PREPARING YOUR PRIVATE SECTOR RESUME
FOCUS ON YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Talk about what you have accomplished. What systems did you develop? Did you design and architect it? Was the system implemented successfully? Was it implemented on time and on budget?
HIGHLIGHT YOUR SOFT SKILLS
While your technical skills are important, you want to ensure that you highlight your soft skills as well. For example, talk about delivering presentations or working with stakeholder groups to demonstrate your communication skills.
ILLUSTRATE YOUR CAREER PROGRESSION
For your different types of positions try and detail how you have furthered your own skills. If you mentored a junior team member, add that to your duties. If you started in your first position as a developer, detail that experience. If in your next role you began consulting with stakeholders and contributed to the design, add this experience within that role. This will show a potential employer that you have progressed in your career.
FOCUS ON VERBS
Verbs represent actions. When preparing your resume, focus on strong verbs that will convey your actions. You need to detail what you contributed to the project. Simply stating that you worked on a project does not demonstrate what your achievements and contributions were to the project.
AVOID ACRONYMS
Acronyms can mean different things to different organizations. Government organizations or specialized industries often have a lot of jargon and acronyms that are specific to them. Those outside the organization may not be familiar with them. Try and avoid them but if you must use them, spell them out.
KEEP IT SHORT!
Try and keep your resume to no more than 3 pages for a private sector resume. Private sector resumes should have enough detail to take you to the interview process but not pages of detail for each position you have held.
PREPARING YOUR GOVERNMENT RESUME
PREPARE A PROJECT-BASED RESUME
Organize your experience in reverse-chronological order starting with your most recent project. Each project should be labelled Project 1, Project 2, etc. You should include your start month/year and your end month/year. It should include the name of the project you worked on along with a brief description of the project. The budget of the project should be on the resume as well.
PROVIDE AN ANSWER FOR EACH REQUIREMENT WITHIN EACH RELEVANT PROJECT
No matter how obvious it seems to you. We don’t know who is evaluating the resume initially but if it isn’t a technical person – you have to ensure you answer each requirement to ensure you resume is evaluated to its maximum potential.
PROVIDE A DESCRIPTION OF HOW YOU SATISFY EACH REQUIREMENT WITHIN EACH PROJECT
Don’t simply repeat the requirement verbatim. Provide a description based on your experience. For example, if the requirement says “Experience with IBM Curran”, your resume should explain how you worked with IBM Curran, ie. “Worked with IBM Curam to implement connections with insurance providers”.
PROVIDE COPIES OF ANY DEGREES, DIPLOMAS, CERTIFICATES, AND/OR CERTIFICATIONS YOU HAVE ACHIEVED
Attach a photocopy or a picture of any education you have to the back of your resume. If you have formal education from a foreign country, also include your international credential assessment if you have one.
