As a bid manager, tailoring your resume to highlight your strategic planning and stakeholder management skills can be challenging. Our guide provides expert tips and examples to help you showcase your abilities effectively, ensuring your resume stands out to potential employers.
- Sample industry-leading professional resumes for inspiration and bid manager resume-writing know-how.
- Focus recruiters' attention on what matters most - your unique experience, achievements, and skills.
- Write various resume sections to ensure you meet at least 95% of all job requirements.
- Balance your bid manager technical expertise with personality to stand out amongst candidates.
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Tips and tricks for your bid manager resume format
Before you start writing your resume, you must first consider its look-and-feel - or resume format . Your professional presentation hence should:
- Follow the reverse-chronological resume format , which incroporates the simple logic of listing your latest experience items first. The reverse-chronological format is the perfect choice for candidates who have plenty of relevant (and recent) experience.
- State your intention from the get-go with a clear and concise headline - making it easy for recruiters to allocate your contact details, check out your portfolio, or discover your latest job title.
- Be precise and simple - your resume should be no more than two pages long, representing your experience and skills that are applicable to the bid manager job.
- Ensure your layout is intact by submitting it as a PDF. Thus, your resume sections would stay in place, even when assessed by the Applicant Tracker System (ATS).
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The more time and effort you've put into obtaining the relevant certificate, the closer to the top it should be listed. This is especially important for more senior roles and if the company you're applying for is more forward-facing.
Don't forget to include these six sections on your bid manager resume:
- Header and summary for your contact details and to highlight your alignment with the bid manager job you're applying for
- Experience section to get into specific technologies you're apt at using and personal skills to deliver successful results
- Skills section to further highlight how your profile matches the job requirements
- Education section to provide your academic background
- Achievements to mention any career highlights that may be impressive, or that you might have missed so far in other resume sections
What recruiters want to see on your resume:
- Demonstrated experience in managing and coordinating comprehensive bids, Requests for Proposal (RFPs), and tender processes.
- Proficiency in bid strategy development, including understanding of commercial and technical aspects relevant to the bid.
- Strong project management skills with the ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage multiple bid projects concurrently.
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and persuasive writing skills tailored to creating compelling bid submissions.
- Track record of successful bid wins and a history of achieving or exceeding sales targets through effective bid management.
The bid manager resume experience section: a roadmap to your expertise
The resume experience section provides you with an opportunity to tell your professional narrative.
Recruiters, reading between the lines of your resume, use the experience section to better understand your unique skill set, accomplishments, and what unique value you bring about.
Discover five quick steps on how to write your experience section:
- Curate only relevant experience items to the role and include the company, description, and dates; all followed by up to six bullets per experience item;
- Each experience item should feature tangible results of your actions - if you can include a number or percent, this will further highlight your aptitude;
- If you've received any managerial or customer feedback, use short excerpts of it as further social proof of your technical or people skills;
- Make sure you're using the appropriate verb tense when listing your responsibilities;
- Within the description for each role, you could summarize your most noteworthy and relevant achievements.
Now, take note of how a real-world bid manager professional received opportunities at industry leaders with these resume experience sections:
- Spearheaded the bid management process for a leading construction company, managing over 50 proposals annually, which contributed to a 20% increase in won contracts.
- Optimized bid strategies by coordinating with cross-functional teams, leading to a reduction in response times by 30% and increased efficiency.
- Implemented a new bid tracking system that allowed for more accurate forecasting and reporting on proposal outcomes and pipeline status.
- Oversaw all aspects of the bid process within the IT sector, successfully securing an average of $15M in government contracts per year.
- Led a team of 6 to prepare and submit detailed proposals, presentations, and bids, ensuring all responses were compliant, timely, and technically sound.
- Collaborated closely with the sales and marketing teams to align bid submissions with strategic business goals, enhancing the company's market positioning.
- Leverage advanced analytics to identify key trends in proposal data, enabling targeted improvements that have increased our proposal success rate by 15%.
- Developed a comprehensive knowledge management system to streamline the reuse of proposal content, cutting down preparation time by 25%.
- Fostered strategic partnerships with vendors and subcontractors to enhance proposal quality, expand offerings, and support a 10% yearly growth in bid volume.
- Managed the end-to-end bid submission process for multi-million dollar telecommunications projects, which directly led to a 35% improvement in win rate.
- Conducted comprehensive competitor analysis to inform bid proposals, providing strategic insights that were pivotal in winning 4 key industry bids.
