Looking for a career where you can apply your writing skills to something which really matters? Bid Writing may be perfect for you. We help clients to win contracts worth 100s of millions of pounds every year and our graduate/traineeship programme is highly successful at fast-tracking the first steps of a highly lucrative career path.

The Need-To-Knows

Role: Graduate Trainee Bid Writer
Location: Bolton (Hybrid)
Hours: 37.5 (Mon – Fri)
Salary: £24,000 – £28,000 depending on experience, with annual salary review and profit share bonus

What We Do

We write winning bids for companies across a diverse range of sectors – In 2022 we worked in 74 industries from Forestry Conservation to Utilities and everything in between, we’ve got it covered. We’ve been helping businesses to grow since 2009 and have since grown in numbers to have a large, directly employed bid team split across our 3 key divisions – Bid Writing/Management, Bid Resource and Bid Training. This makes us one of the largest bid consultancy organisations (and one of the largest bid teams full stop) in the UK. We’re the full package. 📦

Our Graduate Bid Writers receive a range of training and support to enable quick progression. This includes a mentoring programme, our CPD-certified Bid Training course and undertaking the Association for Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) foundation accreditation.

Our People

We have a diverse team of bid professionals. But more than that, we are readers, bikers, climbers, amateur chefs, dog lovers, film lovers, opera lovers, linguists, sports fans, parents, volunteers and lots more!

Our Hiring Process

1. You find or get sent this job advert 👋

2. You read the ad and we have your attention

3. You tell us you’re interested (apply, email, call, shout)

4. If your CV fits what we’re looking for, we’ll get in touch

5. If everything looks good, we’ll invite you to interview and send you a quick writing task

6. If we’re all on the same page and we think you’d be a good fit, we’ll make you an offer

7. You accept the offer and tell everyone how amazing your life has become 🎉

Our process is highly streamlined so we’d only expect all of the above to take between 1-3 weeks!

Our Culture

• We’re creative and open-minded

• We pursue growth and learning

• We embrace and drive change

• We build open and honest relationships with communication

• We build a positive team spirit

• We’re passionate and determined

• We’re a Disability Confident employer and our line managers have received neurodiversity training.

• We provide a well-defined career path (our Trainee and experienced hires have gone onto many senior roles, from Senior Bid Writer all the way up to Director-level. For some, their salaries have more than doubled.

Our Benefits

• We offer flexible/hybrid working for a better work/life balance (equipment provided)

• We offer enhanced annual leave of 22 days plus bank holidays, increasing to 25 days plus bank holidays with service

• We offer an additional paid day off for your birthday

• We offer health cover from day 1, including 24/7 GP access and EAP (counselling and critical incident management)

• We have trained Mental Health First Aiders

• We give you access to discounts at high street and online retailers

• We have monthly social events, as well as bigger company events in summer and winter

• We offer clear in-house progression opportunities
  We pay for all our team to have access to and gain APMP accreditations

Advice

If you’re excited by this opportunity, please apply! If you have questions don’t be afraid to ask.

What You’ll Be Doing

You will provide a broad range of bid writing and support to our clients, assisting them to win business across a range of sectors (including healthcare, facilities management, construction, professional services and utilities to name just a few). A sample of tasks you’ll be undertaking as a Graduate/Trainee include:

• Supporting bid project management, planning and coordination

• Undertaking gap analyses to identify information that is required to develop the best possible bid submission

• Researching markets, competitors and other bid-related topics

• Assisting with drafting, reviewing, writing and submitting persuasive tender responses

• Adding value to our clients’ bids through creativity, knowledge and ideas

• Building effective working relationships and communicating with clients

• Ensuring compliance with all bid requirements including the Thornton & Lowe house style

For more information about our Graduate/Traineeship Programme, please request a copy of our brochure from recruitment@thorntonandlowe.com

We have made a positive commitment to employing disabled people. We offer disabled applicants the option of requesting that their application is considered under the terms of our Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS). If you wish to apply under the GIS, please indicate this in your application cover letter.

To be invited to interview/assessment under the GIS scheme, candidates applying under GIS
should meet all of the essential criteria. These are the essential requirements that have been agreed for the post which may include qualifications, experience and skills. In setting the essential requirements, care will be taken to ensure that disabled candidates will not be disadvantaged. Candidates who do not meet all of the essential criteria will not be invited to interview.

Whether you are applying under the scheme or not, if you are disabled we ask you to let us know if you need any adjustments during the recruitment process to ensure it is inclusive and works for you. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and if you are successful, we’ll make adjustments to your working environment.

This job advert has been reviewed against Diversity & Inclusivity Best Practice – If you have any feedback on this job advert, please contact us.

About You

What You’ve Done So Far (Essential Criteria)

• Ideally, you’ll be educated to NVQ Level 4, HND, Degree qualified or equivalent OR are from a journalistic/professional writing background or equivalent

• You have the ability to work calmly and efficiently in a fast-paced environment with demonstrable experience of prioritising workloads and working to deadlines

What You’re Good At

• Thinking creatively and using your initiative

• Communication – you have excellent written and proofreading skills

• Working effectively as part of a team and independently

• Ideally (desirable but not essential), also have 1-2 years’ work experience within a professional business or sales environment with some understanding of procurement and the bid writing process