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Educational Consulting Is Knocking: Should You Answer? 5 Things You Should Know
February 23, 2022
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As they say, life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. In spring of 2016, I had just returned eastside after spending some time in California and found myself at a crossroads. Would I return to a full-time role or hang my own shingle as an independent educational consultant?
Although the inherent lack of job security certainly provoked great pangs of anxiety in me, I decided nonetheless to try my luck as an education consultant. I had, over the years, developed deep skills in coaching teachers and school leaders, and I wanted to try to utilize those skills across organizations and schools. In what other capacity would I have had the same opportunity to assess American curriculum schools in Dubai, help the Ministry of Education of East Timor reform its middle years 21st-century curriculum, and/or work with the Lakota nation?
Sometimes it takes an outsider to an organization to accurately assess the needs of that institution and to offer solutions to pain points that an insider might not see. However, consulting also is not without its share of drawbacks.
Here are five things you need to know about educational consulting before diving into this pool:
You Need A Brand
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As says WID global marketing expert Lisa Perry, "everyone" is not your customer. Education is a vast and growing industry. There is K–12 and higher education. There are those who advocate for education policy, support school network operations, market and then train educators on various school support products/resources, and still others who are practitioners of teaching and learning from cradle to senior daycare. What kind of consultant would you be? What pain would you solve? With whom would you work in education—policymakers, advocacy organizations, EdTech, government, publishers, schools, districts, and/or states?
You Might Juggle Different Tasks And Organizational Cultures
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Different strokes for different folks. Some education consultants thrive in providing a service to clients. Often, this means working with boards to develop strategic plans and/or to engage in school improvement conversations, coaching teachers, training people, and/or developing the leadership capabilities of others. Some education consultants provide products such as writing a curriculum or designing a data assessment tool. Some consultants provide both such as those who might train others on the use of assessment tools, digital learning management systems, and/or a new textbook series.
Consider if you work best as an independent consultant, sub-contractor, and/or as a part- or full-time employee. As an independent, you work out the details of your work with the client. You are responsible to yourself/them. As a sub-contractor and/or part-time consultant, you will still have some say in assignments you accept but this work may come with certain meeting/teaming responsibilities which can be a challenge when working on several contracts. As a full-time employee, you may receive benefits and job security but have much-reduced autonomy. Cleopatra was bitten by a snake; pick your poison.
You Must Network
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Consultants who are not full-time employees need to be experts in three things: practicing their craft/area of expertise, invoicing, and looking for their next gig. I know of many consultants who have worked long term with just one or two organizations. However, if a consultant must work across organizations to earn a living, they will want to increase their networking while maintaining their existing portfolio of work/clients. Consulting is by nature a great way to rapidly expand one's network of peers especially if one is working as part of a consulting team. Post original content and curate that of others on social media daily.
You Will Have Work Cycles
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One never knows when a consulting opportunity will materialize or end. If an organization decides to rebrand itself, and you do not fit that image, you are easily expendable. Other times, one might find a new client and/or contracting firm to be a bit disreputable. Much like B actors, get used to being fired. Have networking leads in the hopper to ease the anxiety that will come with lost revenue.
Winter is always coming. I lost approximately 90% of my income due to initial COVID-19 shutdowns, and, while much of that work has returned, waves of subsequent COVID-19 mutations still have led to many sleepless nights. At other times, one might be awash in gigs. So, budgeting can be difficult. With that said, the roller coaster ride that is consulting can level out particularly if one is fortunate to find consistent consulting work with one firm and/or client over a multi-year period. Such work may even lead to new full-time opportunities.
The Value Of Your Work Will Vary
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Mid-career teachers transitioning out of the classroom and retirees can often find rewarding part-time or full-time roles as training facilitators and marketing or sales representatives with school support/product organizations and textbook publishers. This work will be paid a mid-range salary or day rate that might be equal to or above that of which one might earn as a teacher.
More senior consultants, those who previously served in school and district leadership positions, can earn better money serving as school improvement, policy, advocacy, and strategy consultants either working as independents or as PT/FT advisors with consulting firms. High-profile management consulting firms tend to hire newly minted MBAs, also at high salaries, but with very high expectations in terms of time commitment and deliverables.
If you would like additional ideas on how to impact student lives without sacrificing your own, and have a life teaching, check out my quick hack teaching courses here. You can also reach me on LinkedIn.
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Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
BigstockMake a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
- How did I learn about this job?
- How did I apply for the job?
- Did I earn an interview?
- What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
BigstockAre you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
Let's start with resumes!
Every resume should be tailored to the position in order for it to stand out to recruiters and hiring managers. It may seem like a lot of work, but it's actually less work than submitting the same resume over and over again and never hearing back.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
BigstockYour job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
- Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
- Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
- Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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