Interview Questions for Facilities Manager candidates

Your Facilities Manager is responsible for ensuring that your workspace is safe and well-maintained. They supervise the day-to-day utilization of space while attempting to cut expenditures.

Depending on the role, education might range from high school diplomas to bachelor's degrees. Knowledge and skills, and even in a management position, are becoming more common. For facilities managers, certification is available, and you can use it to screen applicants based on the responsibilities of the role you're searching for.

A facility manager will face many situations while managing premises. Want to know what the best candidates to hire for the job? Use behavioral or situational questions to gauge their proactive attitude, critical thinking, and capacity.

Not only that, find out if the candidates know the standard procedures and necessary compliance requirements. Also, since it’s a managerial position, you need to know how they would lead their team members and communicate with them.

Problem-Solving Questions

• What are your plans to save energy at the workplace?
• You are responsible to oversee a renovation project but you see the contractor is not using enough protection equipment. How would you handle it?
• If we give you a task to organize an event for clients in a few days, what would you prioritize first to prepare the premises?
• What is your proactive and reactive strategy for facility maintenance?
• Can you tell me about a time when you worked with maintenance personnel, vendors, or other external contractors to solve a problem?
• Can you tell me about an instance when you improved the sustainability of a facility?
• Our company is planning to transition to a hybrid model. What steps would you take to make this happen?

Skill Sets Questions

• As a Facilities Manager, what software are you familiar with?
• Do you have experience with Business Continuity Planning? If you do, please describe it.
• Usually how many times do you inspect premises at your previous workplace?
• To your best knowledge, which areas where you would be responsible for legal compliance?
• What records you must keep as a Facilities Manager?
• How do you think COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) regulations affect a business?
• What would be your key priority when choosing service providers for [catering, landscaping, renovating, etc]?
• Are you willing to do some manual labor when necessary?

Behavioral Questions

• How do you get everyone to be on the same page for a maintenance project?
• It’s a challenge when it comes to reducing operational costs. How do you tackle this situation?
• It’s bound to happen where your team spends close to exceeding the set budget. If this situation happens, what would you do?
• If you discover a potential hazard on the premises, what steps do you take to solve it?
• What are your favorite methods for reducing energy consumption while maintaining productivity in a facility?
• Can you recall a time when you successfully handled a crisis? What did you take away from the encounter?

In Short

When interviewing facilities managers, look for people who are energetic and have strong organizational abilities. Candidates with poor interpersonal skills will have difficulty communicating effectively.

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