Consultant Resources

In addition to some very interesting consulting opportunities, you will find valuable “how to” information in DALIAN’s Careers section. Whether you work with DALIAN or another company, you will benefit from our years of industry experience that we share here on how to win the job, and how to be more successful after you have been selected.

This information has been targeted specifically for professional consultants working in the IM and IT industry.

Resume Preparation

Contrary to the common wisdom in the field of resume preparation we advise against the belief that a resume should be no more than two pages. If you are seeking contract work in the IM/IT field, instead, we suggest that enough detail be provided in a resume to allow potential clients to have an appreciation of your overall capabilities, and some specific project information with descriptions of the technical environment.

We recommend a longer, more descriptive resume because the client is concerned with direct work experiences that will help solve problems as soon as you walk in the door. In a competitive bid process, a resume must reflect extensive experience with each and every one of the client's requirements, which inevitably means a longer, and more detailed, resume.

For these reasons, and depending upon the amount of experience, a resume may range from four to 10, and in some cases even 20 or more pages. As a general rule, details are required only for the most recent 10 years' experience, but there are exceptions.

DALIAN’s expert HR team would be pleased to offer advice on the appropriate length of the resume and content for your specific needs. Download a template to construct a winning resume.

Winning Interviews

One of the most important skills in any career, especially in the consulting field, is interviewing skills. It cannot be over-emphasized the importance of good interviewing techniques; in fact, DALIAN always helps its consultants prepare for an interview.

Some basic facts to think about include:

1. You may be the best person for the job – but that will not mean anything unless you win during the interview process.
    
2. Dress for success – you only get one chance to make a first impression.
    
3. The interviewer has already read your resume; now they are looking for additional information about you. They probably want to assess your soft skills – attitude, work ethic, and inter-personal skills – so be prepared to impress them.
    
4. When you are being interviewed for a consulting assignment, the client wants to feel a strong sense of confidence in your ability to solve their problem(s) – it’s up to you to convey that confidence.
    
5. Not knowing the answer to a technical question is not always a negative factor, and trying to bluff your way through is almost certain to work against you. Instead, impress the interviewer with a positive, professional answer.
    
6. Not all interviewers are well trained for the task – sometimes you need to help them with a good interview, so that they get a good impression of you and your skills.

The interviewer may open the meeting with small talk about some unrelated topic, as an ice breaker. It is recommended that this opportunity be used to develop some rapport, but be careful not to abuse it. Keep it short so there is time for the interview – you don’t want the interviewer to think you are a chatterbox.

The interviewer wants information that is not in your profile. There is not much value in re-iterating information that they have already. The idea is to enhance areas in which they express interest. If you are unsure how much detail to give, speak for about a minute, and then ask if they want you to provide more detail.

Be ready for some open ended questions like, “tell me about yourself”, or “tell me about your career”. The best way is to prepare some short scenarios that cover the salient points about the experience and success that you have achieved in your career.

Be prepared to talk about your best qualities – and provide information about your soft skills. It is important that you to describe these skills with credibility and supporting information.

For example, if the question was, “please describe your most valuable qualities”, you might answer this question in one of two ways.

Interviewee #1. (Shallow and unsupported)

“I’m honest, hard working, and a fast learner, with good communication skills.”

Interviewee #2. (Informative and convincing)

“I’m very straight forward. I will always tell you what I think – even if it’s not what you want to hear. I think that will serve us better in the long run.” 

“I’m not afraid of hard work. I’ve worked on a few projects (like the …give an example) where there were tight deadlines, and I made significant contributions to ensure the project was delivered within the time constraints (be prepared to give examples of what you did). “ 

“I like to be challenged. If I have to learn a new technology, I will do what it takes to get up to speed very quickly. In my last project, I had to learn a new report writer tool…so I installed it on my home computer and did some self training so I would not fall behind on the project timelines.” 

“I am an excellent listener. I think that listening is one of the most important skills in this field. I carefully listen to what the client needs, and confirm that I have understood them by re-phrasing it back to them in their own language, be it business or technical. I communicate very well with my clients.”

