Tips for Hiring a Bid Manager

When hiring a bid manager ensuring they have the required skills to help your business win tenders is key! Hiring the right bid manager can be such an important task for a business and should not be overlooked.

It's important to note, that recruiting a freelance bid manager for a specific tender often requires a different skillset. This article is aimed at recruiting for a permanent/ in-house bid manager for your business. We know that writing, communication and project management are key skills of a bid manager, but at a practical level how about:

1. Craft a Clear and Practical Job Description

The role of a bid manager can vary significantly from one business to another. It’s crucial to clearly define the specific tasks, responsibilities, and expectations in your job description.

On a day to day level - what will they do? Describe your existing bid team structure and how their role will fit in.

Will the bid manager role involve monitoring tenders, manage portals, bid qualification, handing over tender wins, bid writing? The more specific and honest, the better and of course this also then helps with retention going forward.

2. Look for Innovation, Drive and Continuous Improvement

A successful bid manager must have a passion for their work and diligently work to continually improve the quality of your bid responses and wider bid management systems. They should also be proactive in identifying and solving problems, intelligently being able to offer solutions and challenge existing norms. A bid manager should quickly grasp complex information and solutions and be able to challenge them to ensure the best outcomes for the bid.

3. Check for a Cultural Fit and Team Leadership Qualities

A bid manager often needs to lead a team, mentor junior bid writers, and develop a collaborative environment. They should be able to inspire and challenge their team while maintaining a positive work culture. Leading from the front and be willing to roll-up their sleeves to get a job done. This commitment is key alongside a focus on quality.

They need to fit into your working environment, which is equally as important when remote, hybrid or office based. Understanding the culture they have worked within in the past and their thoughts on it can be very useful.

4. Wider Bid Skills and Knowledge

The live bid is very important but this only ever goes smoothly with an effective bid strategy and plan. Wider bid manager skills and knowledge include:

• Bid writing.
• Procurement.
• Sales.
• Research.
• Marketing.
• Competitor intelligence.
• Market analysis.
• Good admin and reporting.

You may also find the following useful:

• What does a Bid Manager do
• Bid Manager, Bid Writer or Bid Consultant?
• Why hire a freelance Bid Manager?

Looking to Recruit a Bid Manager and Need a Specialist Agency?

Contact us on hello@thorntonnandlowe.com

We not only have one of the largest in-house bid teams in the UK, but since 2016 we have had a dedicated bid recruitment division, Bid Resource.

We used Bid Resource 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.