Facilities Manager: The Role, Top 3 Traits and 30 Top Interview Questions

A facility manager is an all-encompassing job with many different responsibilities. The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) describes the role as, “a profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality, comfort, safety and efficiency of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology.”

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IFMA’s description of a facility manager continues, “They’re responsible for making sure systems of the built environment, or facility, work harmoniously. They are important because they make sure the places in which people work, play, learn and live are safe, comfortable, productive and sustainable. FMs contribute to the organization’s bottom line through their responsibility for maintaining what are often an organization’s largest and most valuable assets, such as property, buildings, equipment and other environments that house personnel, productivity, inventory and other elements of operation.”

Read on as we’ll highlight the traits it takes to be a good facility manager and break down 30 questions you should be prepared for in an interview to become a facility manager.

What makes you a good fit to be a Facility Manager:

What does it take to be a good facility manager? Service Futures says the key to success boils down to three key traits:

1. Excellent listener and communicator
2. Someone who challenges the status quo
3. A person who can create strategic value

An article on the published-on Service Futures website breaks down this list explaining, “To create and enhance great company cultures and facilities that reinforce a company’s strategic goals, a great Facility Manager must be a great listener and be able to empathize with and understand the people who use the facilities and services.” The article found, “A great Facility Manager is someone that embraces changes and is not afraid of challenging status quo by implementing new innovative solutions that can create new cost-efficiencies, support organizational transformation or take on new cross-organisational responsibilities to support the strategic goals of the organization.” Lastly the article says, “A great Facility Manager does not see Facility Management and strategic business operations as two separate entities. Rather, a great Facility Manager is someone who knows how to tie Facility Management KPI’s to business KPI’s and understands how Facility Management can deliver business value that goes beyond daily governance and maintenance.”

30 Top Interview Questions to Be Prepared For:

Are you interested in becoming a facility manager? Are you applying for the role of facility manager? Or are you getting ready to interview someone for the role? We’ve scoured the web to find some of the most likely questions used in an interview for facility manager. Read on for our complete list of top interview questions so you can be prepared whether you are conducting the interview or being interviewed.

Let’s start with BetterTeam.com. They list the following 5 questions.

1. How would you ensure the needs of all working staff are met?
2. Managing facilities comes with a lot of pressure. How do you perform under pressure?
3. What, in your opinion, is the most important quality in a Facilities Manager?
4. How would you settle a dispute between yourself and a building employee?
5. Describe an experience where you made a mistake in your duties. How did you rectify your error?

Workable.com has a great list broken down by categories including operational and situational questions, role-specific questions, and behavioral questions. Numbers 6-10 on our list come from their site.

6. Imagine you have hired a contractor for a renovation, and you perceive that they aren’t using adequate protection equipment. What do you do?
7. How do you feel about taking up some manual labor when necessary?
8. What software have you used as a facilities manager
9. Tell me about a time you found it hard to coordinate everyone for a maintenance project. How did you resolve this?
10. Recall a time you spotted a potential hazard on the premises. What measures did you take to correct it?

Numbers 11-15 on our list come from Indeed. These questions focus on how a person handled the role in a previous job.

11. As a facilities manager, how often did you schedule landscaping maintenance?
12. Which workers did you supervise as a facilities manager for your previous employer?
13. How did you manage natural disaster preparations as a facilities manager?
14. As a facilities manager, what processes did you follow for employee evaluations?
15. How did you manage disciplinary actions as a facilities manager?

Hatchmed.com has some basic questions that you will definitely want to consider. Numbers 16-20 comes from their list.

16. Why do you want this job?
17. What are your goals as facility manager?
18. What would you want to accomplish in your first 3 months if hired?
19. What do you know about our company?
20. Why did you leave your last job?

MockQuestions.com has put together a fairly extensive list of questions. Read on to see some of their top picks. Numbers 21-25 on our list come from them.

21. Tell me about a time when you were effective at handling multiple projects at once.
22. How do you successfully motivate your team?
23. What personal traits do you look for in people you are hiring?
24. What is the most difficult aspect of leading employees for you?
25. How would you handle a contractor that was underperforming?

Numbers 26-30 on our list come from JobInterviewQuestions.com

26. Tell me how you organize, plan, and prioritize your work.
27. Provide an example when your ethics were tested.
28. Share an example of when you went above and beyond the “call of duty”
29. Provide a time when you dealt calmly and effectively with a high-stress situation.
30. Share an experience in which your attention to detail and thoroughness had an impact on your last company.

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