How to Create a High-Impact Profile on Catalant

1) Photo

This one is self-explanatory. Upload a professional photo of yourself. This builds trust and approachability right away.  Profiles that lack a photo often get tossed to the side or overlooked as clients are glancing through profiles.

2) Tagline

The tagline is critical, as it’s often the first thing a client sees. Catalant clients tend to be senior buyers with very little time. They’ll often scan through tag lines as a determinator of whether it’s worth continuing to review your profile. You want to craft something that is going to catch their attention and draw them in. 

Many consultants default to listing passive credentials or vague experience. For example: 

Remember: Clients care about how your experience can help solve their specific challenges. Frame your experience in terms of value to them.  

Stronger examples:

3) Work Preferences

This section asks about your availability, willingness to travel, and rate expectations.

A common concern: “Won’t clients just pick the cheapest consultant?” No. This section is not visible to clients—it’s for Catalant’s internal team to help match you to the right projects.

So, be honest with your rates and willingness to travel. For example, the author of this piece has always listed 0% travel availability, and it’s never been an issue with landing client work.

While the clients won’t see pricing at this stage (remember, this section of your Catalant profile isn’t visible to clients), you will eventually put together a proposal. Clients, right or wrong, use pricing as a proxy for quality. Bidding low can actually work against you to win work. For that reason, start working to reframe your pricing now by setting your daily rates higher than you would expect.

Pro Tip: Many first-time consultants underprice themselves, thinking it will help them land early projects. Don’t fall into that trap. Clients often use pricing as a proxy for quality—so underpricing can actually backfire. Start positioning yourself appropriately from day one.

4) About Me

This is your chance to tell your story—but do it from the client’s point of view. This section should highlight your work experience, project & industry expertise, and general interests. Following your tagline, this is the first thing clients will read when reviewing your profile. Profiles that lack a strong “About” tend to get passed over. Therefore, you should spend some time crafting this section, given it’s one of the first—and occasionally only—things a client might read before deciding to move forward with you or not.

Here’s an example of what not to do:

“Bob is an independent consultant with 15 years of consulting experience and nearly 20 years of professional experience. He spent 10 years at McKinsey, then joined Google’s business development team before launching his independent consulting career.”

It’s all about Bob—and that’s the problem.

Here’s a stronger version of the same background:

Same resumes—completely different impact. The second version puts the client at the center and makes it obvious how Sue adds value for clients. 

Pro Tip: This point cannot be over-emphasized: It should be extremely clear how you add value to a company and a specific client. Describe your work in a way that helps clients see themselves in your story. To do this well, highlight client types, industries, company sizes, and the stakeholders you typically partner with.

5) Work Experience & Education

This one’s straightforward: list your past employers and educational achievements (schools, degrees, etc). This helps clients understand your background and credibility.

Your ‘Work Experience’ section should provide detail into your work history, including job descriptions and relevant achievements. Your Catalant profile tends to function similar to a resume, so be sure to include most, if not all, of your work history. Similarly, include detailed bullet points under each “Work Experience” to give prospective clients a sense for the work you were involved in. If you are more senior in your career, you can limit the details of earlier roles.

6) Past Projects

The number one factor clients consider when choosing an independent consultant is prior experience leading a similar project. As such, your ‘Past Project’ section helps bring this information front & center for a prospective client. These do not have to be projects completed on Catalant, you can include any relevant project experience from previous roles. Continuing the theme we’ve previously emphasized: focus on how you helped clients.

Catalant makes this easy by prompting you for key fields like project type, duration, and client industry, as well as framing the work as Problem / Action / Result. 

Use the project summary to provide real detail—especially the client role that faced the challenge. This allows future clients in similar roles to immediately understand your impact.

Pro Tip: When you get to the pitch stage on Catalant, you’ll be able to highlight past projects in your pitch from a drop-down menu of projects you’ve listed on your profile. Clients report this being one of the top factors considered when evaluating candidates for the next stage. So make sure you include a least a few past projects you can pull from.

7) Ratings

If you’ve completed projects through Catalant, ratings from those clients will appear on your profile.

Strong ratings are a valuable form of third-party validation, but don’t worry if you don’t have any yet. New consultants land work on Catalant every day. Focus on what you can control: clear, compelling positioning.

8) Industries

This is your chance to call attention to the industries in which you have previous experience. Our clients often prioritize Experts who can demonstrate experience in a specific industry, so be sure to highlight the full breadth and depth of your industry expertise. 

9) Project Types

This is your chance to call attention to the project categories in which you have previous experience. Our clients often prioritize Experts who can demonstrate experience leading similar projects, so be sure to highlight the full breadth and depth of your project expertise.