- Established a bid review committee that brought together senior stakeholders to ensure proposals met both client requirements and business objectives.
- Guided a bid team through complex proposal development for high-value engineering projects, leading to the acquisition of contracts averaging $20M each.
- Crafted a rigorous bid qualification process to effectively prioritize efforts, which resulted in a 50% drop in non-strategic bid pursuits.
- Executed a detailed post-bid analysis for continuous improvement, which became instrumental in reshaping the company's bidding strategies.
- Designed and implemented a suite of bid management tools and methodologies for a global technology firm, elevating the proposal success rate to a consistent 87%.
- Nurtured and expanded a team of bid professionals, enhancing collective capabilities and driving a company-wide culture focused on quality bid submissions.
- Engaged directly with C-suite executives to provide bid insights and strategic recommendations that influenced the company’s growth and direction.
- Cultivated an agile bid management framework for a fast-paced software services company, providing the agility needed to address dynamic market demands.
- Drove the transition from traditional bidding processes to a streamlined, digital approach, enhancing proposal quality and reducing cycle time by over 40%.
- Conducted in-depth training programs for bid staff, resulting in increased awareness of best practices and an improved team skill set.
- Facilitated cross-departmental collaboration on major infrastructure bids, leading to the successful acquisition of international contracts worth cumulatively $100M.
- Pioneered an environmental impact assessment aspect in bids for renewable energy projects, markedly enhancing company reputation and securing new business lines.
- Expertly managed risk during the bid process, identifying and mitigating potential issues early, ensuring a 90% bid submission success rate.
Quantifying impact on your resume
- Include the number of successful bids won and the overall win rate to demonstrate your effectiveness in securing contracts.
- Detail the total value of projects secured through the bids you managed to highlight your contribution to company revenues.
- Specify the size of teams you have led or coordinated, indicating your leadership and project management skills.
- Present data on how you optimized the bidding process, including time saved or efficiency gains, to showcase process improvement abilities.
- Mention any cost reductions achieved through strategic bidding or negotiation techniques, emphasizing your financial acumen.
- Describe the range and complexity of projects tackled, utilizing figures to provide a scope of your industry expertise.
- Quantify any improvements in client satisfaction scores or repeat business rates you influenced to show client relationship management strengths.
- List any awards or recognitions received for your bidding work to add credibility and proof of performance.
Action verbs for your bid manager resume
Lacking relevant bid manager resume experience?
Learn how to write your bid manager resume experience in spite of having no real-world (or applicable) experience for the job.
You should:
- Feature relevant projects or publications that could impress recruiters or showcase that you have the basic skill set for the job
- Shift the focus towards your people (communication, organization, etc.) skills to demonstrate that you're a quick learner and can easily adapt to a new environment
- Use the resume objective to not only highlight your accomplishments but also map out how your career plans are perfectly aligned with the company's vision
- Select either the functional-skill-based resume format (that puts the focus on your skills) or the hybrid one (balancing expertise with skills).
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If you happen to have plenty of certificates, select the ones that are most applicable and sought-after across the industry. Organize them by relevance to the role you're applying for.
Featuring your hard skills and soft skills on your bid manager resume
The skills section of your bid manager resume needs to your various capabilities that align with the job requirements. List hard skills (or technical skills) to showcase to potential employers that you're perfectly apt at dealing with technological innovations and niche software. Meanwhile, your soft skills need to detail how you'd thrive within your new, potential environment with personal skills (e.g. resilience, negotiation, organization, etc.) Your bid manager resume skills section needs to include both types of skills to promote how you're both technical and cultural fit. Here's how to create your bespoke bid manager skills section to help you stand out:
- Focus on skill requirements that are listed toward the top of the job advert.
- Include niche skills that you've worked hard to obtain.
- Select specific soft skills that match the company (or the department) culture.
- Cover some of the basic job requirements by including important skills for the bid manager role - ones you haven't been able to list through the rest of your resume.
Get inspired with our bid manager sample skill list to list some of the most prominent hard and soft skills across the field.
Top skills for your bid manager resume:
Bid preparation
Project management
Cost estimation
Technical writing
Contract knowledge
Procurement processes
Risk management
Market research
Financial analysis
Compliance understanding
Leadership
Communication
Strategic thinking
Negotiation
Detail-oriented
Time management
Decision-making
Collaboration
Problem-solving
Adaptability
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Bold the names of educational institutions and certifying bodies for emphasis.
