Who's doing what to train and educate the next generation of facilities managers? The Facilities Business surveys the training scene and finds a plethora of courses aimed at mature professionals. But she also unearths a small but growing band of facilities management companies who are growing their own.
As interest in facilities management grows, so the number of routes into theprofession is expanding. The majority of courses on offer are aimed at mid-career development, providing mature professionals with the means to demonstrate their professional competency.

There is no shortage of universities offering relevant professional qualifications. Several of these are accredited by the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM), including postgraduate courses at Sheffield Hallam University, University College London, Heriot-Watt, and Leeds Metropolitan University.

Other tuition providers prepare candidates directly for the BIFM examination. These include the Civil Service College, Newbury College and Salisbury College. Courses offered here are suitable for candidates new to facilities management.

All BIFM-approved courses work towards the BIFM qualification, which consists of two components — knowledge and experience. Students who pass a BIFM approved course are offered exemption from the knowledge component of the BIFM qualification. They are given two years to work towards gaining the experience component.

The third route to gaining the BIFM qualification is through proven professional competency. Candidates must have gained five years' experience in the field to be considered.

Meanwhile Napier University, the University of Greenwich, the University of West of England, the College of Estate Management, Heriot-Watt University and Sheffield Hallam University are breaking new ground.

Students taking postgraduate qualifications at each of these institutions will be eligible to join the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

On completing their postgraduate course, students must work through the two-year assessment of professional competence to become a chartered surveyor.

One of the participating universities, Sheffield Hallam has offered a postgraduate programme since 1993, leading to either an MBA or MSc in facilities management. Postgraduate course leader Tim Davidson-Hague, says the part-time, three-year course is geared more towards developing management skills than technical expertise.

In May, the university launched a new work-based certificate in facilities management, aimed at those already employed in the profession. Lynda Hinxman, director of the centre's education programmes, says: 'It fills a gap in the market for an undergraduate facilities management qualification equivalent to the postgraduate programme.'

University College London (UCL) offers an MSc in facility and environmental Management. Established in 1992, the course is aimed at professionals with several years' experience in related fields. Bev Nutt, professor of facility and environmental management, says students are generally in their mid-twenties or their thirties and come from a variety of backgrounds.

'We get a cross-section of people, some come from human resources, others are architects and surveyors,' says Nutt. 'They all want a formal qualification in facilities management.' Nutt says that gaining an MSc in facilities management opens many doors. 'It allows people to change sector and status. One former student was facilities director for Chelsea and Westminster hospital. He is now a partner for EC Harris, responsible for facilities management and PFI bids in hospitals.'

A gap in provision
One notable gap is the provision of courses for school leavers — an area where views diverge on what should be done.

In Sheffield, Davidson-Hague has noticed 'an expression of interest' in facilities management from undergraduates and believes that in the future students will look to forge a career in facilities management from the outset.

But UCL's Nutt insists that facilities management is a mature field. 'There'd be something wrong with a 19-year old if he or she were interested in facilities management. In this profession, you learn by experience.'

Currently the approach of much of the industry is to recruit new blood from related professions and train these recruits to fill the facilities role. The reason behind this is that facilities managers need a broad range of skills, experience and maturity, something which even the brightest graduate couldn't hope to bring to the table.

The problem is that these recruits are increasingly expensive to buy in.

'We obviously try to recruit only the best engineers, architects or surveyors as facilities managers,' says Clive Groom, executive director of Interserve FM. 'In our case, the reason for having to pay attractive salaries is that we have large and complex contracts, which are one of the major drivers behind the growth of the industry, such as PFI and Best Value.'

It's a fair point, but shouldn't the industry be giving some thought to growing the profession from within, rather than letting engineers, architects and quantity surveyors name their own price later in the day?

But in some quarters of the industry, employers are beginning to nurture their own talent. A handful of contractors have set up in-house training programmes aimed at school leavers and graduates.

We try to implement training programmes across all our contracts, but it depends upon the relationship with the client. If the relationship is contractual and adversarial it may be difficult.

Gordon Rowan

Oliver Jones, chief executive of Citex, says targeting graduates is a 'key plank' in the company's people strategy. A team from the Citex resourcing centre, its recruitment and selection organisation, identifies the best graduates at targeted universities each year and hires between 15 and 20 across the group. 'Training is direct through management shadowing, mentoring and professional apprenticeships,' explains Jones.

Candidates may also benefit from e-training programmes and academic courses.

In Scotland, Stiell takes its in-house training programme equally seriously. Gordon Rowan, Abbey National facilities account manager, says Stiell offers a modern apprenticeship aimed at school leavers. At any one time, there are four apprenticeship schemes under way in electrical installation, heating and ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration, service and maintenance. Students will reach Level 3 NVQ. The most promising students are invited to take the facilities management HND in the fourth year of their apprenticeship.

Stiell is about to launch a graduate trainee programme, offering fast-track development inside the company. Aimed at undergraduates, Stiell will sponsor several students each year on relevant courses, offering work experience, including summer placements.

Candidates will be recruited through advertisements on university career office bulletin boards and lecturers will also be approached for recommendations.

Rowan prefers internal training and development to external recruitment. 'Any organisation can headhunt to fill gaps, but you lose something. People coming from outside lack our customer service ethos and values. Our core business is facilities management, there is a lot of knowledge within the organisation. It makes sense to coach and develop junior staff.'

