Where did Jay Sherman go?

Maybe Jay Sherman was just tired of having two thumbs up ... way up.

 

What happened to Zombie Vonnegut and Tom Petty?

 

Whoa, someone missed me! Sorry guys, basically as soon as I got the axe from my old gig, I stopped posting as I was looking for full-time work outside of the sports journalism world. After a couple months of stringing for a nearby paper, I landed on my feet again and am now proposal writing for a big IT company. Journalism job in IT industry FTW.

 

Good job Jay.

 

Sweet! Good to hear about the new gig, Jay.

 

Congrats Jay.

 

Congrats on the new gig. And it's damn good to see you round these parts again.

 

Not to be a dick Jay. Glad you are back working and all, but what does a proposal writer write about and how did your journalism background help you land the gig?

 

I'm curious about the answer too, actually.

 

Here's the job description. It's basically technical writing but they loved that I came from a reporting background:

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Main responsibilities include preparing customized business proposals, presentations and any written requests for information for our internal sales staff. The proposal writer will work closely with the Proposal Manager and local sales leadership to promote communication and assure quality control on all documentation delivered to customers. Specific duties include:

* Developing proposals and related documentation for company's staffing services, meeting specific, pre-determined deadlines
* Writing, editing, and managing all elements of proposals and proposal sections including boilerplate, executive summaries, technical approach, past performance, management approach, staffing plans, resumes, and other sections as required
* Interviewing internal sales staff to gather competitive intelligence needed for the development of customized, competitive, responsive, and compliant proposal sections
* Creating graphics (images, charts, diagrams) to illustrate concepts in proposals
* Maintaining proposal tracking database by updating records for assigned proposals
* Updating proposal content database with new and/or modified RFP answers
* Providing quality assurance on formatting and content
* Managing the production of proposals to include printing, binding and shipping
* Supporting strategic content projects as needed (i.e. case studies, whitepapers, fact sheets, brochures, web content).

Requirements: Bachelor's degree, writing/editing experience, knowledge of MS Office, multi-tasking and working on deadline, etc.

 

It was a pretty entry-level job but it pays well and they have great benefits, 401K matching, profit sharing, tuition reimbursement, etc. The company treats its employees well, which was a welcomed change from working for MediaNews.

Happy to answer any other questions. Of course I miss being around sports all day, but I get my fix by blogging and this is a very deadline-driven job, so I still get that thrill regularly.