifications for assistant principal resumes
Certifications aren’t a strict requirement for every job, but there are almost always certifications you can get to boost your chances of success.
If you want to see how to build these sections, we have a guide about certifications on resumes.
We did a little research and found certifications can help assistant principal’s specifically, according to CareerOneStop.
Assistant principal certification examples
CERTIFICATIONS
Microsoft Office Specialist: Expert – Office 365
Microsoft Corporation, 2021
Certified Workforce Professional
International Association of Workforce Professionals, 2016
CERTIFICATIONS
Microsoft Office Specialist: Expert – Office 365, Certified Workforce Professional, Certified Resume Specialist:Public Relations and Marketing Communications, Certified School Career Development Advisor
Assistant principal resume action verbs
Using our database of nearly 1,000,000 publicly available resumes, we compiled an index of action verbs and cross-referenced it with our sample of 933 assistant principal resumes and job postings to uncover which action verbs are most commonly used by assistant principal’s and assistant principal employers.
The most common action verbs on assistant principal resumes are: program, process, assist, prepare, and manage.
The most common action verbs on assistant principal job postings are: lead, plan, review, handle, and field.
Other action verbs for assistant principal resumes:
- Perform
- Develop
- Design
- Test
- Direct
- Create
- Monitor
- Track
- Organize
- Resolve
Full assistant principal resume example
Lastly, we wanted to give you a couple full assistant principal resume examples..
Please note: you can write a better resume than this. This is just a quick illustration to show you how these pieces might fit together.
If you’d like to see “perfect” resumes, we have a showcase of resume examples.
Assistant principal resume example
Monica Rodriguez
Assistant Principal
1183 Laurel Lane, Pecos, TX
To obtain a position as an Assistant Principal where I can contribute my expertise in curriculum development and classroom instruction to enhance the educational experience of students and support the school’s mission.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Sr. Associate Assistant Principal
Sanguine Services, 2021-2022
Responsibilities
- Created and managed requisitions for school purposes
- Applied performance management skills to evaluate certified and non-certified staff
- Provided recommendations for improving in-service curriculum activities using program management skills to optimize teaching and learning
- Coordinated with parents using organization skills to provide updates on student progress
Associate Assistant Principal
The Helping Hands, 2016-2022
Responsibilities
- Scheduled and supervised the PSAT exams and high school student schedules using organization skills
- Managed field trips, first aid response plan, emergency operations plan, transportation, special programs transportation, school website, and more
- Provided leadership to the Guidance Department, Program Office, Health and Records Office
- Collaborated with the Principal and her administrative team to coordinate the school’s graduation ceremony
Assistant Principal Intern
Moxie Group, 2008-2016
Responsibilities
- Strengths in programming school-wide events, creative presentations, and problem-solving strategies
- Managed Professional Learning Teams in all three grade levels focusing on data and student achievement
- Coordinated the safety logistics plan for the school during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Participated in multiple human resources experiences, such as interviewing and reference checks
CERTIFICATIONS
Certified School Career Development Advisor
National Career Development Association, 2021
Certified Workforce Professional
International Association of Workforce Professionals, 2016
SKILLS
Attendance policy enforcement | student counseling & support | creative questioning | interpersonal skills | communication skills | management skills | security procedures & policies
EDUCATION
Master of Arts
Alliance Medical and Health Sciences College, 2021
Associate of Arts
Piedmont Community College, 2016
What experts say about assistant principal resumes
Before we wrap it up, we want to leave you with some advice from other experts we admire.
“What makes an effective teacher resume is fulfilling the organization’s vision mission and standards.” – How to Write a Teacher Resume Part 01 | 3 Important Elements | Kathleen Jasper | NavaED
“Google resume clichés and buzzwords, and remove all the ones you find in your resume to give it an instant upgrade.” – Write an Incredible Resume: 5 Golden Rules!
“As a teacher, all basic rules of grammar and punctuation matter here, so making sure that everything is the same tense.” – Resume Workshop from The Modern Principal
Want help with your assistant principal resume?
And that’s a wrap! Hopefully this data helps you understand what exactly makes a great assistant principal resume. Of course, have questions, just drop them in the comments.