BIFM Rising FMs Careers Day - 30th September 2011
Backing Rising FMs
With unemployment rising and more poor news from the economy, the facilities management industry recently fought back with the first FM careers event. Finding the right career is about information and educated choices. This free event was about learning about FM through presentations and interactive workshops covering the key topics affecting learning and development in the sector.
The event, held 30 September, was organised by the Rising FMs committee (a BIFM SIG). Having recruited in this industry for over a decade, I can’t help feeling that such an initiative has been a long time coming. When Maxwell Stephens was invited to sponsor the event, have a stand and deliver four presentations, we jumped at the chance.
Held at Westminster Kingsway College, this event had been deliberately timed with their being awarded BIFM accreditation as a recognised centre providing advanced level training in facilities management. Being only a short walk to Kings Cross and many travel networks, the location allowed attendees to arrive calm and collected - even though the area may not be the most agreeable in London, with limited amenities for after-hours networking for example.
During the day, delegates were able to directly interact with a range of practising recruiters: in addition to Maxwell Stephens, these included both FRL and Talent FM; and the mix of prospective employers on show was no less varied with G4S, Interserve and Norland all present. The BIFM was also on hand with a stand and much support.
The first presentation by the recruiters that I watched was delivered skilfully by my colleague Michael Hewlett, who detailed how best to work with recruitment consultants as a prospective candidate. The recruitment presentations were delivered on a parallel session basis, which meant numbers were slightly lighter that first hoped (average of 20 in each room) and by the end of the day numbers had unfortunately tailed off for the later deliveries. I don’t think this was helped by the location of the rooms (in the bowels of the college), the fact the event was held on a scorching hot Friday afternoon and that the sessions were in competition with the main presentations in the hall downstairs.
Those presentations included ‘A History of Facilities Management’ tracing origins of the profession back some 5000 years, offered by Lionel Prodgers. In addition, Rising FMs Committee members Samantha Bowman, Sajna Rahman and William Bowen delivered a truly excellent presentation on ‘The Skills Gap’, identifying the current and future challenges affecting the profession.
The event attracted an eclectic variety of attendees, over 160 in all. During the day I spoke with graduates, interim career FMs, ex-armed forces personnel, heads of departments, hiring managers and students, each with different reasons for attending. The event received interest from numerous disciplines under the loose FM banner and demonstrated to me, once again, just how diverse this industry is.
The major stimulus to attending seemed to be the quality of the educational programme and the learning opportunities on offer.
I am already looking forward to the 2012 careers event, which I am sure will be even better. Overall, we were proud to be involved. The careers day was a huge success and was no doubt seen as a worthwhile investment in professional and personal development by all who attended.
Peter Forshaw
t: 0207 484 5620
Maxwell Stephens undertook a prize draw throughout the day and Alex Reynolds from Savills Management Resources was the lucky winner.
- Working with Recruitment Consultants,
- Network Your Way in to your next FM Job
- The Importance of Cultural Fit
- How to Stay Positive until you have found the right Job
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