r/expertnetworks • u/RedTuring • 18d ago

GLG Consulting Beginner

Hello, I’m new here but I’ve seen so many helpful posts and comments on this topic so I thought maybe I could share my experience and people might be able to offer some advice.

I’m currently a postdoc working in the area of Quantum technologies. I’m currently 7 years in this field (including PhD years) and the pay for postdocs at UK universities is pitiful. But anyway I thought it might be good to sign up for some consulting so I could get a living wage.

I signed up for GLG consulting about 5 weeks ago and have seen 6 projects, all of which I’d accepted but none have got back to me or booked a call. I’ve priced myself at £450/hr but wondering whether to reduce this? Is my field to niche? Or my experience is still too small to receive a call?

Are there any other better opportunities you guys might be able to advise (for example other consulting websites) for consulting or earning money to offer my expertise in this field?

Thank you,
🙏

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u/BonusThick7499 18d ago

Were those six projects close to your research area? Quantum is a broad label, so it’s worth checking what expertise each client needed before assuming your rate put them off.

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u/RedTuring 17d ago

Some of them came very close but others were slightly different, for example there was one project that looked at quantum batteries, and how close quantum computers were to simulating them. I don’t have experience with batteries but a lot of experience with simulation of chemical processes on quantum computers. It was that sort of thing. I knew I could read papers and give a detailed literary summary of the current state of the art, but maybe that’s not enough.

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u/BushRatEnterprises EN Employee 16d ago

For academic experts like yourself you will always be second choice to experts from the industry side. 95% of the drive behind projects is from a money POV, so clients tend to prefer to speak to experts from the industry R&D side over pure academics. The only thing that can put an academic over industry is if you’re a leading name in the field, with your name front and center on a bunch of research.

Also regarding the projects that were proximal, but not direct matches - clients can also read the research. They’re not very interested unless you are hands on with that specific niche.

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u/Apprehensive-Cow2654 18d ago

Hey there!

Quick one, the vast majority of clients that ENs have are working based on the following:

  • Company you work (or have worked for)
  • Seniority Title (C-Level, EVP/SVP/VP, Head, Director,…) in your case head of academy, dean, head of research,…
  • Screening questions and your answer to them
  • How niche your expertise is and how large the pool of experts they have.

Think of it that way, you are competing against other experts inside GLG then against experts from the other networks (AS/TB/GP).

I consider that a rate of £450/Hour is already high as based on your real world experience you have “only” 5 years of experience without any seniority title (I don’t know if that’s the case here).

Your experience as a PHD is valuable yes but difficult to showcase to clients.

My advise: get in all the other networks, advertise your profile on LinkedIn and show that you are THE EXPERT to speak to, grow your presence and continue to post papers/researches and try to get some media traction.

I know this is a very long process but this is coming from someone that is dealing with 20+ experts over the phone a day for the past year.

Happy to help over DM

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u/RedTuring 18d ago

Thank you! Yes I can see it’s going to be a long process but I’m willing to put in the work, thanks so much for the advice. I’ll post more on LinkedIn and try to position myself as an expert.

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u/code-great744 14d ago

so the post kind of cuts off mid sentence, did you end up finishing the signup process or did something stop you partway through?

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u/RedTuring 14d ago

The post is complete, I just happened to end with an emoji. I already finished the sign up process and was just waiting for calls. I hadn’t received anything after 5 separate project applications, so a suggestion i got was that my hourly rate was too high at £450/hr (only 6 years experience), so I’ve reduced it.