Qualifying your relevant certifications and education on your bid manager resume
In recent times, employers have started to favor more and more candidates who have the "right" skill alignment, instead of the "right" education.
But this doesn't mean that recruiters don't care about your certifications .
Dedicate some space on your resume to list degrees and certificates by:
- Including start and end dates to show your time dedication to the industry
- Adding credibility with the institutions' names
- Prioritizing your latest certificates towards the top, hinting at the fact that you're always staying on top of innovations
- If you decide on providing further information, focus on the actual outcomes of your education: the skills you've obtained
If you happen to have a degree or certificate that is irrelevant to the job, you may leave it out.
Some of the most popular certificates for your resume include:
The top 5 certifications for your bid manager resume:
- Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) - APMP Certification
- Project Management Professional (PMP) - Project Management Institute (PMI)
- Certified Capture Manager (CCM) - Shipley Associates
- Certified Professional Contract Manager (CPCM) - National Contract Management Association (NCMA)
- Certified Cost Estimator/Analyst (CCEA) - International Cost Estimating and Analysis Association (ICEAA)
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List your educational qualifications and certifications in reverse chronological order.
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The summary or objective: focusing on the top one-third of your resume
It's a well-known fact that the top one-third of your bid manager resume is the make-it-or-break-it moment of your application. The resume summary and objective could help you further build up your professional profile.
- If you have plenty of career highlights behind your back, use the resume summary . The bid manager summary immediately focuses recruiters' attention on what matters most within your experience.
- The resume objective is the perfect choice for balancing your career achievements with your vision. Use it to state precisely how you see yourself in a couple of years' time - as part of the company you're applying for.
Both the resume summary and resume objective can be your value pitch to potential employers: answering what makes your application unique and the top choice for the bid manager role. They both have to be specific and tailored - as there's no one-size-fits-all approach to writing your bid manager summary or objective. Use the bid manager examples below as a starting point:
Resume summaries for a bid manager job
- Seasoned bid manager with over 12 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, adept at crafting winning proposals and leading cross-functional teams. Impressive track record includes securing a $30 million government contract. Master of Business Administration degree holder with advanced skills in project management software and strategic planning.
- Accomplished professional with 10 years as a financial analyst now pivoting to bid management, bringing a robust analytical skillset, comprehensive understanding of market trends, and a history of enhancing bid processes that increased proposal acceptance rates by 40% in the previous role.
- Dynamic individual transitioning from a 7-year career in sales to bid management, leveraging exceptional negotiation abilities, customer relationship skills, and a proven history of success in closing complex deals. Adept in utilizing quantitative data analysis to inform strategic decisions and optimize proposal outcomes.
- Expert bid manager with 15 years in the infrastructure sector, successfully overseeing multimillion-dollar bids, including a landmark $80 million urban development project. Possesses a deep knowledge of contract law, proficiency in bid submission technologies, and an astute understanding of client procurement processes.
- Keen to establish a career in bid management, armed with a recent Master's degree in Marketing and a passion for persuasive writing and financial modeling. Eager to apply a fresh perspective and enthusiastic work ethic to contribute to winning high-value proposals and strategic company growth in a challenging business environment.
- Aspiring bid manager with a background in journalism, eager to apply superior writing skills, meticulous attention to detail, and a strong desire to learn the intricacies of crafting competitive bids. Committed to leveraging a keen understanding of narrative structure and data synthesis to support the successful acquisition of new business ventures.
Other relevant sections for your bid manager resume
Apart from the standard bid manager resume sections listed in this guide, you have the opportunity to get creative with building your profile. Select additional resume sections that you deem align with the role, department, or company culture. Good choices for your bid manager resume include:
- Language skills - always ensure that you have qualified each language you speak according to relevant frameworks;
- Hobbies - you could share more about your favorite books, how you spend your time, etc. ;
- Volunteering - to highlight the causes you care about;
- Awards - for your most prominent bid manager professional accolades and achievements.
Make sure that these sections don't take too much away from your experience, but instead build up your bid manager professional profile.
Key takeaways
- The format and layout of your bid manager resume should reflect on both your career and what matters most to the job you're applying for;
- Use the resume summary and objective to hint at your most prominent accomplishments;
- Always be specific about your experience and consider what value each bullet you curate adds to your bid manager application;
- Consider how your academic background and technical capabilities could further showcase your alignment to the role;
- Your soft skills should contribute to your overall bid manager profile - aligning your personality with skills and results.
