Six months back into the consulting game, I’m sure of one thing. The best clients find you.
Why’s that? Because the best clients know what they’re looking for. So when they contact you, they know, or at least think they know, you might be just what they need. Even if you’re one of several being contacted and considered, it’s the talent seeking client that makes the best client.
They’re savvy enough to narrow down their search. While that shows what you can expect of their initiative, it also speaks deeply to the fact that they have a real sense of what they are doing, who they are, what they want to achieve — and how you will fit into the team working to achieve that.
Because they have a clear plan, contacting and hiring you is just a tactic in their bigger strategy. There’s a big difference when a client shapes their strategy based around what talent might present itself.
The client that posts job ads and such is trying to see what might turn up, is shaping their team and business on the go, or is looking for the cheapest talent available. The client that uses its internal connections or web research to find talent is typically a better experience.
When the talent seeking client client finds you, you’re more likely to be the right fit. They’ve already employed the same skills to assemble a cohesive and working team.
When you’re one of 100 applicants and lucky enough to score an interview, the client or employer spends much of the initial contact phase thinking about how they might utilize you, how you compare to the rest of the lot, and if they can afford you — rather than focusing on you, your skills, what you have to offer the team, then determining if they can afford you. This is why headhunters and the second interview have become so popular. So they can turn the process towards focusing on you and less on comparison.
Of course, job ads and passive recruiting can still find a good fit and assemble a good team. I’m not sayings it’s impossible.
However, in 11 years of writing professionally, with close to half that time spent freelancing and consulting, this has been my experience and something I now consider a general truth.
I wonder if this is true for you? What do you think?