Stiell's trainees identify themselves as facilities managers from the start. They are also likely to develop loyalty to the company, which has invested time and resources in training them. From Stiell's perspective, there is a ready supply of new talent, already steeped in company culture and ethics.

'We need to have the right people to move to the next step up when we win a contract,' explains Rowan.

Building competencies
It is a view echoed by Gail Dunne, training development manager at Johnson Controls. Its customer business programme is the first in-house training programme to be accredited by BIFM.

'It is important to develop an internal pool of qualified candidates who are ready to manage our portfolio of expanding and new accounts,' explains Dunne. 'Building the Johnson Controls competencies of our managers builds the loyalty and team bench strength. And demonstrating to our clients that we have talented professionals ready to take on responsibility is a confidence builder and can help secure new business.'

While graduates are not specifically targeted for Johnson Control's in-house management training programme, Dunne says they are not excluded if they show the right potential.

Nine employees completed the CBP pilot in May and 12 more are currently participating in the second programme.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the scale of their operations, training for corporate facilities management teams tends to be informal.

Some are plugging the gap with mentoring. Gina Skeens, facilities director of QBE, is mentoring two talented employees. The first, a former receptionist at the company, is now facilities co-ordinator, responsible for running all the helpdesk services and managing orders.

The second, who had an administrative role in the company, is an assistant facilities manager, responsible for space planning.

'I believe in home-grown talent,' says Skeens. However she admits her mentoring role at QBE is the exception rather than the norm.

There are corporates, however, that have taken a more formal approach to training in partnership with suppliers. The building society Abbey National has become a model for Stiell, because of the support it has leant to its in-house training programme.

'Training with Abbey National is a real partnership,' says Rowan. 'They provide support and some coaching for the trainee while we do not charge for the work the trainee does. We always try to implement training programmes across all our contracts, but it depends upon the relationship with the client. If the relationship is contractual and adversarial it may be difficult.'

The training debate – what managers think

As a profession, has facilities management increased in esteem?
Roger Thomson, facilities manager Gleeds: ‘Yes, although I’m not sure outsourced facilities management functions are quite as well respected as in-house facilities management functions. This is partly due to the fact that in-house facilities management is no longer seen as a necessary evil but outsourcing facilities management is often viewed as a risk to the client’s own job security.’ Will we see the day when graduates actively aspire to be facilities managers and plan their careers accordingly?
Gina Skeens, senior facilities manager QBE: ‘I don’t think that graduates or school leavers will ever go directly into a facilities manager’s position, it is too broad a position to contemplate. However, I do feel it is possible for them to consider facilities management as a career, to commence working at a lower level, for example as a help desk operator or facilities assistant. Career advisors should understand what a facilities department does, so they can break the job up into separate entities such as individual positions within the department and then show how more experience of the profession can be gained through sideways movement and then eventually to upward promotion. For example, a school leaver could take a position as a helpdesk operator and then aspire to a position of office services manager, dealing with all soft services. After a few years, he or she could get involved in space planning and learning from experience, could then take the full facilities management position.’ Roger Thomson: ‘Graduates who have studied a wide variety of building, construction and surveying related subjects during their degree and who wish to continue to have that range of subject matter in their working lives, will often see facilities management as an ideal opportunity to gain experience in many of those areas. I also think that as facilities management continues to become a more widely recognised profession within the industry and within universities, that knowledge may well result in a greater number of graduates looking for a career in facilities management.’ Should the industry be investing in home-grown talent?
Gina Skeens: ‘I feel the industry must invest in home-grown talent. However, I am pragmatic enough to realise that not only do you need employees with potential but you also need opportunities for them to develop. There is a cost to this and I can only see this happening with in-house facilities departments, as service providers are generally accountable to their clients for expenditure and may not wish to sponsor training. Cost may inhibit development of home grown talent. However, some facilities management providers are Investors in People accredited.’ As an employer, what do you look for in new recruits?
Oliver Jones, chief executive Citex: ‘The key skills required are centred around organisational excellence, motivational team leadership and team participation, commercial business acumen and a genuinely positive attitude towards delivering world class customer service. These are tough requirements — far harder in many respects than wide ranging technical competencies that are available in abundance.’ Clive Groom, executive director Interserve FM: ‘First and foremost, we are looking for intellect, personality and commercial skills which will equip the facilities manager to deal with clients, sub-contractors and problem-solving.’ As a company, would you consider targeting graduates and training them up in-house?
Oliver Jones: ‘Without any question!’ Clive Groom: ‘No, not generally, because we find that good facilities managers do need a degree of experience, which usually come from their profession or sector of industry.’ What can the industry do to support and nurture fresh talent?
Oliver Jones: ‘It is vital for the continuing success and development of our industry that we pursue both strong internal development programmes for people we already have and also continue to attract new talent in from other industries and professions. However, within the industry, the academic bodies and institutions have to seek advice and counsel from the leading employers, so that their courses focus on relevant subjects and their graduates will be equipped to find great jobs. Leading employers like us are also now recognising and building their strategy around great people, combined with smart systems and leading edge processes, as through this, the benefits of the commercial success that follows can be secured.’