DevelopmentAid interacts with thousands of individual consultants, both nationally and internationally. Over the years, we have learned that, for an individual consultant, winning a contract in the development sector is a time-consuming and challenging activity. To tackle this challenge, we have developed tools that will save you time and help you become more efficient when attempting to secure a contract. In today’s article we bring you a few stories from experts who have chosen DevelopmentAid Professional membership.
Abdul, 45, has 20+ years of consulting experience in the education sector. Thanks to the multitude of projects he has participated in, he relies on his professional network of connections, built over time, in his search for opportunities. At DevelopmentAid we know that many experienced consultants act in the same way. However, any network is still limited to the companies an expert has worked with in the past and Abdul confirms this. “I am aware that my expert colleagues use various sites in order to look for projects. Some of these offer better visibility through higher interactivity, but do not offer a full range of opportunities. DevelopmentAid, among others, integrates the largest number of opportunities from various sources onto one platform”, says Abdul. Being a Professional member, Abdul enjoys not only access to the greatest number of job opportunities posted on the DevelopmentAid platform, but he can also view the lists of ‘Shortlisted’ and ‘Awarded’ companies who participate in all the international tenders.
Nancy, 39, is a Monitoring and Evaluation expert, with a great deal of experience in short-term projects in the Latin America region. “My sphere of competence – M&E – is very popular and there are many contracts for consultants working in this area. For me, the DevelopmentAid Professional membership is important because I have access to all of the opportunities especially via the ‘Tenders for Individuals’ section, which I check on a daily basis. Here I can find opportunities that can put me one step ahead of the competition” explained Nancy. “I have also personalized the Funding alert according to my areas of specialization and countries of interest so that I am up-to-date with the latest projects. This has helped me very much in filling my pipeline with projects over the years” added the M&E expert from the Latin American region.
The DevelopmentAid platform is an important asset for the majority of senior experts who are members of the community. On the other hand, Maria, 28, has recently been contracted for the first time by an international company for a short-term contract in the health sector. “I had almost lost patience when I kept receiving negative answers or no interest at all in my job applications. When I was contacted by a DevelopmentAid career advisor I realized that, despite constantly updating my CV, I had missed out an important detail. I did not revise my CV and tailor it to the specific job opportunities that I had been applying for. I hadn’t thought about this but my personal career advisor helped me understand how important it is and the situation then changed: my tailored CV secured that contract for me” explained Maria.
Over the years, we have learned that each success celebrated by a consultant has a trail of hard-work and invested time behind it. We are constantly improving the DevelopmentAid platform in order to make your experience more efficient. But one component is a must-have for each one of the consultants, no matter what the seniority level – the wish to invest in oneself to achieve success.
