Facilities managers make sure that buildings and their services meet the needs of the people who work in them. They manage services such as cleaning, security and parking. They also manage building maintenance like heating and air conditioning systems.

If you can develop good working relationships with a wide range of people and enjoy organising, this could be a great profession for you.

To do this job, you should have good organisation skills. You will need good spoken and written communication skills. You will also need customer and client management skills.

Tasks:

• managing refurbishment, renovations and office moves
• managing general upkeep and maintenance
• making sure that the building meets health and safety standards and legal requirements
• advising on energy efficiency
• managing services such as cleaning, waste disposal, catering and parking
• managing budgets and keeping records of payments
• negotiating the best deals with contractors and suppliers
• managing security
• managing office systems, which may include IT and office equipment.

You could work for a facilities management company that is contracted to manage facilities for a number of organisations. In small companies, facilities management may be part of a general management role. You may have another job title such as business services manager, support services manager or contracts manager.

Key skills:

• good organisational skills
• good spoken and written communication skills
• the ability to develop working relationships with a wide range of people
• customer and client management skills
• the ability to manage a varied and complex workload
• technical knowledge of building services
• management skills
• the ability to control large budgets
• problem solving and decision making ability
• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) skills.

Average salary (2014):

United Kingdom: You would work around 40 hours a week, usually 9am to5pm, but you may sometimes need to do extra hours, for example to deal with emergencies. You would be office-based but you would probably need to do some travelling, particularly if you work for a large, multi-site company.

Qualifications and training required:

You would normally need a combination of relevant experience and qualifications to become a facilities manager. This could include (hard) technical skills related to buildings and property as well as (soft) management skills. For example, you might have skills from working in building services engineering or IT installation, and management experience gained from a background in hospitality, security or the armed forces.

You may also be able to work your way up to a facilities management position within the company you work for by taking in-house training. For instance, you may be able to take an Apprenticeship in Facilities Management.

If you take in-house training, you might be encouraged to work towards qualifications such as:

• Level 2 Certificate in Facilities Services
• Level 3 Certificate/Diploma in Facilities Management.

A health and safety qualification may also help your career progress. Qualifications like those offered by the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) or the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) could be useful. These may be essential for some jobs.

You can find more details about careers in facilities management on the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) and The Building Futures Group websites.

Source: https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk