Statement of qualifications is a document that states information about a particular organization. It could be a company, a firm, a business industry, non-profit organizations (NGO), etc.
Tip
Always check the project description for accuracy because midway, it could so happen that your scope of work may change, warranting changes in the SOQ.
A statement of qualifications has certain information, which is detailed in nature and has a specific purpose. The purpose varies according to the needs, and accordingly the details are written. For example, an SOQ for an NGO will quintessentially have details targeted towards attracting donors for donations, while the one for a business firm will have content meant for the investors and people for choosing them. Drafting a correct SOQ is very important, as it matters a lot in your business.
If you are a private limited company, an educational organization, a tourism-based firm, deal in shares (share market), etc., and intend to attract investors, clients, or customers, you need to follow some very basic rules as to what your content should include and then collect your data accordingly. The format mentioned below will throw light on the same.
Summary
In this section, you must include what your firm deals with, along with the detailed addresses, both postal as well as emails and contact numbers. Remember to specify who is to be contacted for what reason; for example, contact a Public Relations Officer for media or reporting purposes, while an HR manager is to be contacted for recruitment-related issues, etc. Also, give a brief overview of the company, including factors like location, size, turnover, number of employees, products, and services.
Company History
Here, you need to mention how and when your firm started. Mention the exact date, the number of people involved during the startup, your goals at that time, attainment of those goals, projects that were successful and also those that did not turn up as expected, and the growth and progress over the years (if it is a big company).
Vision Statement
This is a common thing to be mentioned, which should ideally give in short what are your future aspirations as a firm and what steps are you taking or planning to take in the future.
Affiliations
Do mention whatever affiliations you have, as this not only provides information about your company, but it also adds onto the reliability factor (to quite an extent); say if you deal with drug production. More often than not, this turns out to be in your favor.
Operations
This section will involve all the operations you have been involved in over the years, the ones you are currently involved in, and the ones that you plan to pursue in future. Basically, you need to write what the company does, in layman’s language. Mention all the operations clearly―a summary of the entire work cycle as how it takes place on a daily basis. This hold true for start-ups as well as big firms. For instance, if you are a start-up, and you deal with completing small software projects, mention all the duties and responsibilities and work cycle. In this case, you might mention how you got your hands on the project, then the planning, then the requirement and analysis phase with the corresponding department, then the actual coding and programming, and finally, the testing and deployment team takes care of testing the product before submitting it to the clients. You can use diagrammatic representations if needed, and also mention the head honchos of each department involved in the project.
Qualifications
This is the most important section of the SOQ. It has the qualifications of your employees in general. You could mention the actual educational and professional work experience of your top officers, or say the board of directors in this section, to start with. Then, you can provide a tree diagram as to how many employees you have in different departments, etc. Use short sentences and bullet points to make the document easy to read. Provide links to specific content on your website.
Accreditations
Mention the different certifications and accreditations your firm has received, in this section.
Keep in Mind
Keep updating your SOQ with the latest information and additional data. This document should not be outdated, and whatever changes are being made should be recorded as soon as possible.
This was a little brief about the statement of qualifications. SOQs can refer to any business organization, NGOs, personal resume, etc. Do refer to the myriad of templates on the Internet as well to have a fair idea about what details and to what extent you need to specify.