What’s Important to Consider When Hiring an NIH Grant Consultant or Editor
Have you ever considered working with a grant consultant?
I’ll be the first to tell you not all grant consultants and grant editors are created equal. We all specialize in different areas and have our own processes, but at the core of what we do, there are some considerations before you decide if working with a consultant is right for you and your career.
What To Consider About Yourself
The first thing you want to clear up with yourself is knowing what kind of help you’re looking for.
Do you need a strategic foundation? Are you looking for basic editing for clarity? Are you looking for subject matter expertise? Or do you need some mixture of all of the above?
This is the initial checklist to go through because it will point you in the right direction to a person or agency that can help you with the type of support you are looking for.
The next thing to consider is how much and what type of collaboration you are expecting from this partnership. I encourage you to not overlook this step because a grant review is not simply handing your document over to a consultant and saying, “Fix it.”
You are an active contributor and collaborator in this process. So you need to think about what you’re expecting in terms of the collaboration.
And in line with this, this is the opportunity to consider how prepared you are to work with a consultant. This means assessing how far in advance your grant is going to need to be ready and how much time you'll have to actually incorporate the feedback and recommendations your consultant offers.
I mention that now because, early in the process, it’s helpful to know if you’re willing to take the advice of a consultant and if you’ll have time to implement that advice.
Because if not, what’s the point of working with them?
Is Your Grant A Priority
I can’t speak for other editors or consultants, but working with our team is a big commitment. Because of that, before we work with a PI, we assess how big of a priority this grant is and how much time they’re protecting to work on it with us. So, ask yourself: are you willing to make your grant a priority?
It’s one thing to say it’s important, but it’s another to actually take the action to prove it actually is a priority.
What are you actually doing to prepare to work with a grant consultant? How much guidance are they giving you on how to prepare and what they need from you? How much time have you set aside, and what tasks have you said no to so you can give this your full attention?
These are all the things you need to reflect on before you make the time and financial investment in working with a grant consultant or editor.
Do They Have The Experience?
Your goal is to not have to go through multiple consultants before you find the right one for you. So there are some ways to evaluate beforehand to help you weed out those who don’t align with your needs, and choose one who can help you get your grant to a fundable level.
Number one is knowing how long they’ve been doing this kind of work.
This will show up in a few different ways because people who are just starting out in their consultancy tend to have lower rates, and they can sometimes be a bit more flexible with deadlines. Whereas people who have been doing it for a really long time are going to have higher rates to match that experience.
Along with those higher rates, these consultants are going to have a tried and true process that they expect you to trust and follow. This is why you need to ask yourself whether you’re ready to work with a consultant or not because it is going to require commitment on your part.
If you’re working with a newer editor, they may be more flexible, but we sometimes hear stories about how the lack of experience and lack of process has made the client experience feel chaotic and unpredictable. And because grants (and grant editing) is deadline-driven, this can end up being added stress on top of the stress of trying to write an R01.
On the flip side, with an experienced consultant or agency, their process should be laid out, and you are expected to follow their process to the letter in order for them to be able to deliver the results you are expecting.
Are They Specialized?
Evaluating the specialized focus of a consultant can be a huge payoff if they align with your greatest needs or expectations for your grant (see Question 1). This could be in terms of subject matter expertise or, specializing with a certain funding agency, or even the grant mechanism.
For example, my agency specializes in NIH R01 Resubmissions and even though my team may have the capability to consult on other grants, we choose to be super focused on being amazing in this one area to help our clients increase their chances of success.
So think about what works for you. What type of specialist do you need? Then begin your targeted search and you will have an easier time finding a match for your needs.
Are They Any Good?
For newer consultants, knowing if they can get the job done can be tricky because they don’t have an established track record. But that’s not necessarily a reason not to work with them—everyone starts somewhere, after all. often what they will have is evidence from their previous work to demonstrate that there’s a reason they’re moving into research grant consulting and that they have some sort of proficiency with grant review.
Consultants with established experience should be able to show you their success rates. But remember to judge this relative to how they specialize. Somebody who specializes in a particular subject matter area across a variety of different granting agencies might have a different success rate than somebody who sub-specializes in a particular funding agency or funding mechanism. So remember to weigh that carefully when you're asking about success rates.
Do Your Due Diligence
As you are making the decision to work with a grant consultant, these are the big considerations to help you make the right decision that will benefit you in the form of an improved grant and be one step closer to securing funding for your research project.
And remember, no grant consultant is a magician. They can’t help you if you aren’t willing to put in the work to help yourself, too.
If you found this information about grant consulting helpful and you want to learn even more about improving your NIH R01 with the help of a specialist, the fastest way to do that is to sign up for our free resource library. Inside the free resource library, there are lots of tools and tutorials on different aspects of NIH grant writing that will help you write a stronger application.