Definition

Request for Proposal—when a company asks vendors to compete by submitting detailed plans and pricing. Best case: you win. Worst case: you wasted 80 hours.

Example Usage

We issued an RFP to five different agencies for our rebranding project.

Source: Common business terminology

Related Terms

Beginner

Offsites

Meetings held away from the office, theoretically to promote creativity and bonding, but mainly to trap employees somewhere they can't escape. Strategic planning meets mandatory fun.

💼 Corporate / Business
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resource

Corporate dehumanization at its finest—a person reduced to a fungible unit of labor that can be allocated, reallocated, or eliminated as needed. The word used when 'employee' sounds too human.

💼 Corporate / Business
Intermediate

boomerang

When something returns to bite you in ways you didn't anticipate, usually referring to strategies, policies, or decisions that backfire spectacularly. In HR and employment, it's also an employee who left the company only to return later, often for more money. The corporate equivalent of "I told you so" in physical form.

💼 Corporate / Business
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QFC

Quality Food Centers—a Kroger-owned grocery chain haunting the Pacific Northwest. If you've worked retail there, you understand why it's simultaneously a job and a character-building experience.

💼 Corporate / Business
Beginner

effective

Actually doing what it's supposed to do, rather than just looking good in PowerPoint. An effective strategy produces real results; an effective employee delivers measurable value without requiring constant supervision.

💼 Corporate / Business
Beginner

agent

Someone who acts on behalf of another person or entity, wielding their principal's authority like a borrowed credit card. In business, this is your talent scout, real estate broker, or literary representative. The term spans everything from insurance agents to secret agents, though only one of those gets the cool gadgets.

💼 Corporate / Business

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allocation

The corporate art of dividing limited resources (usually budget, headcount, or meeting room access) among competing depa...