How to secure the future of FM?
Facility Management (FM) has long been considered the “accidental” profession. When asked, most working FMs today will tell you that they “fell into FM” at some point within their career. Such diversity is what makes the industry so unique; with backgrounds in engineering, HVAC, plumbing, and even psychology and business, many professionals have worked their way up from front line jobs to director level and beyond. Many applicants skimmed past the ambiguity of “other duties as assigned” not realizing it was a path into a typical facility management role.
The process of working up the ranks, however, comes with a small, yet significant, side effect. In the next few years, nearly half of the FM workforce will reach retirement. This leaves remaining professionals with the challenge of either taking on new work or finding a faster, more effective (and most importantly) sustainable way to replenish numbers with new talent. The question becomes how can the growing retirement gap be filled? How can our member base be engaged, retained, mentored and grown while finding future leaders? How do we change this “accidental” profession into an “intentional” one?
The solution may be easier than it seems. With dedication and commitment from like-minded professionals, local groups can be empowered to act as outreach centers. Encourage members close to retirement age to share their years of experience with young minds. Embrace the passion of professionals who seek to volunteer their time and creativity while engaging members with unique facilities who are willing to provide tours or be a guest speaker. By wholly supporting the diversity in our backgrounds and in our fundamental recruitment process, FMs have the tools to implement successfully tested methods to engage students and mid-career workers, both before career decisions are made and later as an opportunity for changing their career path.
When seeking internships, schools generally focus on the experiential learning element and a student’s opportunity to integrate and internalize what they have learned in the classroom by performing that same concept in the real world. Be sure to highlight how an FM provides those skills in an evolving workforce.
Do not worry if there is not a local facility management program already in existence. Be mindful that our industry’s talent comes from all backgrounds. We regularly pull students from psychology, construction, real estate, architecture, engineering and business majors. Perhaps the experience of learning about facility management will impact them to make a “right” turn into FM.