Thousands of independent consultants and boutique firms have found success with Catalant, and most started their journey by asking, “is Catalant right for me?” If the answer is “yes,” it’s time to create your Catalant profile and apply for consideration. 

The next most frequent question we get from potential Experts is: 

“What does a good Expert profile look like?” 

Some general guidance: 

1. It must be thorough. Demonstrate your intent to win work on the platform by being thorough in your profile. You should treat your profile like a resume. Include your work experience, actions and outcomes of your most influential work and experiences, and use terminology that is specific to your industry or area of focus. 
2. Be specific. Make sure your work experience, education, and capabilities are clear and complete, and include detailed descriptions, such as specific projects or initiatives that you led or contributed to.
3. Highlight your core strengths and competencies. Being “a mile wide and an inch deep” isn’t what clients are looking for on Catalant. The most successful Experts on the platform use their profiles to demonstrate that they’ve been there before – they’ve actually done the type of work that clients are looking for, either as a former consultant or as an in-house operator. As such, it’s a benefit to you to highlight the things that you are truly an expert in on your profile (and when you are ready to pitch on a project). 

We’ve taken a representative Catalant Expert profile and broken it down into each section here for you so that you can get a sense of what you should strive for when building your own. 

Photo: 

A photo is encouraged but not required. Many Experts choose to use the same profile picture they use on Linkedin, but any business-appropriate photo will do. 

Location:

Your location is an important factor when clients select Experts for on-site project work. With this in mind, be sure to keep your location section up to date.

Tagline: 

Along with your profile photo, your ‘Tagline’ is one of your first digital impressions with a prospective client. As such, your tagline should highlight your core capabilities while also differentiating yourself from other Experts.

About:

Your ‘About’ section tends to read like a corporate biography on a company website. 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. 

Work Experience: 

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. As a reminder, profile completeness is considered in our application process. If you fail to include enough detail on your profile, (e.g. you have 20 years of experience but only include your last role in “Work Experience”) your application will be declined.

Past Projects:

The number one factor clients consider when choosing an Expert 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. 

We encourage you to include more than one past project for a few reasons. First, it is a great way to highlight specific projects and capabilities with context around the problems to be solved, industry, work done, etc. You can include up to 10 on your profile. Second, when pitching on projects, you can select a “Past Project” from your profile to include in your pitch. By having two, or more, to choose from, you’ll be able to tailor your highlighted experience more closely to the project at hand.

Certificates:

Highlighting certifications is not required, but they are recommended if you have them. This is an easy way to differentiate yourself from other Experts, while also demonstrating your expertise for prospective clients.

Education:

This section is used to give clients a glimpse into your education history. If you have an advanced degree, be sure to highlight it here. Your education is also used to determine your seniority, so consider including your graduation years as well!

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 similar industry, so be sure to highlight the full breadth and depth of your industry expertise. 

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. 

Languages:

We occasionally receive requests for Experts who speak certain languages. As such, if you’re multilingual, be sure to call attention to that here!

And that’s it! Now you have a sense of what a great Expert profile looks like. While you can edit your profile as often as you’d like (and we definitely encourage you to continue to update your profile to align with current capabilities and experiences), you cannot edit your profile while it’s under application review. So please, take your time and put effort into creating a robust, comprehensive profile when you’re applying to join the Catalant Expert network. 

If you have further questions, please reach out to community@gocatalant.com.