With thousands of development professionals out of work due to USAID’s dismantling, many are considering whether a pivot to consulting may be the best next step on their development career path. But this is coupled with concerns about an increasingly saturated job market.
“The number one thing that I’m saying to people right now is that this is a period of time, and things feel saturated and they feel impossible, but they’re actually not,” Kelsi Kriitmaa, a social impact coach, said during our recent digital event for Devex Career Account members. “There are still jobs out there. There are still consulting gigs, but a lot of it is going to come down to personal networking and personal branding.”
Kriitmaa was joined by Loksan Harley, a veteran development consultant and the co-founder of the Impact Consulting Hub, in offering insights on the current state of development consulting. While there are actionable ways for development consultants to remain competitive, there is also no getting around the fact that the development consulting recruitment landscape is quickly evolving and growing more competitive.