If they don’t ask to describe your best qualities, you need to help them with the interview - find a way to volunteer the information. Perhaps when they ask if you have any more questions, you could respond by saying that you would like to tell them a few additional things about yourself. You should always be prepared to ask some insightful questions, to demonstrate that you care enough about the opportunity to do some research and invest some thought. You should also be prepared for the “what is your weakness?” question – respond with the honest, but not unduly damaging, answer.

When closing the interview, if you think the job sounds really interesting, make sure you tell them. If you feel that you are a good candidate for the job, tell them that you are very confident that you would be successful in the work that they have described.

Incorporation vs. Sole Proprietorship

The main advantages of incorporation versus sole proprietorship are:

1. Incorporation provides “limited liability”, whereas sole proprietorship does not. A corporation’s net assets are separate and distinct from the net assets of the shareholders of the corporation. In most cases, the shareholders’ personal assets will not be at risk if the corporation alone is sued.


2. Incorporation, as opposed to sole proprietorship, provides much more flexibility to legally minimize overall income taxes. The overall tax reduction with the use of a corporation can be substantial. Every situation is unique and should be reviewed with a professional accountant.
   
   
   
   1. As a sole-proprietorship, you are limited to setting December 31st as the year end of the business. An incorporated entity can set a year end at any time during the year. This provides the flexibility to minimize overall income taxes, by allocating corporate income, which has a year end that straddles December 31st, to two tax years of an individual shareholder, and his family members, who file their tax returns on a calendar year basis.  This provides the ability to keep overall income in the lower tax brackets and thus pay less tax on the same income.
   
   
   2. The main tax advantage gained with incorporation is access to acceptable “income splitting” opportunities. The corporation is a separate and distinct legal entity that files its own corporate tax return, in which income can be split off and be subject to a lower corporate tax rate.  Generally speaking, the current overall corporate tax rate is 16.5% (for corporations that are resident in Ontario) for contractors earning their income inside a corporation. If not incorporated, an individual or sole proprietor, on the same income, could be paying a tax rate of approximately 46% on portions of the same income being earned. As you can see there is an approximate 30% tax rate differential being paid (46% compared to 16.5%). In addition, acceptable income splitting can be accomplished with other family members when a corporation is utilized, as the flexibility to income split via dividends to these family members is available and thus applied to their lower personal tax brackets.
   
   One must be careful when “income splitting” to other family members via salary or “fees paid”. The question to ask oneself is, “what would l pay an arm’s length party to do this work they are doing?” In most cases, this would involve minimal amounts of income. With a sole-proprietorship, one is limited to income splitting to other family members via “salary or fees paid” to that other family member(s). With a corporation one can also legally and acceptably income split with other family members via “dividends”, which is not based upon a “value for service rendered” concept; rather the payment of dividends, and thus access to income splitting, is based upon share ownership in the corporation. Therefore, the corporate model provides access to income-split much larger amounts than you would be able to income split via a sole proprietorship.


3. A corporation provides the flexibility to opt out of the CPP defined benefit pension plan; a sole proprietorship cannot opt out of the CPP plan. The current annual maximum CPP contribution is in excess of $4,000 per year.

The main disadvantage to incorporating over sole proprietorship is the cost for professional services for incorporation. Up-front fees to incorporate can range from a few hundred dollars if the contractor can incorporate himself/herself online, to upwards of $1,500 if using a lawyer to incorporate, perhaps because multiple classes of shares are required.

You will also need an accountant to prepare your initial financial plan and to carry out the plan when filing your annual corporate tax returns. Plan preparation, which is a one-time up-front fee, can cost as little as a few hundred dollars or as much as $1,000 and annual filing fees by an accountant can also range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. Typically, however the income tax savings accomplished through incorporation far exceeds the professional fees incurred.

In general, if you are committed to a career as an independent consultant, DALIAN recommends incorporation, but you should seek professional accounting and legal advice specific to your circumstances.