Rank your BD, capture, and proposal skills against APMP key competency areas

The beginning of the year is a great time for proposal professionals to evaluate their professional development and schedule time to polish their skills. So, let’s take a test on how you would rank yourself in comparison to key competency areas defined by APMP – the Association of Record for Bid, Proposal, Business Development, Capture, and Graphics Professionals.

Rank yourself on a scale of high/expert, medium/intermediate, or low/novice. Keep in mind that the Harvard Business Review indicates that 10,000 hours of practice (about 1 year and 51 days total) is what you need to gain “expertise” in a field.

If you find you have gaps, there are many free or low-cost methods to improve your skill set without moving from your desk. Lohfeld Consulting Group offers an extensive free library of blogs, webinars, and topical articles from Washington Technology in addition to books and classes to help you catch up. APMP International and its local APMP Chapters also offer meetings and webinars on these topics. I challenge you to create your own professional development plan for this year—I am using this list to plan mine.

by Brenda Crist, MPA, CPP APMP Fellow

Connect with Brenda on LinkedIn.