Five Tips for Customizing Your Resume for Canada’s Public Sector

As discussed in the first article of this series, in the public sector every effort has been made to make the hiring process as transparent as possible. The resume is central to this process as it provides a way of clearly measuring whether a candidate meets the specific requirements of the position. In an important sense, you win the contract with your resume, while the interview is used to confirm what you have documented in the resume.

The following are five tips for customizing your resume for a public sector opportunity. If you have questions about this process, we are always ready to help.

1. Answer every requirement in the posting.
   Government opportunities typically include a grid or matrix detailing the requirements and their weight/score in the evaluation process. You must answer every requirement in the grid/matrix completely and clearly. This may mean your resume is very long and repetitive. This is normal.
2. Give a practical description of how you satisfy each requirement.
   Rather than repeating the exact language of the posting, give a description of how you satisfy the requirement from your experience. If the requirement calls for “experience with software testing tools”, your resume should contain a description within each relevant project. For example: “Used the Rational Quality Manager tools, including Functional Tester and Test Lab, for test planning/reporting, workflow control and execution of automated functional regression and data-driven testing.”
3. Format chronologically by project not employer. Avoid start/end overlaps.
   Answer each requirement by describing your project experience. Organize your experience chronologically by project. Each project should have a start and end date. These start and end dates should not overlap with other projects (overlaps may disqualify experience). For clarity, within each project, you should also organize tasks chronologically based on the project lifecycle (e.g. requirements definition, functional/architecture design, development/programming, testing, implementation, training).
4. Watch out for specific time requirements!
   Public sector opportunities often call for specific time requirements. For example, 36 months of XML programming experience required within a 48-month period. You must demonstrate precise compliance with these time requirements within your project experience.
5. Provide copies of any mandatory degrees and certifications.
   If the opportunity calls for a specific degree or certification (e.g. degree in Computer Science, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) attach a photocopy of the credential to your resume. If you have a degree from a university outside of Canada, consider obtaining foreign credential recognition from www.cicic.ca.
    

We are here to help
At Veritaaq, we understand the hiring practices of the public and private sectors and have 28 years of experience providing IT professional services to departments and firms within those sectors. We work with you to ensure you make the strongest possible submission for each engagement opportunity. We are committed to your success. 

If you are an IT consultant looking for employment opportunities, please contact us for more information about how we can help you find your ideal contract opportunity and work with you to win the contract.