Why Use Bid Recruitment Agencies

Winning tenders is challenging. Assembling a capable bid team can be just as demanding. Many companies turn to bid recruitment agencies to define appropriate roles and find the most suitable and competent bid staff. Agencies, such as Thornton & Lowe, offer a network of skilled bid professionals. Their expertise and sector knowledge allowing you to build a more effective bid team.

Whether you're looking to hire a bid manager, recruit freelance bid writers, or build a comprehensive bid team, agencies offer tailored solutions to meet your specific needs. By streamlining the recruitment process and connecting you with qualified professionals, bid recruitment agencies help you save time and resources.

The Instant Benefits of Using Bid Recruitment Agencies

Access to Specialised Talent Pool

When you work with bid recruitment agencies, you gain access to a vast pool of specialised talent that can significantly reduce your procurement timescales. We have built extensive networks of high-performing bid professionals over the years, offering you a shared talent pool that can be tapped into quickly and efficiently.

Bid recruitment agencies also understand that the bid manager role, for example, requires a very niche skill set, making the talent pool incredibly small. As true specialists in the field, we can make a significant difference to your recruitment processes. We understand the sector differences in bidding roles across:

Infrastructure
Construction and engineering
Security
Housing
Health & Social Care

Pre-screened and qualified candidates

Another key advantage of using bid recruitment agencies is the access to pre-screened talent ready to be hired. We employ a tried and tested process to identify quality potential candidates quickly and accurately. This means you won't have to waste time reviewing inappropriate CVs or interviewing people who haven't been properly screened. The agencies take care of qualifying recruiting objectives, determining whether an experienced short-term interim or a permanent candidate will best suit your purpose.

Streamlined hiring process

When you work with bid recruitment agencies, you benefit from their expertise in speeding up the hiring process. These agencies have well-established networks and databases of pre-screened candidates, enabling them to quickly connect you with suitable professionals. This efficiency minimises downtime and reduces the financial burden of prolonged vacancies.

By outsourcing administrative tasks to recruitment agencies, your internal HR team can focus on more strategic initiatives. This not only improves overall HR efficiency but also contributes to cost savings by utilising your resources more effectively.

Cost-effective bid recruitment solution

While there may be costs associated with hiring a recruitment agency, the long-term benefits can quickly justify the expenditure. As we specialise in recruitment of only bid related roles we fill vacancies quickly and efficiently across temp and perm.

Via interim and freelancer options, bid recruitment agencies can offer flexibility in scaling your workforce up or down as needed, which can mirror your peaks in bidding. This adaptability allows you to manage workforce costs efficiently, avoiding overstaffing or understaffing scenarios that can be financially burdensome.

By collaborating with a specialised bid recruitment agency like Thornton & Lowe, you can achieve both efficiency and savings in your talent acquisition efforts.

Let us recruit your next bid role

Bid Recruitment Agencies FAQs

What are the benefits of engaging a recruitment agency?

Recruitment agencies offer several advantages including:

Faster hiring processes, which streamline the recruitment timeline.
Access to high-quality candidates.
Specialist recruitment expertise that can address specific hiring challenges.
Market knowledge which can be critical in finding the right candidates.
Extended reach to potential candidates.
Experience in overcoming growth challenges in your sector.
Their core focus is recruitment, which means they are dedicated to getting results.

What are the most important skills of a bid manager?

Leadership
Problem solving
Project management
Communication
Attention to detail

How much do bid recruitment agencies charge?

From 15% to 25%.

What is the usual time frame of placing a bid candidate?

5 to 10 weeks for a permanent bid role. Urgent freelance bid roles often being filled in the same week, or day!

What role does a bid team play?

A bid team's primary role is to position the company strongly to win bids, while managing risks and ensuring proper governance. The size of an optimal bid team can vary and there isn't a universally 'right' size.

Where do you find your bid talent?

Our pool of bid talent consists of excellent bid writers, coordinators, managers and directors. We have been in the bidding industry for nearly 15 years, and we constantly develop and update our network of talent through various sources.

Some of the ways we find and attract our bid talent are:

Using a wide range of search tools, including our in-house database, job boards and LinkedIn, to identify and contact potential candidates

Targeted headhunting for specific roles, based on the requirements and preferences of our clients

Continued investment into advertising and social media engagement, to raise our brand awareness and showcase our success stories and testimonials

Advice and guidance for the sector, to share our insights and best practices and to establish ourselves as a trusted partner and thought leader

What can I expect from Thornton & Lowe, Bid Resource?

Bid expertise. We understand the market, rates and challenges. Our bidding solutions and bid writing services have been developed as the answer to the challenge. We can recruit, support and develop your bid team. Many of our clients further to investment and support their bid team via our Tender Subscription Services.

How Much Do Bid Recruitment Agencies Charge?

This will depend on the role and level of service offered by the agency, however, as a guide:

For permanent staff, bid recruitment agency fees can range from 15%-25% or higher, based on the initial annual salary of the recruited employee. As an illustration, hiring for a position with a £40,000 salary, the bid recruitment agencies charge would start from £6,000.

When it comes to interim or freelance bid managers or writers, agency fees can fluctuate between 10-30% or more, depending on the contractor's pay rate per hour or day. They may simply provide a fixed fee or mark-up on the contractors day rate.

You may also find the cost of outsourced bid writing useful in your research.

Bid Resource - T&L's Bid Recruitment Agency

When it comes to bid recruitment agencies, Thornton & Lowe has developed a unique approach and set of services:

Bid recruitment for temporary and permanent bid roles
Job description development and refinement
Advice on salary banding and day rate options
Recruitment pre-interviews, shortlisting and tasks
Bid training, mentoring and performance reporting
Bid writing support for continuity and added value.

Bid Recruitment Agency Testimonials

"We used the Bid Resource Division of Thornton and Lowe on two occasions recently, we were looking to recruit an additional Technical Bid Writer and Bid Manager to join our expanding Technical and Corporate Services team. The resource team at Thornton and Lowe fully understood our requirements and were able to source some excellent candidates for the roles. Both successful candidates are now making a positive contribution to the team and we would have no hesitation in recommending Thornton and Lowe to any companies looking to recruit Bids, Tenders and Proposals Specialists." Furniture Manufacturer

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

"They (Thornton & Lowe) were successful in sourcing excellent candidates for both Bid Writer and Bid Manager roles. We were extremely happy with the standard of candidates introduced to us and the service we received." Catering Business

"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!" FM Bid Manager

More bid related testimonials.

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Why Use Bid Recruitment Agencies