When evaluating taking a contract, many people will take into consideration the following:
- Is this a good fit for my skill set?
- Are the client’s expectations in line with what I can deliver?
- Is this a cultural fit?
- How much will the position pay?
- What is the expense reimbursement policy?
- What will the travel be like?
- How long will it take, in travel time, to get to the client site each week?
- What are the requirements in regard to travel to the client site?
- Is there flexibility to work remotely?
The answers to the questions above give the consultant insight into what they’re going to be dealing with during this current contract.
But what about the future?
As a consultant, your future contracts should be easier to obtain than those at the beginning of your career. However, this isn’t always the case. Unfortunately, failure to pay attention to one specific criterion not mentioned above can result in challenges in securing your next project. Specifically, “How will this next project, when completed, make me more marketable to the clients I seek?”
If your goal is to be a contractor for an extended period of time (longer than two years), you should be mindful of building a body of work that will make you more attractive to clients in the future.
So, when you’re evaluating your next contracts, along with the questions above, stop and think about how your consulting profile will look with the projects you’re considering. Will they help you be viewed as a specialist whom clients will seek or a contractor who simply took the first contract he or she could find?
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