Resume Guidelines

Please use the following guidelines when preparing resumes:

Include as much detail as possible. There is an industry trend towards keeping resumes to a maximum length of a few pages. Innovations, Inc. does not subscribe to this notion. The more detailed a resume is, the more useful it is to us. We will edit resumes to the appropriate length and level of detail when pursuing contract opportunities for our resources.

Include a minimum of three of your best work references on each resume. Try to include references that can verify your work on all of your major projects. While this is not always possible, as with the level of overall resume detail, the more references you can provide, the better. You should verify that reference contact information is valid and current. You should also ensure that it is clear which project(s) the reference applies to. Innovations, Inc. will not directly contact your references or release contact information for your references to any third party without prior permission (either written or oral) from you. When we wish to release your reference information we will contact you to obtain permission (for more detailed information about our information privacy policies, please refer to our "Privacy Policy" section of this website).

Include a detailed description of the tools, operating systems and technical environment for each project you have worked on. The more detail the better. For example, if you briefly used PVCS Tracker at some point in your career, it should be on your resume. The difference between winning and losing a contract often comes down to specific experience using a particular OS or development tool. Doing this is essential for analysts, developers and programmers. It is less essential, but still a very good idea, for project managers.

Include start and end dates (month, year) for every project you have worked on. This information is often necessary to demonstrate that a resource has the qualifications required for a given contract. In many cases evaluators will add up the months to determine the duration of experience within a specific skill area. For example, if you worked at IBM for 10 years, don't simply say "1990-2000 IBM Canada" and give a list of projects during that period. Give the start and end dates for each specific project while you were at IBM. The dates can overlap if required to accurately reflect project durations, as resources may be involved in more than one project at a time.

Include any professional designations, degrees, diplomas, and training you have received to date. Also include any security clearance you have acquired. Contracts often require resources to be certified in something or have a certain degree or type of formal training.

Keep resume formats as simple as possible. Since we will be customizing your resume to reflect not only our corporate resume format, but also the specific requirements of a given opportunity, a simply-formatted resume is easier to work with.

Include all applicable job titles for each project. Often a resource will perform multiple functions on a given project (for example, Programmer / Analyst). Often the "official" job title does not accurately describe the overall project role of a given resource. If there is an "official" job title, provide that and then give additional information to accurately reflect your role in the project. For example: "Senior IT Consultant (Project Management / Business Analysis)".

If you include a "technical skills summary", try to ensure that skills which appear on your summary were used professionally. If you include "number of years using" a particular skill or tool, ensure that your resume accurately reflects this claim. If you used PVCS Tracker for one month in 1995, it does not mean you should put "9 years" on your resume. Remember that those responsible for staffing projects only care about actual professional experience. You may have built a website for your nephew using Dreamweaver, but if you did not use this tool professionally, the project staffers will not care.

Building an accurate and detailed resume is an investment in your future as an IT professional. Aside from your actual professional experience, the quality of your resume is the most important element to successfully winning contracts. Assembling a good resume can be an arduous task, and may require some research and detective work (especially if you are starting from scratch after a long career). Having a resume that is complete and accurate assures that updating it in the future will be a quick and simple process.