If you have ever had to hire a new employee, then you have likely gone through a grueling application process. Depending on the industry you are in, you may have gotten dozens of resumes from candidates of varying degrees of quality. It would certainly be a lot simpler if you only got resumes from people who clearly understood what you were looking for so that you did not have to waste time sorting through applications from completely inexperienced individuals. One way to increase your chances of getting higher-quality resumes is to write a better job description that clearly goes over what is needed out of a new hire. We have created a proposal writer job description sample to give you a better idea of how to go about writing your own listing.
Proposal Writer Job Summary
We are looking for a new proposal writer to join our team to assist our current roster of writers in preparing proposals. This can include gathering information, formatting it according to the company’s policy and obtaining approval before sending the proposal to the appropriate sources.
Proposal Writer Job Responsibilities and Duties
- Determine a concept for company proposals by attending meetings and identifying opportunities
- Meet deadlines by being capable of prioritizing responsibilities and balancing your workload
- Edit and revise proposals according to notes given by executives and your fellow proposal writers
- Use company templates for proposals in order to maintain a sense of consistency within the department
- Help create graphics and visuals for certain projects
- Work as part of a team to offer suggestions for improvements or ways to streamline the process
- Give presentations to the executive board
Proposal Writer Skills and Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree
- Knowledge of word processing software
- Ability to type 60 wpm
- Ability to meet deadlines
- Great verbal communication and public speaking skills
- Strategic planning knowledge
Company Profile
First Commerce Bank has been helping the people of Portland with their finances since 1990. We have a high rate of customer satisfaction with an incredibly low turnover rate. We would love to have someone join our team who is looking for a challenging career with plenty of opportunities for growth and advancement.
Writing a Job Description Best Practices
- This outline should give you a good sense of the direction you need to go into for your own description. The information you put into your description should be relevant the specific tasks your proposal writer will need to accomplish, and that can differ drastically from what we put in this proposal writer job description sample. Here are a few other rules to follow.
- Do mention what type of employment it is going to be. For instance, you would want to explicitly state whether the position is full-time or part-time.
- Do try to put your company’s personality into the description. An overly corporate tone can be rather bland to read, so do your best to make the content engaging.
- Do check to see if your company has a policy against publicly talking about salary and health benefits. If your organization does not have anything about it, then you may want to discuss whether you should include that information in the job description. It can be an advantageous to put it because applicants will know whether they will be fine with the pay. Some businesses will want to save the salary discussion until the interview.
- Do have a minimum of five bullet points in your essential duties list. You want to provide the most comprehensive overview of the job as you can. However, you want to avoid going over 10 bullet points. Any more than that and you risk making your description too long.
- Do incorporate the best SEO practices into your job description. That means researching what keywords and phrases would be ideal for your listing. It also involves creating a unique URL and an eye-catching title.
- Do emphasize what skills are most important to you. There should be a few skills you have listed that are absolutely vital. However, it is acceptable to include a couple skills that may not be essential but would be superb to see. Put the most important skills first in your list and then work your way down to the less important ones.
Have a couple people look over your job description before positing it anywhere. They can mention if certain skills or responsibilities were left out. They can also tell you if you made a typo somewhere.
Proposal Writer Job Responsibilities
An itemization of responsibilities is the core section in a proposal writer job description. Prospective applicants can rely on an organized and detailed list to determine whether they should apply for a position. The responsibilities section can also provide candidates with a sense of an employer’s priorities that they can use to customize their cover letters and resumes for the role.
Make these responsibilities easy for jobseekers to read and process by using bullet points and listing no more than eight items. These details will be more directly applicable to candidates if you start each line with a specific action verb. In addition, if you follow these pointers, you can prevent the most qualified applicants from getting confused or overwhelmed by employer expectations. A well-written proposal writer job description can lead to more focused cover letters and resumes.
You might consider including the following proposal writer job responsibilities:
- Produce persuasive proposals to suit the needs of a company or organization that encourage sales, lending or donations
- Research proposal topics and audiences to achieve the best reception
- Strategize with company or organization leadership to set reasonable goals for proposals
- Inform audiences about what the basis for a proposal is as well as why these agents should execute the stated plan
Proposal Writer Job Specifications
When preparing the qualifications and skills section of a proposal writer job description, it may be helpful to consult with the leadership of your company or organization. Proposal writers are often hired to achieve specific goals, whether pitching projects or products to investors or writing grants to fund non-profit agendas. Agreeing on priorities can help you to produce a list of specifications that is more likely to attract the right writer for the job.
Organize the specifications in a job description as a bulleted list, prioritizing the most essential abilities and moving down toward optional qualifications. This order can help applicants make sure that they cover all of the essentials before looking for ways to demonstrate that they are perfectly suited for the position.
On this note, a successful proposal writer might not have prior experience in your exact field but may have a track record of success that sets them apart from the competition. You may want to draw a distinction between required and optional qualifications in a proposal writer job description and specify the extent of a proposal writer’s experience while making area expertise a preferred qualification.
Here are a few general proposal writer job specifications:
- Bachelor’s degree with a focus in writing; master’s or Ph.D. is preferred for research grants
- Outstanding research and written communication skills
- Minimum of one year of training or experience in proposal writing
- Track record of writing successful proposals in a relevant field