Facility management 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?

Volunteer with SkillsUSA & the FM Pipeline

SkillsUSA is a career technical student organization of more than 300,000 members dedicated to solving the growing U.S. skills gap. These students are already in numerous FM-related fields including architecture and construction, business management and administration, communications, IT, logistics, human services, finance, engineering, sustainability, and trades such as carpentry, electrical, plumbing, and welding.

The FM Pipeline team is a group of facility management volunteers who help local chapters become participants in their state’s annual SkillsUSA competitions, exposing these students to the world of FM through a competition called the Facilithon: a 50-question test, five-minute role play and a three-minute emergency response scenario geared to engage the student's ability to think on one's feet and give them a taste of what it's like to be a facility manager.

In 2018, IFMA chapters in four states hosted the Facilithon at their State SkillsUSA Championships: Colorado (Denver and Pikes Peak), Florida (Orlando and Jacksonville), Virginia (Capital and Hampton Roads) and Wisconsin (Madison, SE Wisconsin, and Green Bay). Combined, these chapters have shared the story of FM with more than 8,000 students, with 200 students competing for 24 scholarships being awarded to respective winners over the past four years.

For more information about FM Pipeline and Facilithon, visit www.fmpipeline.org and link up with the volunteer team by emailing facilithon@gmail.com.

Association for Facility Engineering (AFE) & Day with a Facility Professional (DWFP)

Founded by the Association for Facility Engineering (AFE) in California 55 years ago, this half-day event includes lunch, an orientation to careers in facilities, tours of interesting spaces to show the excitement and variety of being a facility professional, then dinner and a panel discussion with professionals to wrap up what the students experienced throughout the day. The IFMA Silicon Valley Chapter in California now co-hosts the event with their local AFE to add knowledge of facility management in addition to facility engineering when engaging local students. Other states may already have a similar program that local chapters can participate in.

Professionals who have attended reported benefits such as the ability to share experiences with students considering the facilities profession, the ability to meet potential interns or future employee candidates, a fresh perspective and revitalized energy toward their positions in FM, and an opportunity to provide a positive experience to students looking for exposure to the “working world.”

This program has been incredibly well-received, garnering the interest of local engineering and facility management students. Other states may have similar programs! For more information and manuals on how DWFP works visit the IFMA Foundation website or contact the Silicon Valley Chapter of IFMA.

Cultivate local internships

A tried and true way of bringing entry-level talent and interest to the field is by encouraging local businesses to provide internships in FM. While there are both paid and unpaid options, all can agree that there is no method of learning quite like “doing.” The IFMA Foundation has an intern website, but with only a few posted internships, this method is an underutilized resource and has much room for contributions.

As the framework exists, it is not necessary to start the intern process from scratch. It is easy and effective to utilize the FM Internship Development Guideline Manual, established by the Greater Phoenix Chapter of IFMA and by IFMA’s Global Workforce Initiative (GWI), to create internships within local companies. Connect with local colleges and universities’ internship or workforce engagement teams about how to post internship opportunities to their students in addition to the INTERNet.

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.

Pioneer a path

There are many ways to nurture FM talent in addition to those described above:

  • Volunteer time with emerging professionals or in mentoring groups.

  • Sponsor local student members with paid membership in a professional chapter.

  • Connect with military personnel as they transition back into civilian careers.

  • Talk with local Workforce and Economic Development offices as to how a local IFMA chapter can partner with them.

  • Don’t be afraid to pioneer a new path!

At this point, one may think “This is great, but what does it have to do with me? A chapter must get all this going, right?” While chapters are the outreach centers, it is the member base who needs to act with intention. Every member has a responsibility to act, but we will not all respond the same way. Be thoughtful and deliberate in what resonates with local chapter members. Perhaps there is a strong military presence, or several retired military members who are passionate about helping to get more of their personnel engaged in FM. Maybe there is a strong chapter base in health industries or manufacturing. Analyze the core of interest which has the most likelihood to be successful in your area and focus on energizing the current membership base so that your chapter becomes more attractive to new talent. Don’t be afraid to utilize resources and ask questions. The pathways to help make facility management a career of choice are as varied as the ways people find their way in to FM. It is also okay if the plan takes some time to mature.

All the above pathways are supported by the IFMA Foundation’s Global Workforce Initiative (GWI). Since its inception in 2014, the Global Workforce Initiative has acted as a facilitator between business, government, high schools, colleges, universities, economic development and IFMA chapters/councils to grow the future FM workforce. Great strides have been made in many markets to grow the conversation, including development of the ISO 41001 standard for facility management, assignment of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code 11-3013 for Facility Managers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a “Why FM” presentation for students and parents and the website www.whatisfm.com, which provides career-oriented resources and short videos for students and parents.

For more information on how to integrate these resources into a comprehensive program, visit the GWI Chapter Partner website and download the GWI Chapter Partner Program Guide. Here you will find ways to evaluate your resources and develop a strategic plan around them.

Engagement efforts and commitment will help ensure the future of careers in facility management. Join the conversation on IFMA’s Engage site under the Global Workforce Initiative group and share successes (and challenges) to keep the momentum moving ever forward. Everyone has the opportunity to both achieve excellence and secure the future of FM.