Many who enter the industry reflect fondly of how they ‘fell’ into bid teams, whether as a bid writer, manager or director
At EiB, we see the value of investing in the next generation and increasing accessibility to a career in bidding.
In 2019, we welcomed our first graduates and have invested in their careers with structured training to support their progression. Since then, our graduate cohort has aligned with industry and client demands, ranging from two to four graduates each year, while continuously improving our approach to helping our graduates reach their full potential as bid managers and bid writers.
In this interview, we speak to Joe, Deputy Professional Head of Graduate Development. Joe has managed the graduate programme for the past year, supporting EiB to invest in the next generation.
What aspects of supporting graduates do you find most fulfilling in your role?
“I really enjoy helping the graduates build their confidence and they often surprise themselves with what they are capable of so soon after joining EiB. I support them to harness their existing skills, learned through academia, previous work or other pursuits, and apply them to the new context of bidding.”
What strategies do you use to gradually build a graduate’s confidence while still ensuring quality in live bids?
“I find it important to give as much agency as possible early on, avoiding micromanagement and trusting that graduates will apply the training from their induction programme and use their initiative, raising their hand for support when needed. I complement this approach with regular check-ins and focused support rather than scrutiny. Depending on the team they are working with, we assign a relevant individual to always review work at key stages, e.g. submitting a first draft for review, to ensure consistency and quality.
What keeps you motivated to continually develop and refine the training and support you offer to graduate bid writers?
“I translate my own learning and experience and integrate the very welcome advice and guidance of others in the business such as Caitlin, Lauren and Stacey who have their own brilliant ideas. This approach means we are continuously evolving the programme to meet the needs of our bid writers. I also ask the graduates how they would like the programme to develop, in response to recent challenges and new best practice.”
How do you balance giving guidance with encouraging independent work?
“We learn best through doing, so I encourage independent work from the beginning, underpinned by consistent support. Guidance is given as part of open and honest dialogue, led by graduates about their work as we discuss feedback and outcomes during/following bids to continually improve and learn.”
Is there something you’ve learned from this role that has influenced your own approach during the end-to-end bid process?
“Our graduates are lucky to be taught best practice from the beginning of their career, so they are constantly reminding me of our EiB and APMP-aligned processes and how to apply them! They keep us more experienced members of the writing team on our toes and are always bringing forward new best practice, such as Deborah and Lucy from our most recent cohorts leading our work related to AI and innovation.”
What are you looking forward to with the next cohort?
“I am looking forward to seeing how our current cohort fit in with and work alongside our next cohort . They will be in a great position to mentor and guide them, drawing upon their own experiences and offering a listening ear.”