How to Recruit a Winning Bid Writing Team

Recruiting a Winning Bid Team

What roles do you need in a winning bid team? This is an important question to ask when recruiting a bid manager, bid writers or coordinators, for example. In our experience an in-house bid team needs at least 3 dedicated members in order to be sustainable. Before this we often recommend outsourced bid writing, management and administration as a more effective solution. These bid writing services are what we provide via our bid consultancy division.

There is of course no perfect size for a bid team, in our experience though, bid teams need to be scaled in order to suit the demands of the sales pipeline. They need to be able to adapt accordingly and in some cases quite quickly but they must include all the skills and knowledge required to be able to respond to client requirements.

Thornton & Lowe, via our specialist bid recruitment division - Bid Resource, have recruited for the following roles:

• Bid Director.
• Bid Manager.
• Bid Writer.
• Bid Coordinator.
• Bid Administrator.

It is important to consider that recruiting a permanent member of your bid team often requires a different skillset to recruiting a freelance bid manager, for example.

We not only recruit bid staff for our clients but we also have one of the largest in-house, directly employed bid consultancy teams in the UK. We therefore have first hand experience in not just recruiting a bid team but also in ensuring they perform!

Where to Hire Bid Writers and Bid Managers from?

We are big believers in promoting from within and nurturing your own bid talent. We have many bid writing courses and bid mentor programmes to help our clients develop this.

This can also include investing into a trainee bid writer, for example. Our graduate trainee bid writer programme has been the backbone of developing new talent for the industry. We also support our clients to recruit, train and develop these junior bid writing team members.

Having relationships with local Universities can really help you recruit for this role. As well as using your normal recruitment processes such as job boards and LinkedIn, for example. Head hunting for more senior bid roles can also be highly effective.

As a specialist bid recruitment agency we only supply bidding professionals. This includes temporary or freelance, as well as permanent bid roles. As a specialist we have a constant flow of new talent who can be available for our clients.

What does Thornton & Lowe know about Recruiting a Bid Manager?

As a bid management consultancy, we have one of the largest directly employed bid teams in the UK. We know the pain and have learned many lessons along the way! In 2016 we developed Bid Resource, which is our recruitment agency for bid staff - bid writers, managers, coordinators and directors. We have recruited for bid managers for companies large and small, from healthcare to construction, from digital to waste management.We not only can recruit your bid manager but we can also provide training and bid support to maximise their chances of success.

Feedback from a client:

"We have used T&L for the first time and we are very pleased with the result. They have supplied professional and qualified candidates within the timescale agreed and one of these has been offered a position within our company."

From a candidate:

"Having recently made the move in to freelance bid consultancy, I have had the pleasure of working... Thornton & Lowe. The approach Thornton & Lowe took to fully understand my skills set and experience was absolutely first class. It was evident from my first point of contact they truly understand the world of bidding and had the interests of both their candidates and clients at heart. As a recruiting manager who has employed numerous bid professionals over the past 14 years and now as a freelance bid consultant myself. I couldn't recommend Thornton & Lowe highly enough!"

What Qualities to Look for in a Bid Writer?

When recruiting a bid writer there is always a key set of qualities that we would look for:

• Proven experience.
• Time management.
• Organisation skills.
• Excellent english writing skills and the ability to get the point across.
• Resourceful.
• Passionate about quality with an excellent eye for detail.
• Drive for continuous improvement and innovation.

As a bid writing company, we know how stressful the world of bid writing is. We know what works and we know what doesn’t work. Over the years we have created a successful bid writing team who win hundreds of contracts each year for our clients.

You may also find Hiring a Bid Manager useful.

Bid Manager Recruitment Interview Questions and Tasks

How to test a Bid Manager...

• Develop an assessment process including a bid review, process assessment and executive summary writing project.
• Ask the candidate to propose a plan for assessing and improving the bid process within your organisation.
• Request the candidate to explain how they would conduct competitor profiling and use the insights to enhance bid strategies.
• Ask about a past process they improved and the impact it had on their bids.
• Present a technical document related to your industry and ask the candidate to summarise the key points.
• Pose a scenario where the team faces a tight deadline, and ask the candidate how they would motivate the team and contribute personally to meet the deadline, with examples from their past.
• Ask for writing samples.
• Ask about times they have managed a team, set SMART targets, and conducted performance reviews.
• Explore how they have previously contributed to a positive and productive team environment.
• Present a situation where the candidate must address underperformance in their team and ask them to outline their approach.
• Ask the candidate to explain how they would handle a situation where they have to choose between two bids with conflicting deadlines.