Business Development Manager Job - Advice Appreciated!

startingtosave

Hello Everyone,

I've spotted a job advert for a Business Development Manager for an Institute of IT at a UK university. It's in my field of interest and the job description sounds like something that would challenge me and that I'd really enjoy but I'm hesitant to apply as I'm not sure whether I have the necessary experience when it comes down to it.

Any advice would be much appreciated and welcomed - especially from anyone who has experience of this field or who is already working as a business development manager!

I've read over and ticked off the majority of the essential and indeed the desirable criteria for the role however I'm not sure whether my lack of experience in actual business development would hinder my application. While I'm a fast learner and feel that I could bring good communication, organisation and management skills to the role, not to mention a lot of enthusiasm, I've got no real experience of business development models or theories and while I'd be very keen to learn, I'm not sure if I'm aiming too high with this application.

If anyone has any thoughts I'd be keen to hear what you think!

Many Thanks!

startingtosave

I should also mention that my reason for applying for this job would be for career development - my current job is well paid and not in any danger but I feel that in order to progress with my career that I will need to move on from this company at some stage in the future.

paulwf

What exactly do they mean by business development manager? To be blunt I take it to mean sales rep, albeit one that looks more at the long term rather than just writing down orders.

There are plenty of sales managers in IT that have little technical knowledge but are good at sales. This can have advantages as they might be good at talking to clients in a non technical way and can achieve targets. On the other hand it can backfire down the line when the job actually has to get completed and what expectations the client now has can't be met.

You could pitch yourself for the job by explaining that with your technical experience you can prevent problems cropping up down the line therefore saving the company money as well as being able to bring in contracts.

Wellery82

Why not apply and use your cover letter to explain, as you have done in this post, exactly how you feel your skills and experience match what they are looking for. All they can say is no and nothing is lost, if they interview you they must consider you could possibly do the role and it is a chance for you both to have a chat about what is expected, where you could really excel in the role, and whether a lack of experience in any actual business development would be seen as a hindrance.

I guess in short nothing to lose from applying and it will help you find far more about the job, you wouldn't have to take it even if you were offered if it didn;t feel right. Plenty far far less qualified than you will apply for it

FBaby

I did the exact job for a university, although not for IT. They are looking for people as comfortable with the industry as with the academic world. That is as comfortable going to companies and convincing them to invest in work carried out within the university as well as convincing academics to look at the commerciality of their work, when a lot of them couldn't care less and are more interested in publishing, hence their job. Saying that, IT is an easier sector.

The key skill for this job is a flair for commercial opportunities and excellent negotiating skills on both sides. Being able to communicate with people at different levels. Possibly, an understanding of intellectual property might be useful (this was mainly my involvement with the job).

I don't think you lack experience and your CV looks very good. I would certainly expect you to get an interview. In any case, one should never withdraw from applying for a job because of not having all the expected experience. Before the Business Development Manager role, I worked for another education institution as a programme manager, looking after MBA students. Nothing to do with Programme Development per se (but with a bit of mental flexibility, you can always find some business development role in most jobs!). After this job, I applied for one in management within the NHS (mainly because of locality but also interest in medical world). The application did say that experience of NHS was much preferable but I applied anyway. I did get an interview and to my surprise, got the job too. All the other candicates were NHS employees already, but as a result, there were higher expectations from their responses than mine and with a bit of research, I must not have done much worse. Go for it and good luck.

DKLS

Is the role actually for the university, or is it a separate Consultancy division/spin off company? As I did a similar role at Leeds Uni, and technically the university weren't allowed to make a profit, hence a spin out company was setup whose goals were to commercialise the academic IPR.

Loanranger

Business development is usually about proactively marketing the organisation and developing opportunities as well as implementation.
You should phrase your application to fully demonstrate your skills and knowledge in marketing, negotiation.
Don't emphasise your current role as operations manager as this is not what the business development role is about but instead pick out the aspects of your role that match their person spec.

Go for it, if you don't apply you won't get it.

startingtosave

Thank you to everyone who's replied, the encouragement and positive responses have been really helpful and all of your advice has been taken on board for my application (and hopefully interview!).

Loanranger, that's the very one No secrets on the MSE boards!

I assume that there would be spin out/spin in companies associated with the role and that as DKLS pointed out, that their aim is to commercialise the academic work/knowledge transfer/innovation taking place.

Hmm, now to prepare my application!

Thanks again for your help guys - if anyone has any other info and advice it would still be much appreciated!

Loanranger

I will remove the link, apologies.

Loanranger

It's quite likely that panel will shortlist by matching up candidates' applications to the person spec.
Include a table or bullet point list of how you meet each criterion on their spec. The panel will look for strong evidence of how far you can demonstrate skills, knowledge and experience for each element.
In theory, this is how the strongest candidates get shortlisted. As it's public sector you can pretty much rely on this process so your task is to make it easy as possible for the panel to shortlist you.

startingtosave

Thanks Loanranger - I thought I better maybe remove the specifics on my post too.